h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The following is just my opinion. You might not like it. Tough. It's my journal and my opinion.

This arrived on Twitter and annoyed me:

'Lucy Worsley
Man on train was annoyingly peering over at my laptop screen. ‘Keep going!’ he said, ‘just think, you might get it published one day.’ I gave him the Death Stare of a woman who has published ten books.'

I checked the replies. Oh, they loved it. Men who objected that this wasn't necessarily 'mansplaining' got shot down in a hurry. I had a different take.

I checked to see if memory served and Lucy Worsley was the annoying presenter who made me turn off some 'documentary' about Russia on Netflix. She was. The woman kept standing between the audience and whatever it was supposed to be looking at, turning the show into a sort of monstrous hour-long selfie. I concluded that it was yet another one of those 'educational' British programmes that contributes to Volksverdummung. It think the only reason anybody watches them is that the information is being mouthed by someone they think is posh. I think you're supposed to feel privileged when they talk to you. Like that nitwit who keeps telling you what the artist *should* have done. Or Tony Robinson spreading misinformation about just about anything.

This sort of thing falls flat Abroad. We don't know these icons, and after about ten minutes, we're afraid we might run into them somewhere.

I'd probably rather talk to the man who was interested in the laptop. But then, that's what they do in Pittsburgh. Here's the conversation in Pittsburgh:

'Keep going! Just think, you might get it published one day.'

Bright smile. 'Thanks. I've already got a publisher for this one. It's my eleventh book. I do it for a living.'

'Wow! I'm talking to a published author! What do you write about?'

'History.'

'Wow. I was awful at history in school. I'll bet you make it more interesting. Anything I might have read?'

'Probably not. But I present TV shows, too.'

'Really? I'll have to look them up. You know, I always wanted to write, but I never had the nerve to try. I don't have anything interesting to say.'

'I'll bet that's not true. What do you do for a living?'

'I'm a guard at Allegheny County Jail.'

'Omg. That's a dozen crime novels right there, if you change the names and a few details. Tell me more...'

Forty-five minutes go by in a flash. You can get back to the laptop later. Let's face it: you weren't really trying to work. You were trying to claim more space on the train, like those pretentious Philadelphia commuters on the Main Line who hog the end sections of the R5, the ones with four seats, by spreading out their laptops and briefcases. Stop being a snob and talk to hoi polloi.

Your next presentation might even be worth watching.

Not like this. Do you have an idea what this looks like? 'Oh, here is a glittering palace. I'm supposed to be talking about Catherine the Great, but I'm wearing such a fetching red frock...'

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

May I recommend Philomena Cunk, a national treasure, how it should be done.

I have just looked her up. I am in awe at the sentence, 'Time has existed since...before time...'

This is wonderful stuff!

*Christmas isn't just tinsel and a long Doctor Who.. * was my fave!

to look that one up...

Cunk on Christmas a few years back.

*tears of laughter* We just watched it. She's a genius!

I seriously don’t know how she keeps a straight face.

Her material’s in the vein of “1066 And All That”. That was made into a great BBC radio series with Joss Ackland” - worth a listen when it’s next on BBC R4 Extra.

Diane Morgan is also in After Life which is a surprisingly good watch DG... And it's got Ashley Jensen.. Droool lol

I'm sure she's good in anything she does, but 'After Life' has Ricky Gervais in it, doesn't it?

Hence the surprisingly watchable!

Good. I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/589z5my60mYb1L9bMWllzp8/dr-lucy-worsley

she did a program thingy on our tv a few month back ? not that I watched it. No interest!

I love the 'don't you wish you were me?' tone of that CV.

I DON'T wish I was me!

She did have a television series last year, and it was brilliant! And I mean good enough to warrant the use of the exclamation mark in the previous sentence, that's how good it was. Especially the calibre of the guests that she interviewed who clearly didn't know what to think.

<BB<