He is the greatest ever TV naturalist. He is now 81 years old and throughout his life, he has captured his audience with cunning and craft, matched only by one of the weird spiders in some tropical jungle that has been spotted by his lens. He also continues to be just about the most articulate champion of public service broadcasting on the planet. Andrew Pierce has written up an interview with the great man in today's Telegraph. I will recite one extract of what he has to say about the BBC.
"It is all about celebrity, which is a disaster; its ghastly. The celebrity cult means you are famous without talent. The BBC is as guilty as the other channels. Popularism has pervaded our society. It is a distorted form of democracy and egalitarianism. Celebrity is a legacy from the time when the BBC was seen to be patrician and condescending and knowing what was best for the rest."
Brilliant. I hope the BBC employee who persuaded the normally very good Jeremy Vine to make such an idiot of himself during Thursday night's election coverage, will be required to write out this extract 1000 times, as hanging his or her head in shame.
7 comments:
Hello there Glyn. Great blog. Don't always agree with your views, nor do I always comment here, but I admire you as a politician of principle and substance.
"It is all about celebrity, which is a disaster; its ghastly. The celebrity cult means you are famous without talent. Popularism has pervaded our society."
Sounds like the race to be London Mayor. :-)
The graphical analogies always seemed to be better with Peter Snow. I remember the digging a hole and the landslide ones with John Major being buried up to his neck were quite amusing, as was the Snowdon Mountain Railway for the referendum.
But that Texan shooting Nick Clegg was cringeworthy.
Perhaps they should have buried Gordon in 10 pence pieces.
Glyn - enjoy your blog - but realy when are we going to get more news from the "Bay". Dragons eye need to get you on side to make their recent efforts more interesting.
I hope the BBC employee who persuaded the normally very good Jeremy Vine to make such an idiot of himself during Thursday night's election coverage, will be required to write out this extract 1000 times, as hanging his or her head in shame.
I was listening to Radio Cymru myself...no script required
neil - I sympathise, but its no good blaming Boris, or Ken Livingstone. Its been what the people demanded. They put in a tall order for someone who is an inspirational leader and a big personality. We all hope that Boris will rise to the challenge.
Left field - or portrayed him as a great dithering jelly.
anon - I'm not even sure that they covered the stonking great increases in special responsibility allowances for AMs. This was the real issue - not the 8.3% increase in backbench salary. Edna Mopbucket told me that she heard civil servants talking about this with open contempt in their voices. I suppose that the 8.3% headline was easy.
Sanddef - as always you were wise.
Why does Dylan Jones Evans seem to think that Montgomeryshire is not a target seat? Surely the last two years or so have made it a target big time?
anon - if you base it on existing majorities, Montgomeryshire comes way down the list of targets. I will need a 13% swing to win, which is a very big ask - but I'm much more hopeful after the election reults last week.
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