National Treasures

[Wowbagger]

I heard someone on the radio the other day referring to Alan Bennett as a "national treasure" and started thinking about what it was that made someone a National Treasure.

Who else is a national treasure? I'll start with an easy one: David Attenborough.

[Mr Larrington]

Michael Palin definitely.  Gary Lineker could be with practice.  Chris Boardman might yet be as long as he (does not) calls Edmund King something vulgar and anatomical on live television.

[Chris N]

Adele

[Jaded]

Kylie Minogue

[redshift]

I quite like the Japanese idea of 'national living treasures' who preserve 'intangible cultural assets' such as traditional lacquerware, paper making or swordsmithing, rather than promoting some self-publicist who is famous for being famous.

[hillbilly]

I associate the term with people who were pre eminent in their field but who are now advanced in years.  Usually the continue to produce strong work.

Sir Ian MacKellan springs to mind. Helen Mirren is another, along with Judy Dench.  David Hockney from the arts world and Bruce Forsyth from light entertainment.

[Hot Flatus]

Mostly they are hackneyed old clichés.

[Kim]

If they were really national treasures, the Tories would have sold them off by now.

[Wowbagger]

I associate the term with people who were pre eminent in their field but who are now advanced in years.  Usually the continue to produce strong work.

Sir Ian MacKellan springs to mind. Helen Mirren is another, along with Judy Dench.  David Hockney from the arts world and Bruce Forsyth from light entertainment.

I had Dench & Mirren in mind as well. Nicholas Parsons? He's still gushing his way through JaM and he's over 90.

I think Brian Cox has "trainee national treasure" written all over him, but of course he's too young to be the genuine article.

I would also mention Simon Rattle, except he blotted his copybook by buggering off to Berlin. John Lill isn't famous enough outside his field (concert pianist) but he has been around for years (won the Moscow piano competition in the 1970s IIRC) and in recent years survived a mugging attack in which the shits who attacked him deliberately slashed his hands.

[Mr Larrington]

In any sane world John Surtees would have been knighted decades ago but he's not on telly enough to be an NT.

Guy Martin has potential but is probably too sweary to make it past Apprentice level.  See also Wilko Johnson.

And there's one man who united the country like no-one before or since, but Adolf Hitler has to be disqualified on the grounds of being:

• FOREIGN, and
• dead

[Wowbagger]

I'd nominate Leonard Barden. Because he is a chess player no-one else will care, but he was a good player in his day (British Champion 1954), has turned down an honour (*BE but I don't know which), was responsible for the training of the young players who made England the world's second-strongest chess-playing nation in the 1980s (behind USSR) and has been writing an excellent article for the Graun for as long as anyone can remember.

He is also one of the few surviving players with a Morphy Number of 3, and it is because I once played him that I have a Morphy Number of 4.

He is also a damned good sort.

[Mr Larrington]

I'd have thought that to be an NT a substantial portion of the nation should have heard of them

[Ian H]

Denis Skinner is manfully refusing to submit to such an indignity.

Who is there who, even into great old-age, could never become one?

[citoyen]

Mostly they are hackneyed old clichés.

This is why I wouldn't use the term to describe anyone I like and/or respect.

If they were really national treasures, the Tories would have sold them off by now.

Zing!

I'd nominate Leonard Barden. Because he is a chess player no-one else will care...

Current mainstream recognition is one of the prerequisites, surely? It has nothing to do with the talent, achievements or other merits of the individual, the term functions more as an evaluation of their cultural longevity. If Leonard Barden were ever truly famous, he's under the popular radar now.

[LEE]

I'd nominate Leonard Barden.

Can I nominate Wowbagger?

Does anyone else have the same wonderful ability to know of obscure "famous people" , at the almost total exclusion of actual "famous people" everyone else has heard about?

[mattc]

Stephen Fry.

(This feels like Mornington Crescent; so obvious, that I cant quite see why noone else has mentioned him...  )


Kylie made a big step towards the list with last week's D-I-Discs appearance. (she's currently far too fanciable, but it's a fine line ... )

[Karla]

This reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "She's beautiful, she's rich, she's got hyooooge ... national treasures!

[Mr Larrington]

Kylie made a big step towards the list with last week's D-I-Discs appearance. (she's currently far too fanciable, but it's a fine line ... )

She's also far too FOREIGN,  And as far as I'm concerned has all the allure of Julie Andrews dressed as John Major.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

In any sane world John Surtees would have been knighted decades ago but he's not on telly enough to be an NT.

Guy Martin has potential but is probably too sweary to make it past Apprentice level.  See also Wilko Johnson.

And there's one man who united the country like no-one before or since, but Adolf Hitler has to be disqualified on the grounds of being:

• FOREIGN, and
• dead

Talking of Apprentices,  Alan Lord Sugar?   

[Tim Hall]

Umm, thingy. The woman who was in that detective thing set at the seaside. Olivia Colman.

[madcow]

Definitely not LORD Sugar , as he insists everyone calls him.

Dame Vera Lynn.

[citoyen]

Stephen Fry.

(This feels like Mornington Crescent; so obvious, that I cant quite see why noone else has mentioned him...  )

Funnily enough, he crossed my mind while I was writing my post yesterday. As did Barbara Windsor.

[Wowbagger]

I think National Treasures need to be uncontroversial. Alan Sugar? No chance. You might as well nominate George Osborne.

I think Stephen Fry tries too hard and has too thick a layer of unction.

I have always thought of Barbara Windsor as an odious woman. Don't know why. Her comment about non-poppy wearers last month was an example.

[Thor]

Kylie made a big step towards the list with last week's D-I-Discs appearance. (she's currently far too fanciable, but it's a fine line ... )

She's also far too FOREIGN,  And as far as I'm concerned has all the allure of Julie Andrews dressed as John Major.

In which case, Joan Bakewell, the thinking person's crumpet.

[mattc]

Umm, thingy. The woman who was in that detective thing set at the seaside. Olivia Colman.

Ho yes. A very very strong candidate. (i think it's Coleman BTW. And the thing at the seaside is about the only thing I haven't seen of hers!)

I think Stephen Fry tries to hard and has too thick a layer of unction.

How very dare you say such a thing about dear Stephen. Step outside now Sir!


_{(we can continue when you come back in).}