I did warn you that I would not be able to focus on my book reviews until Wimbers was over didn't I? Just want to make sure I mentioned this in passing....
As I write this the rain is bucketing down and a more miserable grey summer's day it would be hard to find. Thank goodness the Centre Court has a roof, else the final would not be happening today. Only drawback to this is that Rog prefers playing indoors so this might give him the edge. On the other hand, the atmosphere created when the roof is on is something else and this hothouse of support may help Andy. I so hope he does it and have a feeling that I may have to go out for a walk/swim in the rain while it is on as I am not sure my nerves can stand it.
Anyway, the reason for the title of this post is this for those around the world who read Random and who are not aware of the happenings of last night. At the moment the BBC, in an unprecedented foray into culture and literature, is showing brand new productions of the history plays of Shakespeare all of which have a stellar cast of the Best of British thesps. I am assuming it is part of the cultural Olympiad thingy about which most of the UK is in total ignorance. I know I am. I am recording these as I intend to spend happy winter's evenings watching and following with my Shakespeare on my lap but last week watched a bit of Richard II about which I know nothing and was mightily impressed. The previous attempt at Shakespeare was what became known as the Bardathon back in the early 80s and was only memorable for its total awfulness, ham acting and wobbly sets which seem to have cost all of £10. These are way beyond that, looking sumptuous and well produced.
Last night the Men's Doubles was contested by a couple whose names I cannot remember or spell, who are top double specialists, and they were playing Marray (from Sheffield) and Nielsen (from Denmark). These two guys had a wild card into the tournament, they only joined up a few weeks ago and made the decision to apply for this card and here they were in the Final. The Men's Doubles is the best of five sets and this went to the wire. This journeymen pair who spend most of their time on the lowly Challenger circuit were expected to give it a shot but really we all knew they would go out in straight sets. Au contraire, they won in five and it was simply wonderfully joyful and uplifting to see their reaction and to see and hear the crowd jumping up and down. No need for me to say I was doing the same at home, this is a given. To cut a long story short the match overran into the slot at 8pm designated for Wimbledon Today. No worries, they just carried on, we saw the win, we saw the presentation and the applause and happiness and all was gemutlich.
BUT the BBC then decided that what we really really wanted after this was to see the final of the Ladies Doubles featuring two ankas or ovas I had never heard of (and I suspect most of us had never heard of them either), identikit blondes with long hair tied in a pony tail, those silly shields on their heads, and skinny legs and arms. And on the other side of the net who do we have but Venus and Serena Williams? Quite frankly, I have had enough of this pair and I suspect lots of others feel the same so when John Inverdale blithely announced that 'we are staying at Wimbledon and Henry IV will be shown at a later date' I was gobsmacked and so, I gather, were thousands of other viewers who were not slow to get on the phone and tell the BBC what they thought. I gather the phonelines went into meltdown with irate and furious callers venting to the poor sods who had to answer. John Inverdale, the presenter of Wimbledon today, who is excellent and very smooth indeed, was obviously getting it in the ear, literally, as he chatted to John Lloyd about the fairtytale of the Men's Doubles, and kept breaking in to give us an update. After about 15 mins when the Honchos at the Beeb were probably running around shrieking in panic, he announced that the tennis would continue on BBC 1 at 10pm and Henry IV would be shown after all on BBC2, albeit an hour late. We then switched to Centre Court where the gruntfest started by which time even I, who loves tennis so much, was Wimbledoned Out. Inverdale kept announcing every ten minutes what was going to happen so that those who could actually stay up late for the Henry would know what was going on.
I went on Twitter and there were people who were going potty so I, and loads of others, kept Tweeting to let everyone know Henry would be on at ten. Just as well as loads of peeps tweeted back to say thank you they had missed that announcement as they turned off their TV in fury.
WHEN on WHEN will the BBC ever learn? The answer is never. They treat their viewers with utter disdain. Why did they think that all of us who were wanting to watch/record Henry IV would prefer (a) to have it cancelled so we could watch the ghastly Williams sister AGAIN or (b) be happy that it started at 10 pm instead of 9pm? Some people have to get up in the morning, some people 'gasp' have to work on a Sunday. This incident is just a slight taster of what we will have to put up with when the Olympic Games is on. I gather BBC1 has proudly announced it will be covering the Games 24/7 and that is it - everything else is being hived off to the other channels. So if you don't like sport and the Games in particular, then tough titty folks - just go away we are not interested in your opinion. Now I know the Games are a once in a lifetime thingy and we should be proud etc etc and maybe I will be when it starts, but this assumption by the BBC that we have to put up with what they choose to give us and be grateful for it really sticks in my craw.
The final stupidity? OK going over to Henry IV now says one of those mockney voices that the Corp seem to employ to annoy us all, but before that we had a trailer, I kid you not, for Radio 5 live. By this time I was beyond fury. I went to bed.
Mark you, there has been such a hoohah about all this it might, just might make them think 'Gosh, not everyone wants wall to wall reality shows and crap quizzes and Eastenders, there are viewers out there who like a bit of culture, a bit of quality, perhaps we ought to remember this'
Do you think this will happen?
No need to answer that...........
