Cheggers plays pop with his strop

I LIKE Keith Chegwin. Okay he's a bit cheesy, countless folk have taken a pop at the erstwhile entertainer - once he was accused of plagiarising other comedian's jokes, but he's charming and harmless, belonging to a rose-tinted era of Swap Shop, Saturday Superstore and even Cheggers Plays Pop! 

Not the greatest TV in the world for sure - nor was Mike Reid's "Runaround" or "Crackerjack" with Don Maclean, but it was still vintage Nesquik and biscuits telly. For folks like me who grew up in this cosy age of innocence and fun, Cheggers is just fine.

So surprisingly, Cheggers became embroiled this week in a Twitter row with a BBC journalist who insisted: "Keith Chegwin's voice makes me feel physically sick".

Cheggers is due to take on the role of Aladdin at the Swindon pantomime this year - last Christmas he starred as Buttons in the town's panto and, according to the manager of the Wyvern Theatre, Derek Aldridge, who I know well, the TV entertainer was brilliant - both on and off stage with all the promotional work.

Now the journalist who sent the inflammatory Tweet is someone I also know. BBC Wiltshire's Marie Lennon is a sweet, petite lady who is a producer for the radio station. She also presents a Thursday evening music show for unsigned bands which has been running successfully for a couple of years now. 

While I was editor in Swindon, Marie and I used to meet most mornings when I was doing a daily slot on BBC Wiltshire's breakfast show which she helped produce. 

Now Marie is not exactly one of BBC Wiltshire's frontline presenters, unlike my former sparring partner Graham Mack, the radio station's breakfast show presenter, who enjoys a very high profile in Swindon.  A Twitter fiend, who even Tweets his daily weight, Graham even has his own band which features the chief executive of Swindon Borough Council, Gavin Jones, on lead guitar.

Taking over the mantle which I once held, if there's an envelope opening in Swindon then you can be sure you'll find Graham there; so much so that had he offered a similarly barbed opinon to Marie's then a few more heads would have been turned, albeit still unjustifiably!

Marie, to be blunt, doesn't enjoy the same high profile in the town, let alone Wiltshire or nationally. Her Twitter account, now deleted, stated that she is "a reporter and presenter @ BBCWiltshire, radio fan, gallivanter, ranter, views are MINE". She had a prolific number of followers on Twitter - 283 folk followed her 1,361 Tweets! 

Even so, despite the small numbers of followers and her relatively low profile, Marie's Cheggers Tweet was picked up last Saturday by my former paper, the Swindon Advertiser; within days the story had reappeared in the nationals and was soon all over Twittersphere. 

Marie hastily pulled the Tweet once the flak had started flying. This, not before Cheggers had Tweeted angrily: "@BBCWiltshire Top presenter @marie_lennon using BBC’s name, is slagging me off. How BBC Radio has changed. Sad." with the ungracious follow-up: "@marie_lennon the @BBCWiltshire presenter has deleted rude Tweet about me. Still using BBC's name 2 get followers?"

The BBC even put out an unnecessarily starchy statement: "This was her (Marie's) personal view for which she has now apologised. It doesn't reflect the views of the station. BBC Wiltshire is looking forward to Keith Chegwin appearing in the pantomime at the Wyvern Theatre this Christmas."

My friend Derek at the Wyvern must have been rubbing his hands with glee at the unexpected pre-panto publicity, but come on, what agenda was being played here? 

I have my suspicions - but that's the point, I'm not going to spout forth at this point because I know that this blog will be picked up by journalism websites and by Monday you can be sure you'll have another headline: "Former regional editor slams...." (as has happened twice already).

As for Marie, she voiced an honestly held opinion. She stated in her Twitter account that this was her opinion, and not the BBC's, but that doesn't seem to count a jot.

 

 

Hers was not a unique thought, and not one I necessarily agree with - I can't stand Johnny Vegas or Joe Pasquale's squeaky tones, that's my personal preference, but why should she be roasted by the media for voicing an opinion?

 

 

As for Cheggers' over-the-top reaction, come on Keith, I'm sure you've heard worse insults - I certainly have! Are you really bothered what a BBC journalist who you had probably never heard of before has to say?

And isn't that the problem? The knee-jerk nature of the Twittersphere, Facebook and blogs, even texting, means that now we are all being judged more than ever by our digital words - our off-the-cuff reactions.

 

 

As a result, those with an agenda or an axe to grind will exploit them with no perspective or context given to the comments. I'm not suggesting we should shed responsibility and accountability for our actions and words - actually, if you've got nothing worthwhile to say, then don't say it. It's that word - perspective, as well as understanding the value of those words which should be foremost with any judgement or recycling.

 

 

I have Tweetdeck running on my work laptop every day where I can see Twitter conversations from a host of people - from Alan Sugar and Piers Morgan having their daily rants at each other, to sports stars like Rio Ferdinand and Joey Barton letting off steam, along with hundreds upon hundreds of folk from all walks of life.

Some of the comments are so crass and turgid, you wonder why they bother to Tweet. I don't Tweet regularly because who is really interested? At least in a blog you can put forward a more cogent opinion, but even then you need restraint for fear of those words being turned against you. And isn't that wrong. Shouldn't there be a freedom of expression?

 

 

Why are we so judgemental, why are we do disproportionate in our judgements? 

 

 

Ultimately, this mealy-mouthed attitude is going to sound the death knell of quality blogging and Tweeting, which instead will just become banal and boring. Those with something worthwhile to say will either walk away or won't voice well-held opinions for fear of being publicly pilloried.

Cheggers remains a decent guy in my book, and I'll probably get along to the panto in Swindon this Christmas, but talk about a storm in a tea cup.

Marie had nothing to apologise for, and as for her Tweet being considered a major news item - well, it must have been an extremely slow news day in Swindon!