A True Hero of Our Time
August 14, 2010
Amid all of the hoo-hah about the flight attendant who lost his rag at the end of a flight, threw a foul-mouthed benny (as we say in the UK), exited the plane by emergency chute and is now (according to some reports) to be rewarded with a reality TV show, are some real insights into our day and age, none of them flattering. Loutish puerility rules the day. Where has the wit and cleverness of the truly subversive gone?
Well, if you want to read about a real hero of our time, about rebellion laced with comic genius, then you need to read about Maurice Flitcroft, the world's worst golfer. Compared to Flitcroft, the rebels and iconoclasts we exalt on reality TV are amateur hacks, posers, and just plain boring. This book is an absolutely hilarious story; and the fact that it is true makes it all the more remarkable. And it is a masterclass in how, even if you can't necessarily beat the patrician establishment, you can have much more fun trying to do so than "they" ever have defending it.
Raymond Chandler once wrote that while the English do not make the best writers, they undoubtedly make the dullest writers. That may be true. But we have produced our fair share of characters.
Well, if you want to read about a real hero of our time, about rebellion laced with comic genius, then you need to read about Maurice Flitcroft, the world's worst golfer. Compared to Flitcroft, the rebels and iconoclasts we exalt on reality TV are amateur hacks, posers, and just plain boring. This book is an absolutely hilarious story; and the fact that it is true makes it all the more remarkable. And it is a masterclass in how, even if you can't necessarily beat the patrician establishment, you can have much more fun trying to do so than "they" ever have defending it.
Raymond Chandler once wrote that while the English do not make the best writers, they undoubtedly make the dullest writers. That may be true. But we have produced our fair share of characters.
