‘…we’re so proud of Jack he’s just passed Grade 4 on his guitar and he’s doing cello lessons twice a week now with this wonderful teacher who says he’s the best pupil she’s ever taught and the chap who’s teaching him the saxophone says the same I don’t know where he gets it from neither Derek or I are the least bit musical he can just sit down at the piano and play anything it’s just a natural talent I don’t know where he gets it from…’

To most of us, 27th July 2010 was a day like any other – but not in the eyes of certain BBC moguls. All day on TV, radio and on line, there was wall-to-wall coverage of the Olympics, due to start on 27th July 2012.
Marking events before they happen is a particularly lame way to fill summer news schedules and a regrettable development in the curse of anniversary-itis at the BBC. More than 100 staff descended on the Olympic Park in East London to bore for Britain from the newly completed velodrome, the nearly completed stadium and nearly completed running tracks. Breakfast News and the One O’Clock News were both broadcast live from Newham and there were ‘lives’ and ‘simulcasts’ across all networks.

The blanket coverage was decreed from the top, and the initiative bore all the hallmarks of the dead hand of Deputy DG Mark Byford, best known for having Britain’s biggest public sector pension (currently standing at a cool £8 million). One of Byford’s many so-called jobs is ‘Head of Olympics’, even though the BBC already hires Roger Mosey as ‘Director, London 2012’ (salary: £300,000+) to be just that. 

There was hardly any journalism during the day’s festivities aside from the lone voice on Radio 4 of Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham, who declared there’d be very little long-term benefit brought to his area by the Games.

There is increasing disquiet in BBC newsrooms about the Corporation’s slavish involvement in the Olympics, which may end up tarnishing its supposed reputation for impartiality. There is already very little investigation into the real chances of a long-lasting legacy or allegations of waste and missing money. No doubt, as with MPs’ expenses and a host of other stories, Byford and Co will leave the digging to print journalists.


It’s been half a century since Terry Cryer (wife of Barry) and Jackie Hockridge performed as the Taylor Maids, a song and dance act that toured the country for three years, appeared on TV shows and even entertained the American troops in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The former cabaret and musical stars have now re-formed their act with appearances on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and the Edinburgh Fringe, and a tour in September.

The pair met as convent schoolgirls in Brighton at the age of nine and went into showbiz at sixteen. They both retired from the business when they married but are now back at seventy-something and are as feisty as ever. For more info visit thetaylormaids.co.uk