Radio
Leicester Thought for the Day
©
John Denney 28 July 2003
There’s
a story about a famous novelist who gave a lecture to students on a creative
writing course. “The key ingredients of
a successful novel,” said the writer, “are religion, nobility, sex and
mystery”. Following the lecture, the
students were set a task to write a story containing those elements. Within thirty seconds, one student produced
her effort. It read: “My God,” said the
Duchess, “I’m pregnant. Whodunnit?”
And
you have to say that this is very much the pattern to which our newspapers – at
least the tabloids – conform. Their staple diet consists of stories about
religion, about what they call “toffs”, about crimes that are mysteries until
they are cleared up, and above all, about sex.
When they can combine two or more of these elements, they are in
clover. Look at the acres of newsprint
concerning last week’s release from prison of Lord Archer. He’s a toff – of sorts – and he had been
imprisoned for creating a mystery about his actions by committing perjury. And if we can extend the definition of “toff”
to the modern aristocracy of celebrities, then the papers are full of stories
about who is having an affair with whom.
The
weekend tabloids were full of a story that combines what they think an unlikely
combination. Cameron Stout has won the
Big Brother contest on Channel 4. The
thing that has astonished the papers is that Cameron Stout is a committed
Christian. Somehow, the papers think
that this makes him abnormal. They
commented on the fact that not only did he take a copy of the Bible into the
house as his only permitted reading material, but that he actually read it on a
daily basis. And something else. Cameron Stout has kept his chastity,
reserving any sexual expression for a future wife. What really exasperates the tabloids is that
Cameron hasn’t conformed to their false picture
of people as sex-mad, alcohol-fuelled hedonists. Cameron is in fact a normal guy. And in his own words, he isn’t religious: but
he has a direct and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Should
we be surprised that Cameron is a Christian in the public eye? Well, there are countless other famous people
who are Christians too. They’re not
abnormal either. In fact, nearly 72% of
this country’s population claim to be Christian, according to the recent
national census.
So
I wish Cameron well. Sometimes nice guys
do win.