I can do that

I Can do That

I always came 2^nd. I should have known it from an early age. I was at Willesden Grammar School for 7 years. In that time we sat 14 exam sessions. In Geography I came 2^nd 14 times, always beat by someone different. Amazed you will be, as I was, or is it frustration.

I was 2^nd in command at work too, the highest run on the career ladder in the snakes and ladders of ambition.

I did throw some double sixes of the dice, I did not always go down the snakes. I could bite my lip for a period, but then got to a collision course, well there is only so much you can take and why should the buggers get you down, better that they go down.

One of my earliest imprints on my mind was HMS Hood in 1941. The pride of the British Navy. The Battleship was off Iceland with the Prince of Wales and engaged Bismarck, Germany’s largest Battleship. 1415 sailors perished as it was blown out of the water taking a direct hit into the magazine, only 3 crew survived. It was a great loss to Churchill and the nation…………….BUT, as it took the fatal blow it fired its last salvo and crippled the steering on the Bismarck, which enabled our fleet to pursue and eventually sink the Nazi menace to Atlantic convoys.

I read all about this when I was about 7, and my motto ever since was if you go down go down with all guns blazing, and take as many of the buggers down with you.

So………………..

I have probably worked for 3 men that I can say I respected. David Taylor, David Patterson and Nick Hayes, all BBC former Editors. One woman….. Lynn Faulds Wood, who has a great husband and a great bloke John Stappleton.

My happiest days were at the Beeb, current affairs, Lime Grove Shepherd’s Bush London W12. I always wanted to make a mark, leave a legacy, champion David against Goliath, change things for the better. In Trading Standards I could do that in a local community. When I got into TV it was more powerful and influential, than even the courts and it was national even international.

I have always had compassion for the populace at large, though its true to say I have not won many friends, the membership of the Allan Sharpe appreciation society is limited – no riff raff – but I do get irritated by a lack of vision and incompetence by people who should know better. There is a tick box mentality, and there should not be. There is a do what I have to do to get by and no more attitude.

That has never been me, I always went above and beyond the call of duty. I always wanted to dine out on my stories.

But where does it get you………………huh, and who is right, them or me?