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Besides the nasty weather we’ve had during At <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Obviously the BBC made a policy decision to There Both There <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Besides the nasty weather we’ve had during and since the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, a storm is brewing about the BBC’s coverage of the events, from the flotilla of 1,000 boats to the big lunch and pop concert at Buckingham Palace, to the last day’s service at St Paul’s, the carriage procession and balcony appearance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbv6zV-c4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nand since the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, a storm is brewing about
\nthe BBC’s coverage of the events, from the flotilla of 1,000 boats to the big
\nlunch and pop concert at Buckingham Palace, to the last day’s service at St
\nPaul’s, the carriage procession and balcony appearance after them. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe time of writing, it has been announced that the Beeb has received 4,000
\ncomplaints. I imagine all of them were justified, as I’d guess every single one
\nof them complained about the caliber of the presenters, who were the ultimate
\ndumb-downers. <\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nuse these silly people, some of whom couldn’t get the queen’s title right
\n(saying “Her Royal Highness” when the entire point is that she is the sole
\nperson entitled to be called “Her Majesty”) and unable to tell the bow of a
\nboat from its stern. There was near-universal ignorance about the small craft
\nin the flotilla – and I speak as one who shares the ignorance of those who commented
\non them, and was therefore in need of enlightenment.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nis a tradition here that royal events are anchored by members of another
\nhereditary clan, (my friends, to declare an interest) the Dimbleby family. The
\noriginator of the claim to commenting on matters of the throne was Richard
\nDimbleby (1913-1965), who was more or less present at the birth of TV. He won
\nhis spurs (and his reputation for gravitas) by broadcasting the first reports
\nin 1945 from Belsen concentration camp, and went on to present the TV coverage
\nof the 1953 coronation (which I saw as a schoolboy in America), as well as the
\nstate funerals of George VI, Churchill and JFK. His mantle was inherited by two
\nof his four children, David (who is a bit older than I, so technically of
\nretiring age) and Jonathan (who is younger than I, but still past 65).<\/span><\/p>\n
\nDavid and Jonathan have the ability to be inquisitive but gracious, and serious
\nwithout being grave or boring. The have never, ever failed to do their
\nhomework, as the intellectual pygmies who presented the Jubilee so egregiously
\ndid. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nhave been calls in the British press, radio and TV to “bring back the
\nDimblebys,” and I am in complete agreement. Though I was very careful to avoid
\nLondon during the Jubilee weekend and the Monday and Tuesday holidays that
\nfollowed, I was eager to see it on TV. There hasn’t been a Diamond Jubilee,
\nafter all, since Queen Victoria’s in 1897, so even if you’re a republican, it’s
\na once in a lifetime thing. It was spoiled, ruined, trashed by the nobodies in
\nfront of the BBC’s cameras. Shame on everyone concerned. I hope it was not the
\ndecision of the soon-retiring Director General, Mark Thompson, for I think he’s
\ndone a grand job, and count him a friend, too; I certainly shouldn’t like his
\nplace in history to suffer the black mark of responsibility for this fiasco.<\/span><\/p>\n