Sunday 10 April 2011

See Below

Writing about Gyles Brandreth reminded me of a Way of the World column I cut out and  kept in my special folder of things that have no rhyme or reason. It was originally intended to go in its own Way of the World folder but, shortly after I cut it out, the Telegraph, in its infinite lack of wisdom, decided to dispense with the services of Craig Brown and, therefore, Way of the World ceased to exist. At around the same time, BBC Radio Four decided to replace Ed Stourton with Evan Davies on the Today show and the Telegraph set up an on-line petition, so that people could register their disapproval of this move with a comment of support. When I wrote, 'Bring back Ed Stourton - and Craig Brown, while we're at it', the comment, strangely enough, was not allowed to appear. Its suppression was an example of what my brother described - rather beautifully, I thought - as 'depthless hypocrisy.'

Anyway, this is the Craig Brown column that I did keep. Brown writes, as always, very amusingly, and he also highlights a hilarious aspect of Brandreth's work (1):



 (1)I love the phrase, 'Like a pushy footman edging into a group photograph of bigwigs'

7 comments:

  1. A couple of points occur to me. On footnotes, that a splendid example of their use in fiction is Flann O'Brien's The Third Policemen. On pop music writers, the Chicago columnist Mike Royko's observation, nearly 40 years ago, that though writers examining the prospect of thermonuclear war and the end of civilization sometimes allowed themselves moments of levity, writers on rock and roll were always in dead earnest.

    ReplyDelete
  2. George: V funny re pop music writers. I was just thinking I should read The Third Policeman again. I have a memory that there was a whole thread about bicycles being invasive creatures - was there something about how, if you go to someone's house where the bike is propped up in the hall or against the dresser, then you know they are already in the grip of the aliens? I thought it was a wonderful & hilarious concept but have I made it up or is it there?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Zoe: you are referring to Sergeant Puck's atomic theory, in which the atoms of bicycles and their riders are exchanged, till it can require great skill to determine whether the rider or the bicycle is the human.

    ReplyDelete
  4. (My mistake--this was Sergeant Pluck, not Puck.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm glad I hadn't made it up.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I knew the Telegraph was doomed when they got rid of Craig Brown and their dedicated Mount column (given over to the latest member of that illustrious family to put quill to paper). It is now, sadly, fully resident in Andrew Neil's 'New Britain' (not the Papuan island).

    ReplyDelete
  7. It might be more entertaining if it was produced in the other New Britain.

    ReplyDelete