The Pride Of Britain
★★★★★
Whenever something bad is in the news my wife and I always tell our kids the same reassuring message.
“These things are incredibly rare. The overwhelming majority of people in the world are not horrible.”
If they require further evidence of that last bit we can now direct them to a recording of last night’s Pride Of Britain Awards which, I am happy to report, were everything my editor would have hoped I’d say they were.
Heart-warming, life-affirming, hilarious and inspirational. Plus, Carol Vorderman even threw in some tidy topical gags during her welcome speech.
Under normal circumstances you might expect me to have a dig or two at celebrities happily associating themselves with a high-profile event that reflects well on their image.
Luckily, Paul O’Grady nipped that one in the bud on his way in: “It’s not about celebrities. It’s about real people doing good stuff.”
Spot on. In fact the focus this year appeared to be much more on the real people than in previous years.
Then again with someone as charismatic as Child Of Courage Award winner Ella Chadwick on that stage the celebrities were never going to get a look in. Not many 11-year-olds can say they put Simon Cowell AND David Beckham in the shade on the same night.
Ella undoubtedly stole the show, but for me the quote of the night came from 87-year-old soup kitchen worker Icolyn “Ma” Smith, who collected the Community Partner Award: “I can’t save the world. I can’t help everybody. But I can do something to help someone.”