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

Entry: The Magic of Richard and Judy - A6130306
Author: Abbaga Lexy - U128652

My tribute to a British institution.

GB

Looks good - the first paragraph is a little too close to information overload though

I'm not sure about the copyright on the Hawking interview - I can understand it's a little more difficult to describe it if you don't quote it.

Spellings:

aquittal --> aCquittal
embarrased --> embarrasSed
found out whom --> found out who

Alex

Hi Mate
are you being funny?
They are the most supercillious pair of moronic interviewers on television apart from that there OK

I like it!! A good tribute to a British institution, even if Richard is the most excruciatingly patronising person I've ever seen on television... What was it he said to Gail Porter the other day when she appeared on the show completely bald due to alopecia, 'Well you've got a lovely smile and a pretty face' - aaaaaaarrrrrgggghhh!!!

Lbclaire

Good entry! A few comments....

"Richard jumps right in, feet first, and often ends up with egg on his face."

That wins my mixed metaphor of the day award.

I've rarely seen R&J, but I think it's a bit harsh to compare Richard to Prince Phillip - he is gaffe prone, but not in quite the same way, I don't think. The other things that R&J are memorable for which might be with a mention is Richard's Ali G impression and the, er, unfortunate wardrobe failure at that award cermony.

Terrible program, but great article!

I think the Bill Clinton interview needs a mention - Richard comparing himself being accused of shoplifting wine from Tesco, to Clinton being impeached!

The title needs to be changed - many people won't know who they are, and 'magic of' is really your opinion. I did watch them on This Morning when my son was smaller, but I don't ever remember thinking they were 'magic'. As far as I can remember Judy was always interupting Richard.

"There's nothing flat about Judy's chest though, as she accidentally showed when her dress fell open as they accepted an award for their show."

This seems out of place here.

The Hawking interview is out of place as well, sorry. It is elsewhere on the web, so it can be linked to.

I'd rather the space was used to talk about how R&J ended up as a team on This Morning in the first place.

And my pet hate, too many footnotes, sorry.

>My tribute to a British institution.

Unfortunately, this does sound too much like a tribute. If they had any 'magic' they would be presenting prime-time Saturday night TV instead of Ant and bleedin' Dec. I really don't see the magic in being slightly better than Trisha.

>Richard and Judy became the most powerful people in British publishing...

This claim doesn't stand up, coming from just one Guardian article by a fawning journalist. I haven't seen a R&J stand in any of my local bookstores in Torquay or Exeter, and having asked around book-buying collegues and friends, no-one has ever used the book club. If R&J had brought about a sea-change in the publishing industry that convinced publishers to produce their kind of books, this claim would be valid. They haven't.

I normally enjoy your entries GB, but for me this is very much a fan's page rather than a serious objective entry.

Comments noted - I'll give it a few more days to give other reviewers a chance to read it in its original form before making serious changes.

I'm surprised I come off as a fawning fan, I really thought I was too derogatory about Richard.

The mention of Judy's wardrobe malfunction I added after submission, Mina, due to the earlier reviewer's request.

I have not copied the Hawking interview. I watched it myself, and transcribed it. This entry started life as "The Hawking Interview on Richard and Judy" so I won't be removing it, sorry.

Believe it or not, I pruned the footnotes, there were 12 when I started. I like footnotes, sorry to disagree!

Their Book Club has a stand in Grimsby's WHSmith, and also Ottaker's. I can't be the only one who's seen that?If they can promote a book to number one in the best-seller's list, then they're doing some good surely?

GB

I've seen a big R&J book club display in Waterstones too. It's a similar effect to the Oprah Winfrey book club, which regularly pushed authors to the top of the bestseller charts in the US and looks set to do so again as I think she's just brought the item back.

Lbclaire

Sorry, I may have been a little unclear (it was quite late) - I just feel that calling them 'the most powerful...' is a little overblown

I like the entry, but I think that the sentence "There's nothing flat about Judy's chest though, as she accidentally showed when her dress fell open as they accepted an award for their show." sounds odd and a bit disrespectful.

Couldn't you say something like "Judy attracted a great deal of press attention when...etc". I'm not sure where it would fit though.

I think it's disrespectful too, I only put it in after a suggestion by Otto in post 5.

I never mentioned it in the first place because it *was* an accident, not a "deliberate" attention-seeking "wardrobe-malfunction" a la Janet Jackson.

I'll remove it, as I'm not comfortable with mentioning it.

Lovely Entry. Just the right balance of affection and ridicule.

I can't suggest any improvement, but I can tell you you're probably not the only person to have found the Book Club in WHS Grimsby. A friend, I now realise, told me about it some time ago. Only it was all so surreal that I didn't quite grasp the enormity of the concept.

Thank you! Exactly the impression I was trying to give, I'm so glad you saw that and commented.

Do you think it might be worth adding a section on how and where the couple met? The local TV news programmes that they used to present together, that kind of thing?

Paully

will do

Done

I've removed the "magic" in the hopes of getting this picked.