Britain is sadly, no longer an country for a very old Hammer Horror film producer called Anthony Hinds

Tony, who has died aged 91, produced the films which old men in Britain remember watching with a combination of expectation and fear in the cinema when they were young men in the 1960s.

What you possibly didn't know about Tony, that he :

* was born in Ruislip, North-West London, son of Will, who had interests in cycling shops and theatres and trod the boards himself as one half of a comedy double-act, 'Hammer and Smith' and formed Hammer Films in 1934 with his business partner, Enrique Carreras.

* went to St Paul's School in Hammersmith and served in the Second World War in a Photographic Unit in the Royal Air Force in India and joined the reformed 'Hammer Film Productions' which had dissolved in the late 30s, in 1946 at the age of 24 and found a location in a rundown manor house, Down Place, on the banks of the River Thames near the village of Bray, Berkshire, which was bought in 1952 and reshaped it as Bray Studios.

* moved the company's film production from 'quota quickies' like 'The Dark Road' in 1947, to 'A' features when he persuaded BBC TV to part with the screen rights to its sensational science-fiction serial of 1953, 'The Quatermass Experiment' and the success of his 1955 production, retitled 'The Quatermass Xperiment' to cash in on the Film Censor's new 'X certificate', convinced him that the future for Hammer was the horror film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVBvvkB_LF4

* in 1956, at the age of 34, asked an unknown writer, Jimmy Sangster, to adapt a well-known gothic novel for a new, younger audience by spicing it up with sex and stage blood and produced 'The Curse of Frankenstein' in 1957, which gained widespread critical dismay, but a worldwide box-office success and saw the birth of 'Hammer Horror'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2grc7X7JwJY

* in 1957, on the death of his father, seen with him on the left, inherited his share in Hammer and became co-owner with Carreras's son, James and as boss of Bray Studios, produced 13 of Hammer's best-known features, from 'Dracula' in 1958
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDyjIQhEVrU to 'The Evil of Frankenstein' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzsKtRgR8UI in 1964, the year in which he was lauded by the industry as the most successful film producer in Britain.

* came up with the idea of hiring country houses and shooting films in the rooms and grounds of the locations, which saved the cost of kitting out a full studio and his work gave rise to international genre careers of Peter Cushing (right) and Christopher Lee.

* under the pseudonym, , 'John Elder', screenwriter created, from the mid-1960s, : 'The Curse of the Werewolf', starring Oliver Reed, 'The Phantom of the Opera', 'The Kiss of the Vampire', 'The Reptile', 'Rasputin the Mad Monk', 'Frankenstein Created Woman', 'Dracula Has Risen from the Grave', 'Taste the Blood of Dracula' and 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell'.

* returned to production for 'The Lost Continent'  in 1968 but, reserved and fastidious by nature, had little sympathy for the wheeling and dealing of the film business and after run-ins with directors and the technicians' union and when asked to work under Joan Harrison on the Hammer tv series, 'Journey to the Unknown' in 1969, decided that enough was enough. resigned from the Hammer board and the industry at the age of 47.

* continued to freelance as a scriptwriter and wrote for the amateur dramatic societies and saw his old company struggle to continue its success without him and go into liquidation in 1979.

* in his final decades, seemed to dissociate himself from his career, cut up his old scripts to use as memo pads, drove a minibus for the local 'old folk' and in 1998, when he attended a' Hammer Convention' at Bray Studios, privately dismissed the attendees as “barking mad” and left as quietly as he arrived. 

* resurfaced one last time at the age of 88, in the BBC’s 2010 documentary series, 'A History of Horror' and recalled : “There’s a great danger with horror films that people will start laughing. We thought we’d put a stop to that.”

