Confessions of an Anglophile

I must admit to a weird little predilection of mine. There is something absolutely fascinating to me about the Brits. Their culture is so alien to our own yet the shared language and many common values give a sense of Deja Vu. (on a side note, I find it very entertaining that I use a French term to describe my feelings about the English) I love the feel of received pronunciation on my ears but even a strong cockney accent or thick brogue makes me smile.

It probably started in my formative years early morning Saturdays. I usually would wake up too late to catch the normal cartoon fare. I would typically watch what would become my favorite three shows; This Old House, Victory Garden and Doctor Who. The first two fueled other interests of mine but watching the Doctor was great entertainment. I came to identify with the Intrepid Doctor's sidekicks as they saved the day on whatever planet, battled various forms of evil in the galaxy and then whisked off to some other place and time. When I would visit my Dad, who had cable TV (oh what a wondrous joy that was), I would also enjoy the Cosgrove Hall masterpiece, Danger Mouse. I can't tell you how happy I am that I am able to share Danger Mouse and Doctor Who with my own kids in DVD form as well as the beautifully done ongoing Doctor Who series. Other early Anglo TV influences include the BBC comedies Fawlty Towers, Monty Python Flying Circus, Good Neighbors and To the Manor Born whenever they appeared on local broadcast PBS. It was more than just TV. I also remember following the royal wedding of Charles and Diana sitting in a hotel room with my family and learning about Lord Baden Powell, founder of scouting, at our scout camp which was named after him.

I've come to love other current BBC shows like, As Time Goes By, starring Dame Judi Dench and Geoffery Palmer. My love of cars led me to the great show, Top Gear and a friend turned me on to watching Quite Interesting with Stephen Fry. The Sherlock series was peerless and makes me excited to see Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in the new Hobbit movie.  Other more recent loves include BBC4 radio podcasts like In Our Time, Thinking Allowed, Material World and Gardeners Question Time which I use to entertain me on long drives or plane rides.

So as you may have noticed, I have gone to the trouble of dropping a bunch of links.  This is all part of my nefarious plot to create new Anglophiles.  Click on the links at your peril.