celebs – Page 15 – Rob Mansfield: Content-ment

Is getting older something to be applauded?

Donald Sutherland appeared on Jonathan Ross’ show last Friday to promote his new series Dirty Sexy Money.

When Ross asked him his age and he admitted to being 72, the entire audience applauded!

Sutherland looked bemused and made a gag about it, but it did make me think why people feel the need to clap someone simply for being a certain age.

I know they were also doffing their proverbial caps to his continued career in acting, but it’s not exactly that much of a shock, is it?

I also found the recent tributes to Bruce Forsyth slightly baffling. OK, so he’s 80 and he’s still working, but is that really deserving of such a huge kerfuffle that the BBC made of it?

The entertainment profession is one of the few where age doesn’t seem to be a barrier, so carrying on past the age where you’d get your bus pass shouldn’t exactly herald a need to hang out the bunting, should it?

When there’s just no point in famous faces

Today, Fiona Phillips starts her stint as a radio DJ on Smooth Radio.

If you were up early this morning, you will also have been able to catch Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen presenting the Sunday Spa on Classic FM.

I’m sure these two will be fine in their new job, but what happened to the notion of getting properly-trained radio DJs to present shows, rather than bussing in people famous for their face.

Surely people listen to Classic FM for the music, not to hear a posh interior designer wittering on between a couple of tunes by Satie and Mozart.

And Fiona Phillips might be good at sitting on a couch at 5am and making people feel better about the start of the day, but how does that quality her for a job behind a microphone where no-one can actually see her face.

Celebrity radio has recently become the thing to do. Classic FM also hired Alex ‘I make cheese’ James in their recent revamp, an even more odd choice, if you ask me.

It’s only when you listen to the likes of Brian Matthews presenting Sounds Of The 60s on Saturday morning Radio 2 that you realise what a proper DJ should sound like.

Some ‘famous faces’ adapt quite well – I’m actually quite a fan of Dermot O’Leary, although his Big Brother sidekick Davina McCall did a pretty ropey job standing in for Ken Bruce (I think) last year.

Virgin Radio have tried something similar. They got Shane Richie to try his spinning the wheels of steel last year, which I’m pretty sure developed a flat tyre quicker than you could say Kwik fit.

Now Tony Hadley presents their Saturday night party classics show and is, to coin a Simon Cowell phrase, distinctly average.

I reckon that most of them are going wrong is one simple regard. To sound good on the radio, you have to imagine you’re talking to one person, rather than 1 million.

Perhaps some of these ‘celebrity’ signings should try and see how well it works.

In defence of Carla Bruni

There has been a lot of news coverage of the state visit of French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his new wife Carla Bruni to the UK.

It just so happens that pictures of a nude Ms Bruni are being sold at auction to coincide with the visit and she she has also been accused of cashing in in other ways.

Now, clearly Carla Bruni is a model and there are bound to be pictures of her in various provocative poses, something that’s not exactly a surprise.

But I wish more people knew about her fantastic and burgeoning music career. Last year, she put out a beautiful album called Promises on which she puts famous poetry to music.

To give you an idea of how lovely and dreamy she sounds, this is I Felt My Life With Both My Hands, her version of the Emily Dickinson poem.