Britain is no country for old men 'confirmed' by the United Nations Global Age Watch

Katherine Butler reported in 'The Independent' a few weeks ago :

' Britain’s unimpressive ranking in the first ever Global Age Watch Index released by the UN this week is a symptom of this.The UK does better than Afghanistan, where you are lucky to make it beyond 59. But what pride can the fourth richest country in the world take from failing to make it even into the top 10, lagging behind not just the Scandinavians, but bankrupt Ireland and Obamacare-hating America? '

The Index, the first-ever overview of the wellbeing of old people around the world, published as their number and proportion increases at an unprecedented rate, illustrates how the world is adapting to this new reality by ranking more than 90 countries in terms of how their old people are faring.

It measures their wellbeing in terms of  four domains :

* income security : their pension income, poverty rate and relative welfare in relation to the rest of the population, where old man and women in Britain live in a country which rates :
10th.

* health status :  life and healthy life expectancy at 60 and a subjective assessment of their psychological wellbeing as to whether their life has an important purpose or meaning, where old man and women in Britain live in a country which rates :
19th.

* employment and education : their employment and educational status where old man and women in Britain live in a country which rates :
24th.

* enabling environment : social connections, support from ralatives and friends, physical safety, how safe they feel in their neighbourhood, civic freedom, how much control they have over lives and access to public transport and so to healthcare, shops, friends and family, where old man and women in Britain live in a country which rates :
17th.

So, who are the other old men in the 10 countries around  the world who fare better than those in Britain ?

Swedish old men are on top in all 4 domains.

Followed by :

2 :   Norwegians
3 :   Germans
4 :   Dutch
5 :   Canadians
6 :   Swiss
7 :   New Zealanders
8 :   Americans
9 :   Icelanders
10 : Japanese
11 : Austrian
12 : Irish

and 13th : British

The Report :
http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/reports/global-agewatch-index-2013-insight-report-summary-and-methodology/

My earlier post about old Swedes :

Friday, 18 November 2011

Britain is no country for old men but Sweden is one where they enjoy a 'new old age'

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/britain-is-no-country-for-old-men-but_18.html

Britain, a country where old men choose 15 minutes help to either dress, eat or go to the toilet, fear not, you have a champion in Norman Lamb

What I warned about in the Spring, has now come to past and the reduction of care for old men and women in Britain is having a serious effect on the quality of thousands of old lives :
Monday, 13 May 2013
Britain is no country for old men who need help with dressing and eating

Tucked away in the 'Guardian' last week was a small article which spelt big implications for thousands of old men and women in Britain :
Warning over care of the elderly and disabled after £2.7 billion cut
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/britain-is-no-country-for-old-men-who.html

Now, in the Autumn, the charity, 'Leonard Cheshire Disability' have said that :

* a growing number of the old men and women and the disabled in two thirds of the local authorities in England and Wales are being looked after in ‘flying visits' from carers which last just 15 minutes.

* time is so tight during these home visits that some of the most vulnerable are forced to choose between having a cup of tea or being helped to go to the toilet.

Katie Hall, Chair of the Local Government Association's 'Community Wellbeing Board' said :
“Unless local government finance is put on a sustainable footing, social care will remain substantially underfunded" and it would be impossible to “substantially raise the standard of care” without a significant increase in Government spending.

Old men and women with your fifteen minutes, take heart, help is at hand, you have a champion in the Government  'Care and Support' Minister, Norman Lamb who has said :

 “It’s unrealistic to think 15 minutes is enough time to help people who are older or who have a disability to do everyday things like wash, dress and get out of bed. We are proposing an amendment to the Care Bill which would make it clear that local authorities would have to consider a person’s well being when arranging their care.”

You can now rest easy, knowing that a consideration your 'well being' and not the provision of hard cash will make everything come right.

