Congratulations are in order to Graham Norton.Interviewed in The Daily Mail today, he manages to both defend the BBC they so despise and have a sly little dig at the Daily Mail's campaign against it.
"The BBC is attacked for spending £50,000 on taxis or whatever. But they haven’t gone round to a pensioner’s flat, stolen her furniture and sold it to pay for cab rides. People pay £3 a week for a TV licence, the price of a pint of lager. That’s incredible value. I’d pay £3 for BBC1 alone, or Radio 4.
"As it is, that buys your four TV channels, seven radio stations, online content such as iPlayer, and a lot more besides.
"There are two great institutions in this country: the NHS and the BBC and some people seem determined to destroy both. End of rant."
Funnily enough the Mail were only knocking the profligacy of the BBC on Tuesday; 'I'm a lousy interviewer says BBC's £2m Graham Norton.'
But congratulations to the Daily Mail today for running a whole interview that doesn't let on that Graham's a big you-know-what.
However over on the Mail messageboards, readers' opinions are divided about Mr Norton.
"He obviously loves what he does. I especially like it when he gets a fit of giggles. He seems a very happy chap." Elizabeth.
"What on earth do people see in this over the top, overly camp, screeching idiot anyway?" John Gray.
"He pulls arch faces, is the master of the crude double entendre and shrieks and cavorts in a way that mercifully few gay characters ever do in fictionalised TV dramas. Much of his humour is simply, I’m sorry to say, just vulgar."
Actually that last one isn't from the messageboards.
It's a quote from the Daily Mail's gay-but-not-gay-gay columnist, Andrew Pierce
Posts
I've slagged Graham Norton off loads in the past, but I've always liked him despite never much liking his shows (esp. the BBC1 Lloyd-Webber dross).
ReplyDeleteI agree with him 100% about the BBC and NHS, but I'm extremely pessimistic about the future of both.
Anyway, I like him even more after reading this. Thanks x
"The NHS, like the BBC, is an institution dear to the heart of the public and which defines what it is to be British. Any patient who had what I had and who opts to pay for private treatment has got to have more money than sense. The NHS does it better than the rest and its achievements should be trumpeted."
ReplyDeleteAlan Bennett, December 2009.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23783306-alan-bennett-inspiring-nhs-saved-my-life.do