Sunday, October 19, 2003
News stunts
David Blaine has finished his 44 days without food stuck in a box suspended above London. Why? It is not clever and it adds nothing to the sum total of human wisdom. He has however, secured a huge amount of publicity for himself and er, that is it. We cannot blame the media, they only report what people are interested in, and regardless of the scorn that the majority may pour on this stunt, there is a sneaking fascination in the whole grisly experience, rather like watching a public hanging. Speaking of public executions I am still reeling from the first part of television's dramatisation of the life of Henry VIII last week. The second part is on tonight. By far the most unsettling part of this programme was the portrayal of the public beheadings of Charles Dance's character and Anne Boleyn. However, despite the great efforts to achieve some level of realism the whole effect was undermined by the characterisation of the King as an Essex wide-boy. Watch it and weep!