My July post about Norman's costless care plan for the old :
Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Britain once a country where old men had less help to dress and eat, take heart, for they have a champion in Saint Norman Lamb, Minister for their Care and Support

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/britain-once-country-where-old-men-had.html

 

Britain was almost no longer a country for an old, novice small aircraft pilot called John Wildey

John, who is 77 years old, took off from Sandtoft Airfield, between Scunthorpe and Doncaster, in glorious sunshine on Tuesday morning with his friend, the pilot, in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk. They landed at Skegness, on the Lincolnshire coast, to stop at a small airfield for lunch. The two of them were due to return to Sandtoft shortly before 7pm, however, at about 6.15pm, the pilot fell seriously ill and began drifting in and out of consciousness. John later said :

"He said he was sick and asked me to take care of the aircraft controls. He set the controls and put me on the right path. Then he was unwell again, completely unresponsive. I called his name but he didn’t answer. I said we were going to have to land soon but when he didn’t respond......"

John :

* called “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” and said : “I’ve got no flying experience and the pilot isn’t very well” and he " couldn’t control the aircraft" and thought he "was heading to Sandtoft."

* reached and circled around Sandtoft a few times and having watched the pilot bank, climb and descend using the steering column, had a notion of what some of the baffling array of dials and instruments in front of him did.

* was put through to the tower at Humberside International Airport, where flights were suspended or diverted as the runway was cleared for an emergency landing while a Sea King helicopter was scrambled from RAF Leconfield in East Yorkshire to fly alongside him to guide him on the 25-mile flight.

Meanwhile, Roy Murray, Chief Instructor at the airport’s Flying School  :

* was called at his home and told that John, with no flying experience, would need to be 'talked down'.

* fifteen minutes later, pulled up at the airport’s air traffic control tower, was taken straight to the radar room, spoke to John and told him to : "keep calm and not to over-control the aircraft."

* decided that the best option was to guide John in with a ‘blind landing’, in which he was told to ignore the bulk of the instruments, and use just three main controls: the throttle to lower the plane, the steering column to keep its nose up and the brakes to slow it down if, and when, he touched down successfully.

* later said : "All cockpits and controls are different and I didn’t want John looking around and panicking. It was tense at times, especially the last mile or so, as he was talked in."

* at around 7pm, as it was getting dark, saw John, who had been following the Sea King helicopter, come into view, flying without lights on outside or inside the cockpit.

* stressed to John to keep the nose up when touching down to avoid smashing the front landing wheel and impressed on him the need to steer the aircraft when braking, in case it veered off to one side, struck a landing light and punctured the fuel tank with the risk of fire.

John :

*  on three nerve-racking occasions  tried to touch down, before pulling back on the steering column to lift the plane up again, increasing the throttle to avoid stalling and swinging round to make another attempt.

 * later said: "I could see the runway lights. They said, “bring her down gently, take the throttle back.” and "I was doing that and it seemed to be all right but then they said I was going too low, power up and go, so I powered up and went round again."

* on the fourth attempt, was given the go-ahead and when he touched down "there was a right bump – two or three bumps. I suppose it was a controlled crash really. I just couldn’t get the brakes because I couldn’t reach them. I managed to get them in the end but then we sort of went off the runway and all I could see was this runway indicator wall coming towards me and I thought:  'I am not going to do it'. But we managed to stop in the end."

Roy said

: "The emergency services were there immediately and may have turned off the engine. When he landed, we all sort of shook hands and said “Thank God for that”.’ Miraculously, Mr Wildey emerged from the aircraft shaken but uninjured. An ambulance took the dying pilot to hospital. I’m satisfied but sad. There was a death involved. But, I’m satisfied because it could have been a lot worse. But, I can say that I wouldn’t be frightened to fly with John. He was very calm and in control.’

John :

* was described yesterday as a ‘hero’ for having kept his nerve during the traumatic incident, however, speaking from his home in Rossington, South Yorkshire, played down his role as "nothing really" and "air traffic control at Humberside, two flying instructors and also a Sea King helicopter were all helping. They all did their best, I was just the person holding the stick. They were telling me what to do but because I didn’t have any lights on, I could barely see any of the sticks, which made it even more difficult.’

Sadly, John's friend, the pilot died after being taken to hospital.

