Live from Eton
The controversy over our decision to take the Breakfast programme to Eton for the morning (which you can see photos of ) even got them talking on rival outlets. The boss of another early morning show wanted to know "what on earth is the point of broadcasting live from Eton on Friday? Madcap idea and a waste of our money highlighting a bunch of irrelevant toffs whose parents wouldn't know what Radio Five Live was, never mind listen to it. Sounds like some Tristram at the 91Èȱ¬ thought it would be a wheeze."
So why were we there? Well, we've always tried to take the programme to places you don’t normally hear from. We did the first ever live programme from inside a young offenders' institution, we spent one morning with teenage mums at a special help centre in north east England, we broadcast from inside an army camp - and we took the programme to the home of a Muslim couple angry at the media portrayal of their religion.
Each gives a glimpse (we hope) of a part of life that few of us experience first hand. And being at Eton also brought to the surface some of those age-old tensions. Should we give airtime to the privileged few? Why weren't we at a failing school on a sink estate? Who cares about these toffs? The texts and emails came thick and fast.
But there were many supporters of Eton too. I was surprised by the number of former - and current - pupils who posted on our blog. Others said that they had no time for the old style class "envy" of those fortunate to get such a first class education.
And so the debate goes on. I think it was a tremendous wheeze. And I've never met Tristram.
Comments
I attended RGS High Wycombe, a selective partially boarding public grammar school, itself populated by the fortunate few, with similarly lofty expectations of its pupils, and I have to say that even I am slightly jealous of the facilities afforded to the chaps at Eton. However, a lot of the advantages they have currently are due to their long history - i.e. owning vast amounts of land in Windsor and Slough. This is something that all old schools tend to have on their side.
To broadcast from Eton does come across a little... Songs of Praise? It seems from the reaction you have received that the people you thought would find it interesting are for the most part aggressively jealous!
I've got no big axe to grind on public schools or the old British class system. I just found the broadcast a bit boring and inconsequential so I switched to Radio 4 for the drive to work.
Sir:
I have no idea what a 'toff' is. British English does deviate from American English and this is an example. While at it, tell me what you mean when you say, "it would be a 'wheeze" --to me, a wheeze is the sound I make with a congested chest.
So take pity on we ex-colonials--it might be a 'wheeze.' (Did I use it right?)
P. M. Livingston