Och aye the News
Host gets pelters for jibes and dodgy accent on panel show
Jeremy Paxman has been scolded for his “pitiful” attempt at a Scots accent on Have I Got News For You.
The former Newsnight presenter hosted the return of the comedy quiz show on Friday night despite once declaring he’d rather have his privates “crushed between two bricks”.
He starred alongside regular panellists Ian Hislop and Paul Merton plus guests comedian Josh Widdecombe and BBC reporter Steph McGovern.
And he might have wished he hadn’t bothered after his belligerent and shouty appearance sparked a backlash.
Paxman put on a Scottish accent introducing McGovern by joking: “On Ian’s team tonight is a BBC business presenter whose Middlesbrough accent meant she was told to take elocution lessons. “As was I when I left auld Glasgae.” But Pauline Cairns-Speitel, senior editor of Scottish Language Dictionaries, ridiculed Paxman’s attempt at Glaswegian brogue.
The speech expert said: “His attempt at a Scots accent? Well, don’t give up the day job, Jeremy.
“It was a quite pitiful attempt. I think he does actually somewhere
along the line have some Scottish or Glasgow ancestry but he hides it well. “It was a bit too harsh and he didn’t sound like he was from Glasgow at all. It was an obvious fake.
“He’s upset people in Scotland in the past so I’m sure he doesn’t care.”
Hosts reportedly pick up around £12,000 to do HIGNFY. Hislop and Merton are rumoured to be on double and Paxman’s fee is expected to be more than normal because he’s turned the show down on numerous occasions. Paxman also risked upsetting viewers by making a gag that Dolly the Sheep had been served up in the canteen at the National Museum of Scotland. As wel l as riling Scots, Paxman also had a dig at the Polish. He said: “According to The Mirror, Theresa May ended her Brexit tour having tea with a group of Poles who’ve made their home in Britain. Actually, they made my home in Britain too.” Paxman was called a “patronising git” by BBC reporter McGovern and viewers took to Twitter to slam the 67-year-old’s performance. Gillian Martin tweeted: “Is Jeremy Paxman morphing into the Duke of Edinburgh?” Lesley Welsh posted: “Can’t stand to watch any more of the utterly rude and obnoxious Jeremy Paxman.” Paxman has been a regular baiter of Scots despite reveal ing his grandmother was from Glasgow. He has branded poet Robert Burns’ work “sentimental doggerel”, insisted the kilt was invented by an Englishman and suggested the Highland Clearances had been the subject of myth-making. He once branded Tony Blair’s Labour government a “tartan Raj” and made no secret of his disgust at the BBC’s Newsnight Scotland opt- out which he branded a “damn fool idea’”and a “dog’s breakfast”. Paxman did not respond to our request for a comment.
He didn’t sound like he was from Glasgow at all. It was an obvious fake