Amanda Vickery, the television presenter, is unhappy with Melvyn Bragg's treatment of a fellow woman historian on his Radio 4 programme In Our Time.
Historian Amanda Vickery says Melvyn Bragg should listen to his guests. Photo: BBC
Melvyn Bragg, who enjoys his popularity among women, has, however, managed to upset his fellow BBC presenter Amanda Vickery with his treatment of a female guest on his Radio 4 show.
During a lively debate on In Our Time on Thursday about the causes of the Industrial Revolution, Lord Bragg described a point made by Pat Hudson, the Professor Emerita of history at Cardiff University, as “rubbish”.
The usually smooth peer became so agitated that he could be heard thumping the table.
When another guest, William Ashworth, stepped in to support Bragg’s views, the peer snapped, “I can defend myself, thank you very much.”
Vickery, who created the popular documentary At Home With the Georgians, says:
“Hudson is a leading expert on industrialisation. Whole career spent researching it. Why couldn’t Melv defer to her knowledge?”
“Hudson is a leading expert on industrialisation. Whole career spent researching it. Why couldn’t Melv defer to her knowledge?”
The presenter, who has appeared on Bragg’s programme three times, adds: “Have to say In Our Time is gladiatorial murder to experience. If you wait politely for your turn, Melv will never bring you in.”
Chris Bryant skirts the issue at his party
With Scottish roots myself, I am not going to make any tired old jokes about how Chris Bryant, the Labour MP, who took such exception to being called a “panto dame” by George Osborne, was wearing a skirt at a party he hosted at his London home this week.
Still, he was wearing a kilt and, apparently, it did lead to some of his guests making ribald remarks after the “panto dame” episode. “I can’t see why he would have been wearing a kilt because he happens to be Welsh,” Daniel Butler, Bryant’s spokesman, initially tells me when I inquire.
The homosexual former Europe minister is, actually, Scottish on his mother’s side, and, as Butler later concedes, Bryant did wear a kilt to his civil partnership ceremony – the first to be held in the Houses of Parliament.
Don’t let’s get into the issue of whether the former Church of England priest wears Y-fronts beneath his kilt. As it is, 111,000 results come up on Google when you type in Bryant’s name and that particular garment.
Merry Christmas to one and all
Mandrake would like to thank all of you for your cards – even those of you who insisted, despite my best endeavours, on sending them electronically – and to wish you all a very happy Christmas and prosperous new year.
Mandrake returns on Boxing Day in The Sunday Telegraph.
Chris Bryant skirts the issue at his party
With Scottish roots myself, I am not going to make any tired old jokes about how Chris Bryant, the Labour MP, who took such exception to being called a “panto dame” by George Osborne, was wearing a skirt at a party he hosted at his London home this week.
Still, he was wearing a kilt and, apparently, it did lead to some of his guests making ribald remarks after the “panto dame” episode. “I can’t see why he would have been wearing a kilt because he happens to be Welsh,” Daniel Butler, Bryant’s spokesman, initially tells me when I inquire.
The homosexual former Europe minister is, actually, Scottish on his mother’s side, and, as Butler later concedes, Bryant did wear a kilt to his civil partnership ceremony – the first to be held in the Houses of Parliament.
Don’t let’s get into the issue of whether the former Church of England priest wears Y-fronts beneath his kilt. As it is, 111,000 results come up on Google when you type in Bryant’s name and that particular garment.
Merry Christmas to one and all
Mandrake would like to thank all of you for your cards – even those of you who insisted, despite my best endeavours, on sending them electronically – and to wish you all a very happy Christmas and prosperous new year.
Mandrake returns on Boxing Day in The Sunday Telegraph.
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