People in the UK are united in celebration of The Queen's leadership...but they also seem quite in unison regarding the "lamentable" coverage of the event by the BBC. In fact, in an online poll carried by the Telegraph in London, 92% of readers condemn the public television system's lackluster coverage the various events surrounding the Jubilee.
One wonders what little Socialist anti-monarchist minion at the BBC is responsible for this!
"Seems we all agree on terrible BBC coverage. Low grade, celebrity driven
drivel. How did Beeb get it so wrong" he wrote.
Despite the poor coverage those who turned out for event enjoyed the day in
spite of torrential downpours.
The Queen smiled on through the cold and wet, resisting the joint temptations
of an indoor berth and a hot cup of tea to wave non-stop from the windswept
deck of the royal barge from start to finish of the Thames
Diamond
Jubilee Pageant.
“It was absolutely worth waiting for,” said a shivering Joanne Revitt, 48, who
watched the procession from the Embankment near the tower of Big Ben (or the
Queen Elizabeth Tower, as MPs want to rename it).
“The Queen looked stunning and I am quite convinced she waved at me as she
went past,” she added.
Countless thousands of others no doubt went home with the same belief, and
they would have gone home happy as a result.
It was, the Duke of Cambridge told one guest, a “very emotional” day for his
grandmother and at times it showed as she seemed slightly overwhelmed by the
scale of the public’s response.
The BBC defended its coverage. A spokesman said: "We're very proud of the
quality and breadth of the BBC's coverage of this extraordinary event."
But those watching at home were less than complimentary.
One posted: "BBC's coverage of the jubilee is awful! Bad camera angles
and bad presenting. Sky much better."
Another said: "Are the BBC trying to be quaint and 'British' with their
p*** awful coverage?"
Another damning posting from the politician read: "Which is worse, the
heavy rain falling on the flotilla along the Thames or the BBC's dreadful
coverage of this Royal Jubilee event?"
Austin Mitchell, Labour MP for Great Grimsby, summed up the coverage in
similarly disparaging terms.
"One hated Thames Armada. No Navy left so hordes of tatty boats. Queen
freezing, BBC 5Live and TV commentary pathetic. A disgrace," he
An estimated 1.2million people, a bigger turnout than for last year’s royal
wedding, lined 14 miles of riverbank, turning it into an unbroken chain of
red, white and blue.
For the artists on the Millennium Bridge who had been invited to paint the
21st century’s “Canaletto Moment”, however, the colour palette was
overwhelmingly grey.
No one would have blamed the Queen if she had turned out in oilskins, but
instead she wowed the crowds in an ivory coloured bouclé dress and coat,
braided with silk ribbon and with a silk organza frill, which included a
clever nod to her three big jubilees.
Made by the Queen’s dresser Angela Kelly, it was embroidered with gold and
silver spots and embellished with crystals to represent diamonds. Was it
coincidence that it seemed to borrow from the Ditchley portrait of Elizabeth
I wearing a similarly opulent spotted dress?
The day had begun with six million people around the country attending 10,000
street parties from Devon to Dumfriesshire, almost all of which had gone
ahead despite the weather. The one notable exception was Downing Street,
where David and Samantha Cameron decided to move their party indoors to
escape a drenching.
At 2.10pm, as the trifles and chocolate fingers were being polished off around
the country (triggering a mass retreat to the comfort of a dry sofa and a
television set), the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh made their entrance.
Waiting for them at Chelsea Pier were the Prince of Wales and Duchess of
Cornwall, together with an honour guard of 22 Chelsea Pensioners.
Over her wrist, the Queen had brought what at first glance appeared to be a
small towel (which would have been sensible enough) but later proved to be a
shawl — her only concession to the drizzle — which she reluctantly deployed
an hour later when even her stoicism began to be tested.
The tender from the royal yacht Britannia took her downstream to the royal
barge, Spirit of Chartwell, a Thames pleasure cruiser that had been
transformed into a handsome ship of state with gilded carvings, Royal
Watermen in scarlet ceremonial dress and a royal coat of arms made from half
a million gold buttons.
Already on board were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, the
only other members of the Royal family given the honour of travelling with
the Queen, who wants her Jubilee to focus on the direct line of succession.
“Spectacular!” the Queen told the Duke of Edinburgh as she surveyed the scene.
“So nice, so impressive.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9310251/Diamond-Jubilee-criticism-grows-of-BBCs-lamentable-coverage.html
