Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Oh I say!

Wimbledon time again. Or as dear old Harry Carpenter used to say "Wmbldn" (thanks to Clive James for that observation). In these early days, British hopes are high. The ladies are putting up a good show, Andy Murray looks strong, and previously unknown qualifier Chris Eaton delivered 26 aces to overcome Serbian Boris Pasanski yesterday. The Daily Mail has gone into raptures, and I say fair play to him too.

Radio 5 Live delivered a terrific audio montage of commentary on his victory played over "Eton Rifles" by The Jam. OK, a bit of a cliche, but it worked for me. Alas, earlier this year the same song was the subject of some media controversy when Conservative leader and ex-Etonian David Cameron declared that it was his favourite song. The song's composer, Paul Weller, was unimpressed, particularly since he wrote it to rage against the privilege and arrogance of students at Eton. Clearly Cameron missed the point, which Weller rubbed in by saying “Which part of it didn’t he get? It wasn’t intended as a f****** jolly drinking song for the cadet corps.”

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