it is so that, once in a while, one is confronted with something from the past. rather, indeed, than the future, look you see. whereas it all (quite likely) felt perfectly normal at the time, when held by the prevailing (or ruling) standards of the day you cast a glance back, there can be a sense of discomfort.
such befell me not so long ago when i, for reasons that i cannot actually recall, needed to grab some random image for a sort of "profile" picture thing, which did not pan out anyway. as anyone else would in such ill-defined and unclear circumstances, i switched on the tele to see if there was something suitable for me to make use of.
and that was how, or when, i stumbled upon an episode of the celebrated, generally fondly remembered television show Robin's Nest. most would, of course, recall this 1970's classic for the fact that it featured the much admired actor known as "him what was the Irish builder out of Fawlty Towers", here cast as a one armed alcohol loving dishwasher. for some reason it has generally been if not accidentally forgotten then quite deliberately disregarded that Richard O'Sullivan was in it.
ostensibly it was that Richard O'Sullivan was the default "star" of Robin's Nest, with this and several shows from the era effectively being designed to showcase his vast talents. for those unaware of him, well. he was in many respects Britain's response to American domination of the sex symbol market in the 70s. America threw the likes of Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood and to an extent Paul Newman (or Robert Redford) at the world. it was determined that the best shot the UK had at getting a foothold in the market was via throwing Richard O'Sullivan at it.
this particular episode of Robin's Nest struck me as being quite controversial now, although the standards depicted were fairly common and agreed upon at the time. in it, Richard O'Sullivan, playing whatever his character was called (Robin, i think), had just returned from a holiday of sorts in France. a decision was made to portray this via having Richard O'Sullivan wear a beret, speak in a standard French accent and immediately try to sexually harass, indeed bum, the first man he encountered, which just show happened to be Tony Britton. mostly, the Britton character was having none of it, representing the staunch British values of the time, or the values which the ruling classes wished to set for the unwashed masses watching the show.
either planned or unexpectedly, this episode caused a dramatic fall in the level of working class tourists visiting France from the UK in the 70s. you have to see it all in context of the time, and not by today's standard. in this era, or period, predominantly it was so that the majority of the gentry were not so confident in their sexuality that they were prepared to risk visiting a country where their sexual identity might magically change as a consequence of setting foot in the place. which is a shame, as France is a lovely place.
as someone who has never spoken of the French with anything but all the respect and admiration they thoroughly deserve, of course i was momentarily disarmed by this. then i simply switched off the show, after watching most of it, and got on with my life.
être excellents les uns envers les autres!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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