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INCREDIBLY INCREDIBLE..
In the absence of anything else worth watching, by which I mean football, I`ve just sat through an edition of the BBC`s Countryfile programme. There was a time when I used to enjoy the programme, when it was about the countryside. But these days it seems to be much more about the `presenters` than about the places and people they visit.
In that respect, it seems to be going the same way as `Coast,` which started out being about the coastline of Britain, then went farther afield and ended up being simply a vehicle for the inflated egos of the gang of presenters. Not sure I blame them, as such, for it seems to be that the the longer the exposure to the tv cameras, the more the inevitability of self importance creeps in.
But back to Countryfile. Its own presenters are headed up by a chap with a whiny, guttural accent that really should have sub titles and a gushing young lady whose enthusiasm, whilst admirable, is likely to get her into difficulty one day. Julia Bradbury, all teeth and hair, pops up now and again along with the weather man, togged up in `country` clobber with the deluded notion that it`s `in keeping` with the spirit of the programme. Well, it might be.... but all we need to know is what the weather is going to be like.
One thing that gets to me is the constant and misplaced use of `incredible` to describe anything and everything in the great outdoors. My dictionary defines `incredible` as coming from the Latin incredibilis - `beyond belief or understanding`- but somehow it gets used to describe things that are plainly believable or understandable; a murmuration of starlings, an attractive bit of landscape, the skill of a sheepdog.
And it seems quite impossible for these presenters to resist getting involved with things, having a go at just about anything, demonstrating their disparate talents for all things `country.` This evening, gushing young lady got involved with orienteering, puffing along trying to convince us that she was a dab hand at it, then she was off swimming with seals off the Farne Islands. Nothing, it seems, is beyond her and her adenoidal colleague`s ability.
If only they would let us just see the countryside for what it is, let it speak to us in its own language, by all means explain things that might need explanation but spare us the illusion that the `presenters` are more interesting and inspiring than the very credible grandeur of this sceptred isle.
In that respect, it seems to be going the same way as `Coast,` which started out being about the coastline of Britain, then went farther afield and ended up being simply a vehicle for the inflated egos of the gang of presenters. Not sure I blame them, as such, for it seems to be that the the longer the exposure to the tv cameras, the more the inevitability of self importance creeps in.
But back to Countryfile. Its own presenters are headed up by a chap with a whiny, guttural accent that really should have sub titles and a gushing young lady whose enthusiasm, whilst admirable, is likely to get her into difficulty one day. Julia Bradbury, all teeth and hair, pops up now and again along with the weather man, togged up in `country` clobber with the deluded notion that it`s `in keeping` with the spirit of the programme. Well, it might be.... but all we need to know is what the weather is going to be like.
One thing that gets to me is the constant and misplaced use of `incredible` to describe anything and everything in the great outdoors. My dictionary defines `incredible` as coming from the Latin incredibilis - `beyond belief or understanding`- but somehow it gets used to describe things that are plainly believable or understandable; a murmuration of starlings, an attractive bit of landscape, the skill of a sheepdog.
And it seems quite impossible for these presenters to resist getting involved with things, having a go at just about anything, demonstrating their disparate talents for all things `country.` This evening, gushing young lady got involved with orienteering, puffing along trying to convince us that she was a dab hand at it, then she was off swimming with seals off the Farne Islands. Nothing, it seems, is beyond her and her adenoidal colleague`s ability.
If only they would let us just see the countryside for what it is, let it speak to us in its own language, by all means explain things that might need explanation but spare us the illusion that the `presenters` are more interesting and inspiring than the very credible grandeur of this sceptred isle.
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