 

 John in his own words : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rLGwZ-p9ug

Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to a giant of an old actor with a matching 'joie de vivre' called Brian Blessed

Boisterous Brian, known for his hearty, king-sized portrayals on film and television, a giant of a man with an eloquent wit and booming, operatic voice, is 77 years old today.

I remember seeing him, in the early 1960s, when I was a teenager and he played Police Constable 'Fancy Smith' in the black and white tv police series, 'Z Cars'. I was 29 years old when I enjoyed watching him as the Roman Emperor, Augustus, in the series, 'I Claudius' and this summer I heard his voice giving the commentary on the open top bus tour of the historic Rochester and Chatham in Kent.

^{What you possibly didn't know about Brian, that he :}

* was born, before the Second World War and grew up in the mining village of Goldthorpe in South Yorkshire where his father was a miner and went to Bolton on Dearne Secondary Modern School where he displayed a talent for acting in school productions and also had a penchant for boxing, but was forced to leave at the age of 14 when his father suffered an accident at work and he had to support the family,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1369483/Brian-Blessed-My-mother-said-I-wanted-sibling-I-collect-milk-bottle-tops.html

* worked in a number of jobs, ranging from an undertaker to a plasterer's assistant before doing his National Service as a parachutist in the Royal Air Force and then started drama training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School where a contemporary was Patrick Stewart.
 
* after 'Z Cars',http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-44KzUbaUQ
 appeared on stage in a production of 'Incident at Vichy' at the Phoenix Theatre followed by minor roles in cult tv series, 'The Avengers' and 'Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)' in the late '60's.

* after Claudius, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsUvkNAa_34
hosted a docu-drama on the life of Johann Sebastian Bach, 'The Joy of Bach' in 1978,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=067eCXzROdI in which he played Bach in person in a number of scenes and then Basileos in 'The Aphrodite Inheritance' in 1979.

* in 1980 played Prince Vultan in the film 'Flash Gordon', remembered for the
exclamations "Gordon's alive!" and "DIVE!.

* starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, 'Cats' as both Old Deuteronomy and Bustopher Jones in the the original 1981 London West End theatre production.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwF1Qs5FluM

* on tv played the mad, comic figure of Richard IV in the first series of 'The Black Adder' in 1983 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1zjeYhJs7o
and Spiro in the BBC adaptation of 'My Family and Other Animals' in 1987.

* played General Yevlenko in the mini-series, 'War and Remembrance' in 1988 and Lord Loxley, the father of Robin Hood, in the film 'Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves' in 1991 at the age of 55.

*  attempted to climb to the summit of Mount Everest three times, attaining heights of 8,600 metres in 1993 and 7,700 in 1996 at the age of 60 and has climbed Mount Aconcagua in Argentina and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and is the oldest man to trek to the North Pole on foot and has undertaken an expedition into the jungles of Venezuala during which he survived a plane crash.

* has appeared in a number of Shakespearean roles on stage and screen, including four of the five Shakespeare films directed by Kenneth Branagh.

*  since 2008, has presented the English-language dub of the Japanese TV game show 'Unbeatable Banzuke' under the pseudonym 'Banzuke Brian'. http://vimeo.com/16028876

* has said : "I've just been blessed with a colossal love of life and love of people. I give in to it and let it take me over. I sleep like a log and I can't wait to get up in the morning - whatever the weather. I feel this lifeforce all the time and it even catches me out at times and I find myself laughing at myself."

Britain says :
"Carry on getting up and laughing Brian. The country needs you an its old men need you as a role model."

Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to an old Professor of Chemistry, known for his buckminsterfullerene, called Harry Kroto

In 1996, at the age of 57, Harry shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley, has been working as Professor of Chemistry at the Florida State University since 2004, but spent the lion's share of his career at the University of Sussex where he now holds an emeritus professorship.

