Re Complaints to the BBC
Wensleydale, Chugalug 2 , airsound, ricarian et-al
It’ll be interesting to read the Beeb’s reply, but don’t hold your breath about receiving a meaningful reply. Mention of letters to the Beeb and their reply set me rooting (no pun intended!) in my library for a book that I knew had examples of letters to the Beeb with the Beeb's replies.
Way back in 1980, William Donaldson a.k.a. Henry Root wrote a letter to Esther Rantzen at the BBC Television Centre in which Root informed Esther Rantzen that she was “a fat idiot” and her television show That’s Life “a disgrace”. He received a reply from the shows producers assuring him that “hearing from viewers like yourself is a tremendous morale boost for all of us.”
His letter and the reply was published in “The Henry Root Letters and I attach a scan of the relevant page.
Henry Root was a right-wing nutcase and wet fish merchant from Elm Park Mansions, Wimbledon, SW10, who specialised in writing brash, outrageous and frequently abusive letters to eminent public figures, his letter of complaint to Esther Rantzen and the Beeb is typical.
I’ve got three of the Henry Root books and they are some of the funniest books I’ve ever read and well worth a read if you can lay your hands on copies.
