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On a quest for Top Gear bloopers, I watched some stuff cut out of the News earlier this year. There are lots of silly lols, as you might expect, and then this really nasty little bit where they slag off a woman for being ugly.
Obviously, the "news" on TG is entertainment, not actual information, as Googling any of their little outrages about the government or environment will quickly demonstrate. But that brief descent into boorishness disappointed me so much that I couldn't help looking up the lady in question, thereby discovering that (a) she probably does know what "novel batteries" means, being a former Director of Advanced Engineering at Rolls-Royce, former chief executive of the Institute of Physics, and so on, (b) her appearance is perfectly normal and in fact she probably looks like your mum and (c) she's around the same age as Clarkson.
They're lucky that bit wasn't broadcast, really: how large a part of TG's audience is made up of perfectly normal-looking women of a certain age? Pissing them off could dent the boys' chances of being voted "weird crush of the year" again. Although I'm sure the ladies would have enjoyed as much as I did what appears to be a helpful offer by Richard to ejaculate into Jeremy's mouth.
(If you're interested, search the PDF of the King Review's Recommendations for Action for the phrase "novel batteries". If you're only slightly interested: cutting CO2 requires r&d to find technological solutions, such as new kinds of batteries.)
ETA: I'm not sure if the TG Australia site provides subtitles / transcripts. If you need one of the bit in question, leave a comment and I'll type it up. ETA: There's a transcript of the relevant bit in the comments.
Obviously, the "news" on TG is entertainment, not actual information, as Googling any of their little outrages about the government or environment will quickly demonstrate. But that brief descent into boorishness disappointed me so much that I couldn't help looking up the lady in question, thereby discovering that (a) she probably does know what "novel batteries" means, being a former Director of Advanced Engineering at Rolls-Royce, former chief executive of the Institute of Physics, and so on, (b) her appearance is perfectly normal and in fact she probably looks like your mum and (c) she's around the same age as Clarkson.
They're lucky that bit wasn't broadcast, really: how large a part of TG's audience is made up of perfectly normal-looking women of a certain age? Pissing them off could dent the boys' chances of being voted "weird crush of the year" again. Although I'm sure the ladies would have enjoyed as much as I did what appears to be a helpful offer by Richard to ejaculate into Jeremy's mouth.
(If you're interested, search the PDF of the King Review's Recommendations for Action for the phrase "novel batteries". If you're only slightly interested: cutting CO2 requires r&d to find technological solutions, such as new kinds of batteries.)
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Date: 2009-06-30 05:36 am (UTC)I've met her. She's really nice. And I didn't notice her being ugly.
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Date: 2009-06-30 07:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-30 10:33 am (UTC)What a bunch of wankers, though. She's a capable, intelligent and pleasant woman for whom I have an awful lot more respect than I have for Jeremy Clarkson.
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Date: 2009-06-30 12:27 pm (UTC)(I'm pretty sure any mention of the lady's name is safe from search engines here in the comments.)
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Date: 2009-06-30 06:54 am (UTC)also, alas, i cannot see the vid - it tells me it's unavailable and to check back later. it has been telling me that for the last few hours. :( *is on tenterhooks wondering what jeremy's answer to richard's helpful offer was*
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Date: 2009-06-30 07:47 am (UTC)Here's a tx of the relevant bit:
JC: You know the government has pledged to halve the amount of carbon dioxide that we all make within the next 17 years. There's this woman who's on the climate change committee, which is a sort of government thing. She says that we've all, all of us, including you [May] with your Peugeot 486, have got to buy an electric vehicle, and she says these electric vehicles are going to run on "novel batteries", charged by carbon-free electricity that we shall somehow make without harming any fluffy polar bears of anything.
RH: What does she mean by "novel batteries"? Novel...?
JC: Well obviously she has no idea how these batteries will actually work. Other than the fact that they're going to be running on magic and made in the forest by goblins.
JM: She hasn't really worked out the details of this, has she? It's a sort of a work for Citroen [inaudible]
RH: Is she good-looking?
JC: Is she what?
RH: Good-looking?
JC: I have actually got a picture of her here. *he shows Richard what is almost certainly Dr King's unflattering Wikipedia portrait*
RH: Well, maybe she's funny. [audience laughter] Rich! Really dirty?
JC: *shows audience* [audience groans]
RH: Not enough?
JC: This is the woman that's gonna ruin your life.
RH: Maybe she's all of those things!
JC: I would rather - *shows a picture of a Gammorean from "Return of the Jedi"*
RH: Hell-o!
JC: [who's using "artificial saliva" to combat laryngitis] I'm going need somebody to spit in my mouth. [to blonde in audience whose breasts he was admiring earlier, whose smile is becoming rather pastede on by this point] Could you do it?
RH: *leaping up and pretending to undo his fly* I can! It's not gonna be spit, as such, but it'll do the trick.
JC: *demurs*
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Date: 2009-06-30 08:09 am (UTC)0_ô
agree to really disagree on that one...in my book, the only bigger (modern) offender in the 'comedy mother stereotype' category is jk rowling.
and re: the top gear clip - you know, i think i've actually seen that one! was the fly pantomime bit in the actual show? the 'funny? rich?' bit sounds familiar too, though...*thinks uncomfortable thoughts about early senility, and wonders if the outtakes on the tg site used to actually work for me, once upon a time*
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Date: 2009-06-30 12:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-30 09:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-30 12:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-30 11:43 am (UTC)I'd say that calling a particular woman 'not good looking' is fairly mild for what they get up to! I suspect that none of them are particularly sexist, just as none of them actually believe that lorry drivers all murder prostitutes.
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Date: 2009-06-30 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-30 01:20 pm (UTC)