What you possibly didn't know about Harry, that he :

* was born in Wixsbech, Cambridgeshire, in October 1939, just after the outbreak of the Second World War, the son of Edith and Heinz Krotoschiner, who from Berlin in German and Jewish Polish families, came to Britain in the 1930s
as refugees from the Hitler and the Nazis.

*  was raised in Bolton Lancashire and as a child, he became fascinated by a Meccano set which he later partly credited  with developing skills useful in scientific research and attended Bolton School where he was a contemporary of the actor Ian McKellen and at the age of 16 became Harry 'Kroto' when the family was shortened.

* developed an interest in chemistry, physics and maths and, because his sixth form chemistry teacher, Harry Heaney, who subsequently became a university professor, felt that the University Of Sheffield had the best chemistry department, went there to study his degree and doctorate.

* began teaching and research at the University of Sussex when I was a 20 year old undergraduate there in 1967 and he was 28 and no doubt taught my old friend K.M. who was studying biochemistry and became a full professor in 1975.

* in the 1980s he launched a research programme to look for carbon chains in the interstellar medium and devised an experiment to prove that carbon stars could produce the chains and, with colleagues, discovered the buckminsterfullerene and the related class of molecules.

* in 1995, jointly set up the 'Vega Science Trust', an educational charity making science films including lectures, interviews with Nobel Laureates and discussion programmes which stream for free from the Vega website..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vh8PQXC9po

* although raised Jewish, has said that religion never made any sense to him and is a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association calling himself a 'devout atheist' and in 2010, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter stating their opposition to Pope Benedict's state visit to Britain.

* also in 20010, met pupils from Bolton School at a performance of 'Waiting for Godot 'with that other old pupil, Ian McKellen, who was starring in the show.

Britain is 'no' country and 'a' country for more and more abused old men

There have recently been a small number of high profile cases of 'infant abuse' in Britain, but drawing little or no publicity there is a large number of 'old people abuse'. Instead of the number of old men and women being abused decreasing, the charity, 'Age UK'  has warned that there has been a 'disturbing' rise in the numbers of reports of possible abuse of the vulnerable old in England

 

New figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre reveal a steep increase in the number of reports of suspected abuse of old people and in the last year there has been a 28.4% increase in alerts about abuse made to councils in England.

    They received 173,000 alerts relating to the abuse of adults and took 112,000 of these forward :

• 60% of these concerned old people aged 65+
• Of these over 26% related to even older people aged 85+ 

Over a quarter of referrals relating to old men and women aged 65+ related to suspicions of physical abuse and over a third to cases of  neglect and in addition to these, just over 18% of cases were of financial abuse, a form of abuse which is often overlooked. Worryingly in over a third of completed referrals relating to people aged 65+ no further action was taken against the alleged perpetrator.

Charity Director, Caroline Abrahams said:

"These numbers are disturbing: even though growing awareness of the abuse of older people is likely to have contributed to the increase in the number of safeguarding concerns reported to and taken forward by English councils, they concern some of the most vulnerable people in our society, many of whom feel that they have no-one to turn to for help. Any abuse of older people is unacceptable and we need a zero-tolerance approach to any abuse. Our biggest fear is that there are still many cases that are not reported and we would encourage anyone who suspects that an older person is being abused to contact their social services department or the police straight away." 
 Britain in 2013 : a fearful place for a growing minority of abused old men.

Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to an old novelist for children called Michael Morpurgo who gave them 'Warhorse'

Michael is 70 years old today. I saw the stage version of Michael's 1982 story, 'Warhorse', on the stage at the New London Theatre in the Summer. With its technical virtuosity, the audience suspend their disbelief at both the beasts and the storyline : a recruited First World War soldier eventually reunited on the battle line with his horse from home in England.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wujNwkObgN4

What you possibly didn't know about Michael, that :

* his mother, the actress, Kippe Cammaerts, met Jack Morpurgo while his biological father, the actor Tony Van Bridge, was away during the Second World War.and didn't find out about him until he was 19, when his mother revealed it while they watched 'Great Expectation' which featured his father.

