I'd have loved to have seen it too (although i wouldn't actually have known who he was at the time)

i was 11 *gasp... that sounds so young even though it was only 4 years ago!

if you get the bbc's email address i'll email it too... INFACT  ANYONE READING THIS, EMAIL TOO then they may think it's wanted alot

quote:

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Originally posted by: Tina McBain
"He appeared on a Comic Relief Special in 2001.  And like most men, when they encounter a strong woman, collapsed in a heap; if my memory serves me correct he either took the walk of shame, or was certainly off early. Other guests on that episode included George Alagiah, Les Dennis, Loyd Grossman, Emma Freud, Dermot Murnaghan, Kirsty Wark and Michael Winner. We had to endure weeks of Bob making excuses, but no worries, it was all in a good cause."

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Anne Robinson is not a "strong woman".

She is an obnoxious, low-life patronising piece of s**t, symptomatic of what passes for culture in Britain today where cruelty masquerades as humour. See also Trinny Woodall & minor Royal Suzanne Constantine.

A Senga on a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 could do what Robinson could do.

And as was proven on the infamous episode with the Paisley man from the Sandyford Hides & Skins, this so-called "strong woman" couldn't take it the way she dishes it out:

Anne Robinson : So what makes you think an abattoir worker can win The Weakest Link?

Contestant : Well, for a start, I'm used to dealing with mad cows...

(Robinson's face now like fizz - but you should have seen her when he won!)

Strong woman? Give me Toni Halliday anyday!

quote:

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Originally posted by: Jules
"I'm guessing he was probably asked (being for charity and having participated in comic relief staff before) also he might have like the idea of winning I think Ann Robinson is strong in that she was able to give up alcohol and face the reality of how it affected her daughter. She is definitely strong in that sense. The rest I think is put on for the show and has proved to be extremely popular. She does go beyond the edge at times and is far too personal, however if you were too sensitive you wouldn't offer to go on the show in the first place, so you should know what you're in for. What is your definition of a strong woman? Please note this is not flaming, it is a friendly debate "

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My definition of a strong woman?

Same as that for a strong man.

Why should it be any different?

Why do we still make this distinction of "a strong woman" anyway?

When was the last time you heard someone say "Oh Tony Blair won't go on Newsnight because he can't face a strong man like Jeremy Paxman?"

The cult of Victimhood rides again.

Joan of Arc would spin in her grave, if only they hadn't cremated her!

quote:

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Originally posted by: Jules
"So then tell me your definition of a strong human being It is men who have made us make this distinction but naming us the fairer sex. I believe that men and women have different kinds of strengths."

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Have we? In white western culture, maybe, but elsewhere?

If I was to name one woman in particular that stands out for strength, I would have to say Lady Jane Grey. Had she not been caught up in the Duke of Northumberland's attempted coup d'etet, she would have been remembered instead for the "Zurich Letters" with Bucher, Zwingli & the rest of the head-honchos of the Reformation, which demonstrated that a woman (& a 15 year old one at that) could argue the toss with the leading male scholars of the age on equal terms, and refused to accept St Paul's rubbish about women "keeping silent".

I may not exactly agree with everything she said, but she was a product of the factionalisation of her age between the Roman Catholic Church & the 57 Varieties of Reformed Christianity, and she stood her ground on her beliefs rather than pretend as so many did in order to save their necks (amongst them, the future Queen Elizabeth I), knowing she was condemning herself to death in the process & was understandably terrified. Had Queen Mary had half of her strength, she would have refused to buckle to Spanish demands for her to execute her favourite cousin, whom she knew full well was an unwilling pawn of the intrigues of English nobles.

Kipling's "If" (written initially for his son to be remembered when Kipling was dead and gone - alas, his son was to die before him, killed in World War One) is as good a lasting definition of what true human strength is as any:

"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!"

Ah, I only gave Lady Jane Grey as an example. A lot of others - like Joan of Arc fit the bill too.

One man that readily comes to mind would be Winston Churchill - who spent seven long years being ridiculed for saying how dangerous Hitler was. By the time he was proven right, it was almost too late, yet he rallied the whole nation - if not the world - into believing that not only could Hitler be stopped, but would be stopped, though you would not have found a bookie on the planet that would have bet on it. Churchill made mistakes, and was willing to accept them, then get up & get back to the problem in hand - as opposed to most politicians whom simply try to put the blame on a subordinate or resign on a fat pay off. More to the point, his strength was heightened in that his persona gave others strength, he made them believe anything was possible, and that they were the ones to deliver it: that's a hallmark of true strength of character.