The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Saturday
Shane Watson People Watching
As we all emerge from lockdown hibernation, who is coming out of it looking better than when they went in? Joe Wicks became the chief energy sapper and Mr Motivator for millions of kids
Apart from the obvious heroes of lockdown – the NHS and front-line workers and those who stepped forward and made the very most of it (thinking of Captain Tom) – there are a few individuals who stand out as having had a particularly good lockdown. Our definition of a good lockdown is simple: for whatever reason, you’re coming out of it more liked and respected than you were when it started. Here’s a few people we’d like to nominate:
The Duchess of
Cambridge. Duchess
Kate has really found her mojo during lockdown. Whether it’s all that family time, or not having to wear 5in heels, or just knowing that MM is no longer out there drawing up the I Will Not Be Put in the Second Row Fightback Strategy (just kidding… sort of) the DOC is on cracking form. She’s smiley, confident, enthusiastic and getting stuck in, which is just what we like to see in our Royal family.
Marcus Rashford. The
22-year-old Manchester United footballer made his case to the
Government for extending free meal vouchers, and his persistence was rewarded. It wasn’t just the initiative but the quietly dignified manner in which he went about it that got our attention.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Everyone who watched SEB’s Friday night discos when her husband filmed her singing her own hits, dressed up in cocktail spangles under a disco ball while her kids danced around her (“whoops, finally trod on the baby”) fell in love with her. We can spot the difference between altruistic entertainment and self-love, or just desperation to be seen, as there was quite a lot of that in lockdown. Not SEB. Miss her.
Justin Trudeau. The Canadian PM’s popularity picked up considerably during lockdown for reasons that are almost certainly hairrelated. Two months in, Trudeau looked like a hot Italian footballer circa 1976, or a bears-in-thewoods logger kind of guy. Either works.
Joe Wicks. The fitness coach’s free online exercise classes were a lifeline for mums during the lockdown, because he became the chief energy sapper and Mr Motivator for millions of kids. That’s about 25 per cent of the reason.
Andrew Cotter. The Scottish rugby commentator who applied his live sport commentary to videos of his dogs, Maisie and Mabel, going about their daily routines. Funny, clever and he’s got a book deal out of it. (Also check out Winning From Home competition winner, Nala.)
Sally Rooney. Author of Normal People, or Daisy EdgarJones or Paul Mescal, who starred in the TV adaptation, which turned out to be the mustview of lockdown, unless it was Michaela Coel’s I May You Destroy You. Matt (O’)Damon. The Hollywood actor found himself stranded in a seaside village in south Dublin and was so unstarry (swimming in the freezing sea and carrying his trunks in a SuperValu carrier bag, was an early good move) that the locals closed ranks, saw off the press, and made him one of their own.