Sunday Sentiments by Karan Thapar

Author:Karan Thapar [Thapar, Karan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sunday Sentiments
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Published: 2006-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

9

Oh, To Be in England !

What makes England special? That was a question put to me the other day as I sat watching the World Cup. It immediately caught my fancy and since cricket is a tiresome game that I only watch when there’s nothing else to distract me, I found my mind wandering in search of an answer to this intriguing enquiry.

I suppose there could be a thousand plausible answers. Each anglophile must have his or her own. And then there’s the possibility that there is, in fact, nothing special about the old sceptred isle but I, at least, find that so risible as to dismiss it altogether.

No, England is special in two senses. No other country, particularly none of such geographical insignificance, has a history of world domination that has lasted so long and that will continue for the foreseeable future. In the last century, the sun never set on its empire. Now that it has, the peoples of the world can’t stop speaking or wanting to learn its language.

Yet it’s the other sense of special that appeals to me. The English have a sense of humour like none other.They’re not strictly funny. They don’t really laugh at jokes. But they are exceptionally witty. They play with words and ideas to change their meaning and produce clever results. It’s more funny-peculiar than funny ha ha. If our cricket team and the other visitors keep their eyes open, they’ll pick it up. Keeping their ears open won’t help because the accents will undoubtedly throw them.

Let me give you a few examples. In 1975, when Sanjay Gandhi first entered politics, although he wouldn’t admit it and no one in India dared ask any question for fear of his mother’s Emergency, The Economist captured the essence of the situation with a headline that was unbeatable: “In India, the son also rise.”

A few months later, when Prime Minister Callaghan’s son-in-law Peter Jay was appointed British Ambassador to Washington, with shouts of nepotism and cronyism resounding through Westminster, The Economist found the perfect way of alleging corruption without actually saying it. The magazine’s front page carried a picture of Peter Jay with the caption “Britain’s Son Jay.”

However, my favourite examples come from the early 1980s. At the time, there was — as oddly there is again today — a battle royal between the big papers. At both ends of the spectrum, broadsheet and tabloid, there were fights to the death under way. It inspired the best advertising slogans I’ve ever come across.

With The Times, then under Lord Thomson, shut down for thirteen months, leaving its loyal readers in the lurch, its arch-rival The Daily Telegraph hit upon the ad of the decade. It produced a picture of a golden-haired little girl, tucked up in bed, sleeping safely and securely, with her arm wrapped around not a teddy bear but R2D2, the loveable robot from Starwars. The caption at the bottom read “Times change, values don’t: The Daily Telegraph.”

Even better was the punch delivered by the tabloid, Evening News to its competitor, The Evening Standard.

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