Saturday, July 07, 2007

English Wit

I have to admit I've never been much of an Anglophile. English culture is perhaps not exotic enough for me. We do have a numer of English friends though- they're quite common here in the commonwealth. However, I did find endearingly English a comment that was made in this story. BBC reporter Alan Johnston was taken hostage in Gaza and held for 114 days. It was a truly horrifying ordeal, the worst part of which was simply that he never knew what was coming next for the entire duration.

Thankfully, Johnston has been freed and is back at home. What I loved in the story was this comment that he made to reporters when interviewed in London. He appeared with a cleanly-shaven head, saying one of his first acts after his release was "going to the barbers and getting rid of that just-kidnapped look".

There is something so characteristically English about having a witty comment to make after going through hell. I'm glad he's back.

2 comments:

Holly said...

When asked immediately on release how he was treated, he had commented that overall it wasn't bad, although they did beat him "a bit" just before he was freed.

Rufus said...

That's pretty English too. Oh, there was a spot of beating, but I wouldn't want to be a bother about it.