Bm@il
Every week BARBARA FISHER looks at issues that affect us all – the issues that get you talking. You can join in by emailing bmailbarbara@gmail.com
AM I the only one who prefers Poldark with his clothes on? And isn’t it sexist to go on about his washboard chest and perfect pecs? Heaven help anyone who comments on Demelza’s legs or cleavage, however.
But we have long been fascinated by image – think Elizabeth I’s white face or Cleopatra’s pre-Sassoon bob.
Do you remember when Carol Vorderman changed her rather serious studenty image to morph into the attractive dark-haired presenter of Countdown? She was good at maths, everyone exclaimed, as if that was some kind of miracle.
Actually, I confess to being in the old, stereotypical female category of never succeeding at maths and science (and I know it’s blasphemy to stick a gender tag on anything these days).
There have always been plenty of female mathematicians, but people who like writing, or the arts generally – male and female – do often have problems using the other side of their brains.
I remember as a journalist when it came to working out our expenses each week many of us reporters struggled with the hideous notion of wrestling with numbers. That has nothing to do with creative accounting, by the way.
I spotted that Ms Vorderman has recently changed her image again, this time sporting long blonde locks. Is this all to do with the cliché about becoming invisible after 40?
I’d like anyone to try saying this to four actresses in their 70s and 80s who featured in the programme on BBC2, Nothing Like a Dame.
They included Eileen Atkins, Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright, who were highly visible, very funny, and shared some fascinating tales.
My favourite though, was Judi Dench’s anecdote about being treated by a paramedic after suffering a very nasty sting.
‘What is our name?’ he asked in a voice saved especially for old dears who haven’t been out of the house for decades.
I’d love to have seen his face when he discovered that she was a famous Oscar-winning actor who had just completed three weeks in A Winter’s Tale at the Garrick Theatre in London.
I’m sure the dames would have had something to add to the debate about disciplining children by humiliating them in public. I saw this happen only last week in Marks and Spencer, Uxbridge. A very young child was forced to face a blank display board, while she cried.
It is possible to get children to behave without an audience. Failing that, professional help should be given in private.
Or maybe send them to the dames.