Nick Turrell picks up the Garden Media Guild’s The Alan Titchmarsh New Talent Award 2013

 

 

 Wed, Nov 27, 2013 18:49 CET

 

The Garden Media Guild awards were held at the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel today. The awards recognise the very best communicators and media professionals across the gardening and horticultural industries.

Nick Turrell, writer for The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times, overcame stiff competition from other newcomers to scoop The Alan Titchmarsh New Talent Award.

 The judges said:

“Nick's writing style is original, refreshing and accomplished. Often funny and sparky, his features are strong and interesting while making serious points. Nick is an engaging writer who has written some very enjoyable pieces during his first year.”


Nick commented:
These judges are obviously very smart people with impeccable taste.  After much deliberation I'd have to agree with all of their comments!
(in case you were wondering, the chap next to me was standing on a box - me and Alan are both really very tall)

November 27, 2013 turned into one of those days I'll remember for the rest of my life.

 

Harmless sexual harassment anyone?

 

 

 

I have a great idea for a funny TV advert.  Picture the scene.  Three old men are having lunch on a deserted Mediterranean beach.  They notice a gorgeous young woman come out the sea after a swim.  She wraps her towel around her and starts to wriggle her swimming costume off underneath it.  We see a close up of her costume arriving at her ankles. She is now naked under the towel.

The old men, who are huddled together at their table, despatch their little dog over to wrestle the woman’s towel away from her.  The dog does as it’s told and her towel is pulled from her, revealing her beautiful naked body; she is forced to cover herself with her hands.  One of the old men then takes a photo and they all laugh. The End. What do you think? Hilarious eh?

Somehow I don’t think so.  And yet Bertolli has this exact advert currently running on our TV screens to prime-time TV audiences.  There is of course one tiny (excuse the pun) difference.  The three old people are women and the embarrassed youngster is a man. So that makes it alright then doesn’t it? It’s just harmless fun.     

Is it somehow more acceptable for old women to ogle a young man than the other way round?  Do women see this as harmless fun and in which case are they guilty of double standards?  If the tables were turned in this advert, there would I’m sure be a fizz of complaints. Perhaps sexual equality is just not possible in society.

I’d love to hear what you ladies think about this...Do any of you secretly like it when you get whistled at by builders? Perhaps Shakespeare was right on the money when he said ‘the lady doth protest too much’.