Jeremy Paxman looked awfully smug last night. Not that he never doesn’t look smug, smug is his metier, but there was a combination of factors. Firstly he’d had a good Newsnight, with a few zingers and the odd “come-off it”. Secondly all the senior news journalists have the privilege of spouting off outrageously about the BBC cuts knowing full well that their own jobs are safe, and even if they aren’t the market will happily look after them. But the cap was the ending of that nights Newsnight, not just with a rustle of the paper and the stock market results. They had a tiny film clip to comemorate the life of Deborah Kerr, British movie star who sadly died yesterday. He always likes a little bit of arts relish on his news salad.
Well wipe that smugness of you mug Paxo. Kerr was indeed a terrific actress and presence. But I suggest to you and my namesake Peter Barron, that one does not best celebrate someone’s career by showing a clip where said actress is dubbed. OK, it was probably her dancing* with Yul Brunner in the clip of the King And I, but she didn’t do the singing herself – and thus it seemed a bit odd to show a clip of Kerr dancing but Marni Nixon singing. Black Narcissus would have fitted the mood better!
*Though obviously with the period dresses and the extended cast, there were also possibly twenty Thai midgets under the dress propelling her around.