Malcolm Muggeridge

[johnb]

Did he? I thought MM and Stockwood came out of that looking like total bratwursts, a relentless hectoring pair of old reactionaries who resorted to being patronising, bullying and downright insulting, when in fact they'd misunderstood the thing entirely. Cleese and Palin appeared restrained in contrast and considerably more dignified. Time has confirmed what a wrong-headed pair of old fools Malc & Merv made of themselves that night.

After Merv retired to Bath he was a neighbour of a good friend of mine and I met him (or rather was in the same room as him) quite a number of times when he was visiting. (I can hardly say I met him as I seemed to be more or less invisible to him.) At first I thought he was an out of work ham actor. My impression was of someone very preoccupied with himself and only interested people who were 'worth knowing' or who were useful to him (but that might be sour grapes).

[Norfolk Born]

Back in the 1960s, Malcolm Muggeridge was on the panel when I went along to see 'Any Questions' at a local school (in Southampton, as it happens). The 'test question' which was chosen, but not broadcast, to check for sound and so on was: 'Will the long-haired youth of today become the mothers and fathers of tomorrow?' After pretending to deliberate for a moment, he replied: 'Well ...I'm not sure that anybody's established a link between one's hair-style and one's sexual prowess'. I thought that was pretty clever (but perhaps I was more easily impressed then).

[Serial_Apologist]

(M & S or should that be S & M ?)

Masoch & Suspenders

[gurnemanz]

Stockwood's interjection at the end, 'I'm sure you'll get more than your twenty pieces of silver' was an absolute masterstroke,imo: casting the aspersion that the whole thing was being done to make money (which it was, of course).

And Bernard Levin...yes, shortly to be the subject of another thread from me: I think you know you've reached maturity when you find yourself agreeing with Levin about everything.

Mug and Merv were surely trounced on this occasion. I liked St Mug, the sage of Robertsbridge, and was sorry to see him make a fool of himself. What is disreputable about actors making a film in order to earn a living?
Mervyn Stockwood placed his hand on my head when I was confirmed as Christian aged about 14 in the mid 60s. At the time I think I was already an atheist because I couldn't make head or tail of the catechism they forced me to learn by heart. He seemed like a nice man.
I stood near a seated Bernard Levin (unaccompanied) when we prommed for the Boulez Parsifal over two nights at the Proms in the early 70s.

[Stunsworth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asUyK6JWt9U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=TqAHHhr7vmU

[Mandryka]

Mug and Merv were surely trounced on this occasion. I liked St Mug, the sage of Robertsbridge, and was sorry to see him make a fool of himself. What is disreputable about actors making a film in order to earn a living?
Mervyn Stockwood placed his hand on my head when I was confirmed as Christian aged about 14 in the mid 60s. At the time I think I was already an atheist because I couldn't make head or tail of the catechism they forced me to learn by heart. He seemed like a nice man.
I stood near a seated Bernard Levin (unaccompanied) when we prommed for the Boulez Parsifal over two nights at the Proms in the early 70s.

I stood near a seated Levin at a Wagner/Bruckner Prom in the summer of 1999. He was obviously very ill and died some few years later. But I was glad to have been in his presence. :)

As to the Merv and Mug show....both the Python boys and Merv and Mug were selling a product: Merv and Mug's tactic was to big up their own product by rubbishing their opponents' product. A basic technique of salesmanship and one not lost on those two elegant streetfighters.

The 'trap' that Merv and Mug led the Pythons into....they were apparently very pally and disarming with them in the Green Room, leading Cleese and Palin to think that a reasonable, good-humoured discussion was in the offing. However, once the studio lights came on, the gloves came off.

Btw, I think The Life Of Brian is a truly odious film: not so much for its lumpen, lead-footed satire as for the gift it has been to pub bores and chat show onanists over the years. Some of the jokes may have been mildly funny for approximately 48 hours in 1979, but they're all well past their sell by date now.

[Stunsworth]

The 'trap' that Merv and Mug led the Pythons into....they were apparently very pally and disarming with them in the Green Room, leading Cleese and Palin to think that a reasonable, good-humoured discussion was in the offing. However, once the studio lights came on, the gloves came off.

It would have been a trap if it had led them to win the tv debate. Unfortunately it didn't.

The life of Brian was, and is, one of the funniest films I've seen. Far more about the fragmentation of left wing politics in the 70s than organised religion.

[Nick Armstrong]

Btw, I think The Life Of Brian is a truly odious film: not so much for its lumpen, lead-footed satire as for the gift it has been to pub bores and chat show onanists over the years. Some of the jokes may have been mildly funny for approximately 48 hours in 1979, but they're all well past their sell by date now.

And there we have it.

[Petrushka]

I saw Bernard Levin many times in the RAH, RFH and Barbican and went to a book reading he gave in Bristol in 1988. Best of all, though, was at a VPO concert in the Barbican in 1983 when the great man came and sat next to me. It so happened that I had, previously that same day, attended an exhibition at the Royal Academy entitled, if memory serves, The Glory of Venice, on which Levin had written one of his typically eloquent articles. Unforgettable.

His next Times article was about that very concert with harsh words about Webern but waxing lyrical about the Schubert 9 both of which had featured. He forbore to mention the guy sitting next to him!

BL's Times artcles were required reading for me for years and I miss them still.

(I'll cut and paste this on to Mandryka's BL thread when it appears).

[MrGongGong]

And there we have it.

Indeed we do
confusing personal taste with value methinks
The Life of Brian might not have aged well but I remember it being banned by my local council which was almost as funny as the film itself, as is the sight of two old buffoons trying so hard to be intellectual and just appearing silly. Surely one of the things which the film shows is how petty concerns get in the way of things that could be life changing

[scottycelt]

Brilliant stuff!

When I was a teenager I used to think Muggeridge was decidedly odd (I think then most teenagers probably did!), but I later grew to realise he was a man of great independent mind and integrity, whatever his shortcomings.

I also find it astonishing that he was publicly talking about 'the disease of liberalism' so many years ago and with such apparent fearlessness at being widely ridiculed.

Certainly, he seems far from odd to me, now ...

[rauschwerk]

I only knew of Muggeridge in his later years, after he got religion. One of the most contemptible things I heard him say was when he was interviewing Dr Christiaan Barnard, who had just carried out the first heart transplant. Muggeridge asked him if that had happened in South Africa because "life is cheap" there. Presumably he had not bothered to find out that Barnard was an outspoken opponent of apartheid.

[Mr Pee]

Btw, I think The Life Of Brian is a truly odious film: not so much for its lumpen, lead-footed satire as for the gift it has been to pub bores and chat show onanists over the years. Some of the jokes may have been mildly funny for approximately 48 hours in 1979, but they're all well past their sell by date now.

Chat show onanists? What sort of chat shows do you watch, Mandryka?

BTW, I love Life of Brian. Wonderfully funny, even after all these years. I often stick the Blu-Ray on when I need cheering up.

[amateur51]

I stood near a seated Levin at a Wagner/Bruckner Prom in the summer of 1999. He was obviously very ill and died some few years later. But I was glad to have been in his presence. :)
.

Don't beat yourself up, Mandy - I'm sure it wasn't your fault

[amateur51]

It would have been a trap if it had led them to win the tv debate. Unfortunately it didn't.

The life of Brian was, and is, one of the funniest films I've seen. Far more about the fragmentation of left wing politics in the 70s than organised religion.

It had plenty to offend all right-thinking people of almost all persuasions and none, Stunsworth