It's a funny old country isn't it? Just a couple of weeks back the UK's media seemed to ignore the financial crisis all around us to instead concentrate on Sachsgate and the fallout of inappropriate phone calls that were made by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross. I'm not going to even start to discuss the ins and outs of this, but I just found it amazing that even Gordon Brown got involved.
Now I see the media and some of our politicians are at it again. I walked past a TV at work the other day to see that the BBC had their Breaking News symbol up on screen. I paused thinking there may be something worth hearing only instead to be told that John Sergeant had walked out of Strictly Come Dancing. Errr, excuse me, what???
I have to admit to having not watched any of this series of Strictly, but I am certainly familiar of Sergeant from his time as Political Correspondent at both the BBC and ITN. I'm pretty sure that I've even bought his autobiography as a Christmas gift for my Mum a few years back. I've even enjoyed him on things like Have I got News for You, but never did I think that I wanted to see him dressed in sequins on the dance-floor.
The public seem to have taken him totally to heart and in a way I can understand why. Quite simply he appears to be normal. He's not pretending to be anyone he's not. He's had a career before appearing on the show and definitely isn't someone that is only famous for being famous. A very refreshing thing in this day and age.
Should it all be front page news though? I'm not so sure. But then I'm writing about him – so who am I to ask questions? I do wonder though what people outside the UK think about all this? Are we all slightly mad and are you laughing at us, or is this just the sort of thing that all countries do?
I'll leave you though with a link to a photo that made me smile so much. Apparently the judges on Strictly referred to this as looking like he was dragging a sack of potatoes. Enjoy!
Apparently, yes they can. I’m reading a copy of Michael Palin’s Diaries I picked up from a book sale the other month, and one entry from 1970-something mentioned another upcoming comedian from the Oxford Revue called John Sergeant, who dropped a career in comedy after a bit and moved into political journalism. So I’m guessing he hasn’t lost all his comedic talents after all.
I haven’t watched it on TV, though, imagining it is bad enough. The whole thing seems highly British.