Sir David Frost, Did I Miss Something?

[sandyRoe]

He was a fine broadcaster but what did he do to merit a memorial stone in Westminster Abbey?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26560919

[trish1234567]

I was just about to ask the same question?????

[weecalf]

Nixon interview and the other one with the guy who was gonna hit him and of course through the key hole

[sandyRoe]

Through the Keyhole, that explains everything.

[shoota]

Didn't he solve lots and arrest a bundle of folk?

[sir.prize]

With apologies to Sandy

Also

Richard Dimbleby: He was only an ordinary broadcaster so what did he do to merit a memorial stone in Westminster Abbey?

[sandyRoe]

The Denton police treated their staff very harshly and got their moneys worth out of them. Jack looked a bit long in the tooth to be chasing villains.

I agree Sir.Prize. In times to come tourists might look at memorial stones marking the lives of great figures in the world of literature and then ask, 'Who were these two?'.

[woofgang]

so all this lot are hugely famous and memorable then?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poets'_Corner

[Linotype]

I'm not sure about the merits of a 'memorial stone' and how they are awarded at Westminister Abbey but have AB readers ever come across Postman's Park? It's about 300 metres walk from St Pauls underground station, if you've never come across it this is where real heroes are remembered in the form of 'printed' tiles (over the past 150 years or so). Check it out, I call in when in London (live in Cape Town these days).

[sir.prize]

woofgang - not all of them maybe but you MUST acknowledge Old Tom Parr's 152 years of age.

[sandyRoe]

Woofgang, I see from you link that posthumous fame has stayed longer with some than with others.

[trish1234567]

Don't forget he married well and thereafter was well connected. He married the Duke of Norfolk's daughter.

What was Pippa Middleton doing at the service???

[sandyRoe]

Is she the one with the famously attractive derriére?

[trish1234567]

Yes ...... and she is desperate to also 'marry well'!

[andy-hughes]

I am sure, like me sandy, you are old enough to remember David Frost single-handedly revolutionising television in this country.

His TV show 'That Was The Week That Was' in the 1960's began telvision satire and for the first time ever, politicians were not revered and cow-towed to, but were challenged and mocked as and when appropriate - that is a concept that has lasted until today, and is accepted as part of television's fabric - Frost started it all.

Adfd to that is incredible Nixon interviews, when a serving US president admitted to fraud and deceit - an event never likely to be surpassed in TV history.

The incisive grilling given to insurnace fraudster Emil Savundra was again groundbreaking television. These days, Jeremy Paxman does it as a routine, back then, that type of terrier-like grapling had never been seen on television.

That is why Sir David has his memorial.

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

[sandyRoe]

There is a prince who's unattached, Andrew. Would he be considered too old?

[sandyRoe]

Surely the Frost-Nixon encounter came long after the President had resigned from office

[trish1234567]

which is the reason why Andy they played "He who would Vallient be".

[jno]

a significant broadcaster, I think, but I don't know about his poetry.

[sandyRoe]

He wasn't averse to a drink.

[Colmc54]

I'm going to say yes. When he started innovation in broadcasting was frowned on and yet he restored the classical (as in the Greeks) role of satirical comedy as a legitimate way in which society was able to view, mock, ridicule and laugh at itself.

British comedy is still too much for many from other countries to understand. Why do we ridicule ourselves they often asked before they finally got it and realised that self-mockery is a sign of inner strength and not weakness.

For that alone Frost's legacy should be respected, not just because he changed the way topical TV shows could portray our society, but also because his example spread far beyond our shores. One day even Russia will get it- maybe they're starting to now that Pussy Riot have been let out of prison.

I just stopped watching Question Time tonight because Danny Alexander was constantly interrupting the replies of the other panelists in a rude and domineering manner. I can just imagine the sketch that would have been made on That Was The week That Was where a little satirical tweak would have had us laughing at a fool that thinks he can prosper by drowning out everyone else.

Spitting Image carried on his satirical tradition and it was really sad when it stopped. I think the politicians who complained about being ridiculed on the show were not the problem, it was the politicians who didn't appear on the show who were the most offended by it!

Thank you and goodnight.