I recently went to the British Library’s exhibition “Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain ”. By tracing similarities between our modern lifestyle and that of the era of the four Georges (1714 to 1830), the exhibition explores how much of our contemporary culture has its origins in the tastes of the eighteenth century. Many of our favourite obsessions – celebrities, fashion, shopping, sport, tourism – were enjoyed by the Georgians. The point is illustrated in part by the careful grouping of objects in themes such as homes and gardens, shopping and fashion, culture and ideas, and leisure and pleasure. These themes are reflected in the arrangement of the beautifully-illustrated book which accompanies the exhibition.    There are the sort of items I pretty much expected to see, without which no Georgian exhibition would be complete, such as teapots, theatre programmes and prints. Then there were things I was thrilled to see: The Tea-Table , the pe...