* went to a series of schools in London, Devon, Sussex and Kent including an unhappy experience at boarding school which would inform his novel, 'The Butterfly Lion'.

* after leaving school, attended King's College, London University to study English and French, followed by work as a teacher in a primary school in Kent where he discovered his talent for storytelling and later said  : "I could see there was magic in it for them, and realised there was magic in it for me."

* marked his writing with themes like the triumph of an outsider and survival and set in vivid settings like the Cornish coast and the Fist World War and in 2003 became the third person to become 'Children's Laureate'.

* married Clare, eldest daughter of Sir Allen Lane, the founder of 'Penguin Books' and in 1976, with Clare set up the charity, 'Farms for City Children', to give kids from inner city areas a week's experience of life in the countryside with farmyard work and to date has seen about 85,000 take part.

* has seen films made of his stories : 'Friend or Foe' in 1981 and 'Why the Whales Came' in 1989 with 'My Fiend Walter'. 'Purple Penguins' and 'Out of Ashes' adapted for tv around the turn of the century.


For 'War Horse' John Tams arranged :

The Year Turns round again


I'll wager a hat full of guineas
Against all the songs you can sing,
That some day you'll love,
And the next day you'll lose,
And winter will turn into spring.

And the snow falls, the wind calls,
The year turns round again.
And like Barleycorn who rose from the grave,
A new year will rise up again.

And there will come a time of great plenty,
A time of good harvest and sun.
Till then put your trust in tomorrow, my friend,
For yesterday's over and done.

Ploughed, sown, reaped, and mown:
The year turns round again.
And like Barleycorn who rose from the grave
A new year will rise up again.

Phoebe arise, a gleam in her eyes,
And the year turns round again.
And like Barleycorn who rose from the grave,
A new year will rise up again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ond1QL5lD9E

Michael and John talking :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grC9zTeC464

Britain is a country with a Supreme Court full of public school and Oxbridge educated old men with no room for more women

 

This is the 68 year old Lady Justice Hale, the only woman on the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land and the most senior female judge in British history. She has called for the appointment of another female judge to Britain's highest court before she retires, whenever that might be.
The good Lady, the Deputy President of the Court, speaking at the start of the legal year, said :
"While I am flattered and proud to have been the first woman appointed as a law lord in 2004 I do not want to be the last. I am disappointed that in the 10 years since I was appointed not one among the 13 subsequent appointments to this court has been a woman. Things are improving in the lower ranks of the judiciary, but regrettably not yet up here. I do not think I am alone in thinking that diversity of many kinds on the bench is important for a great many reasons."

Referring, no doubt, to the narrow social class from which the old men with whom she rubs shoulders on the Supreme Court were drawn, she said that in a democracy, it was important that rights and responsibilities be decided by a Judiciary more reflective of society as a whole "and not just a very small section of it. So I do look forward to a more diverse future eventually, but hopefully before I retire."

Brenda was born in Yorkshire where her parents became headteachers and she was educated the state funded, Richmond High School for Girls and then at Girton College, University of Cambridge where she read Law and graduated with a starred first and top of her class.

So who are the other old men who serve with Brenda ?


First is 65 year old Lord Neuberger, the President of the Court, who was educated at the Independent Westminster School and then studied chemistry at Christ Church, University of Oxford.
 
Lord Mance is 70 years old and attended Charterhouse Boys' boarding school and then University College, the University of Oxford.

Lord Kerr is 65 years old and was educated at St Colman’s College, Newry, Northern Ireland and read law at Queen’s University, Belfast. 

 

Lord Clarke who is 70 years old studied economics and law at King's College, the University of Cambridge.   

Lord Wilson, 68 years old read jurisprudence at Worcester College, University of Oxford.

Lord Sumption is 65 years old and was educated at Eton College, independent boys' school and Magdalen College, University of Oxford.
   
