Norris McWhirter, the man responsible for the Guinness Book of Records, and, arguably, the British public obsession with meaningless facts has just died. Read the obituary, which has entirely admirable people saying very nice things about him. I don’t like to speak ill of the dead so I won’t.
{ 18 comments }
Cryptic Ned 04.21.04 at 3:48 pm
But this cryptic post ensures that the only commentary will be others wondering what ill you might speak of him, which will lead to inaccurate and speculatory ill being spoken, which is worse than the truth.
Roman Levin 04.21.04 at 3:53 pm
Pubic obsessions are harsh, man.
Brian Weatherson 04.21.04 at 4:02 pm
From the BBC report
bq. Norris became increasingly involved with the Freedom Association, a libertarian – some would say right-wing – group which challenged what it considered to be violations of individual freedom.
Ah, to live in a country where ‘right-wing’ is such a negative term that you can’t come out and say that it applies to someone, but have to use cheap devices of indirect quotation.
harry 04.21.04 at 4:08 pm
I have a friend, an entirely respectable and decent person, who hated Roy Castle with a vituperation I have reserved for… well, I can’t think of anyone. But Roy Castle was wonderful.
Sorry Cryptic Ned, I tried to write something ill about McWhirter, and it wouldn’t come out. At least I tried.
markg 04.21.04 at 4:44 pm
You certainly seem willing to imply something ill about the dead.
sennoma 04.21.04 at 5:02 pm
Leaving aside the issue of speaking ill while pretending not to, I think there’s something wrong with this also: the British pubic obsession with meaningless facts. I mean, obsession? I call hyperbole. More importantly, the GBoWR wasn’t always crammed with people who hopped on one leg across the Appalachians. It started out as both a fun collection of interesting trivia and a compendium of limits: largest, smallest, highest, strongest, oldest, etc etc. In the former capacity it did no harm, and in the latter it was actually useful — and still is, despite the one-legged Appalachian hoppers. Limits and records are important as a way to calibrate our scales, our sense of the dimensions of the world.
Timothy Burke 04.21.04 at 5:09 pm
I thought it was no sex, please, we’re British! But here you are with pubic obsessions about meaningless facts. Never would have guessed. I’m wondering what kinds of meaningless facts are the pubic kinds. Oldest merkin? Longest orgasms? Inquiring minds want to know.
harry 04.21.04 at 5:29 pm
sennoma,
I was being too clever by half in my post. Sorry. My main intent was not so much to imply ill of the dead (though I do think ill of him) but to imply that what I did say about him did not constitute speaking ill of him…. (or, for that matter, about the British, though I didn’t strictly imply that what I said was not speaking ill of them/us). Sort of Round Britain Quiz-ish. Hey, that’s a great idea, lets do a blog-based version of RBQ, it seems the perfect medium for it.
Chris Martin 04.21.04 at 5:58 pm
So are you leaving the typo in your post for posterity? I can only imagine someone fifty years from now researching Norris McWhirer and finding this.
Carrie 04.21.04 at 6:13 pm
I had Norris in my class once. He knew absolutely everything the children asked him and was deeply unimpressed with me as overexcited teacher faced with childhood hero. It was only after this visit that I realised the parent who had invited him to join us was a fascist activist in the British National Party. The session was filmed for some programme on education and I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Which is a shame as I’m not on tv very often. Well, not at all really.
dsquared 04.21.04 at 6:41 pm
OK, folks, here’s what Henry didn’t want to say[1]:
1. McWhirter’s Freedom Association was for the most part identified with campaigning against sanctions on South Africa, and (IIRC) mounting legal challenges to the Gleneagles Agreement on sporting relations with apartheid-era SA. In general, he was a strong supporter of white rule in that part of Africa (mates with Ian Smith etc)
2. The Freedom Association produced a magazine that used to print a lot of people who didn’t like immigration into the UK. I think it was his brother Ross who was in Lady Birdwood’s social circle, though.
3. He and his brother were vocal on the subject of the IRA. In particular, they were advocates of “tougher tactics” (ie, a Spanish-style dirty war) in Northern Ireland, and “closer monitoring” of Irish people in the UK. Ross McWhirter was murdered by the IRA because of these views.
So that’s the charge sheet; basically a nice old buffer, but far too keen on ignoring the flaws in the worldview of a number of out-and-out racists he hung around with.
[1] I, on the other hand, take the view that as soon as the death certificate’s signed, they can’t sue for libel.
sennoma 04.21.04 at 6:42 pm
You know, I even copy-and-pasted “pubic”, reading it as “public” all the while…
Henry: too clever for me, at any rate, but that’s not saying much. Please excuse the snark.
dsquared 04.21.04 at 6:52 pm
If you want chapter and verse, I would imagine that the Shamrockshire Eagle will have a few pretty choice words up before too long …
Tom 04.21.04 at 8:24 pm
“I have a friend, an entirely respectable and decent person, who hated Roy Catle with a vituperation I have reserved for… well, I can’t think of anyone.”
Dedication..whoo-ooo..dedication…whoo-ooo…dedication, that’s what you need.
If you wanna be the best
If you wanna beat the rest
Dedication’s what you need.
(Cue trumpet solo)
harry 04.21.04 at 11:17 pm
Its Harry not Henry. Henry would never have made a typo like that! (now corrected, after several hours not being able to look). I didn’t even notice it after Timothy’s comment, which I just thought extremely wierd….
Yes, Daniel is right, and carrie’s memory of him has stuck with me.
Jolyon 04.21.04 at 11:52 pm
Years ago, an expression was coined in my then student household linking loose bowel movements to the bastardisation “Norris McSquirter”. After a few pints and a curry one would naturally “go for a Norris”. This seemed so entirely appropriate, especially given later revelations as to his political leanings, that the name stuck. I wonder if that’s some kind of record.
dsquared 04.22.04 at 1:17 pm
ahhhh I assumed it was Henry because of the Irish connection. Apologies to both of you for that small act of unconscious bigotry.
sennoma 04.22.04 at 5:50 pm
Unlike that unabashed hatemonger d^2, I am guilty of no bigotry — just carelessness. My apologies for the name mixup as well.
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