Lord Reed at the of 57, the boy among the other old men, was educated at the independent George Watson's College in Edinburgh and the law at the University of Edinburgh.

Lord Carnwath is 68 and was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, the University of Cambridge.

Lord Hughes is 65 years old and was educated at Tettenhall College and Van Mildert College, the Unviersity of Durham.

Lord Toulson is 67 years old and was educated at Mill Hill School to which he won the top scholarship for his year and was one of the most talented pupils, leaving at 16 to study at Jesus College, the University of Cambridge.

Lord Hodge, a mere 60 years old was educated at Croftinloan School, an independent boarding school in Perthshire and later Corpus Christi College, the University of Cambridge.

 

Question :

So will our 68 year old lady judge have a female companion on the Supreme Court and see its social base broaden from the essential boys' public school and Oxbridge educated old men with a collective age of 720 years before she retires ?

 

Answer :

This is Britain in 2013 : of course not !

 

 

 

Is Britain finally no country and Channel 4 no tv station for an old racing pundit called John McCririck ?

The 73 year old John was dropped from the Channel 4 tv's racing team at the turn of the year. He was not a happy man having  worked for the Company for 29 years and is seeking £3million in damages for unfair dismissal.

His case is now being heard at an industrial tribunal in London.

He :

* maintains that he had been dismissed solely because of his age saying : "It's an age thing, they use the word 'freshen up'. Freshen up is a euphemism for kicking out older people. People in their 30s onwards live in fear in this country that the new suits and skirts will come in and just go for new and trendy. It's totally wrong."

* quoted a line by the former home secretary David Blunkett who said that TV executives "worship the cult of youth".

The Tribunal began on Monday with its panel of judges reading witness statements and watching clips of John's racing coverage as well as reality tv shows such as 'Celebrity Big Brother' ( right) and 'Celebrity Wife Swap' :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sx3nBPHZhY
 In these

* says the judges would find provocative statements, some sexist and maintains  they were part of a role he played, especially on shows : "Because Captain Hook is horrible to Peter Pan and kids in Peter Pan, it doesn't mean the actor playing him goes around abusing kids in the street. All this is a pantomime villain thing that Channel 4 encouraged."

* said he was not 'anti-women' and if anyone to whom he had given a nickname during his time on air had asked him to desist, he would have stopped, describing his humour as "a very public school thing, it's a bit immature but it lightens up the programme. Channel 4 never, ever said: 'Look, we don't like this sexist thing, we don't like it when you call your names, don't wave your arms around.'"

* admitted there had been plenty of complaints to Channel 4 about his behaviour and accepted descriptions of him as ‘nasty, revolting, rude’, ‘boorish’ and ‘obnoxious and sexist’, but said: "I was fully aware Channel 4 approved of it because they kept on having me on their programmes."

* insisted he had called for more women presenters on 'Channel 4 Racing', despite once describing one of them as the "lay of the day" live on air and nicknaming others the "saucy minx" and "the pouty heiress".

Channel 4 have said at the Tribunal that :

* John had been warned that his forays into reality TV, including 'Celebrity Big Brother', were harming his journalistic career.

*  through Jamie Aitchison, Commissioning Editor for Sport, that his "exaggerated tone" was "out of step" with the Channel's coverage and he was "seen by many as a comic act rather than a serious horse racing journalist," and the decision to drop him was "entirely unrelated to his age".

John's dismissal has no doubt been contextualised by the fact that he :

 * was thrown off Alan Titchmarsh’s ITV show for making rude comments to Ingrid Tarrant about her relationship with her then estranged husband Chris Tarrant.

* refers to his wife Jenny, who was supporting him at the hearing, as "The Booby", because she was "not very bright, squawks a lot and was easy to catch".

On balance, I agree with Jamie. I think it was time for John to go. In fact, I am only surprised that, with attitudes more akin to men in 1913 rather than 2013, he lasted so long.