I added the following note to my piece of last week about why and how I left the Establishment - which cleared the way to becoming a Christian:
Maybe the peak of my Establishment acceptance came when - in 2000 - I was a Visiting Distinguished Millennial Fellow at Kings College London.
I was surely the least in status of these Fellows, probably a substitute for someone who dropped out; nonetheless the other Fellows included political scientist Kenneth Minogue of the LSE, Melanie Phillips the journalist (a panellist, not Fellow), Julia Neuberger (another panellist: then the most famous UK female Jew - reformed liberal 'Rabbi'), Robert Winston (University of London, doctor) and Colin Blakemore (a panellist - Oxford, scientist) who both fronted major BBC TV series, Kay Redfield Jameson of Harvard (the global star of bipolar disorder), Rowan Williams (later Archbishop of Canterbury).
I gave a lecture to some hundreds of people at Southwark Cathedral, London; an extract of which was reprinted in The Independent newspaper.
[The Independent is an ultra-Leftist national title. You can see from the linked transcript how much of a Libertarian I was at that time - which indirectly shows that Libertarians are actually of-the-Left - if there had been any doubt.]
Oh! - I nearly forgot to mention the most significant 'evidence' that I was part of The Establishment (albeit on the fringe): my original debating opponent in Southwark Cathedral, was, until a late-ish stage of planning, Jimmy Carter. Yes, him. I really was scheduled to speak as one of only two lecturers with the ex-President of the USA. In the event, he cancelled; but still...
Haha, sic transit gloria! I'm not sure why, but this post made my day.
ReplyDeleteNot to one-up you or anything, but (ahem) my likeness was once prominently featured in the Hebrew-language Wikipedia article for "Hair."
@Wm - "I'm not sure why, but this post made my day."
ReplyDeleteProbably because it's a classic 'lame claim to fame' - I *nearly* debated with Jimmy Carter...
Rather like the fact that, as a child, we used to have living at the bottom of our garden (i.e. the house backing onto ours) the famous playwright Alan Bennet's *brother*.
Or that my Dad lived in the *next-door* village, and went to the *same school* as Bobby Charlton (but not at the same time, and we aren't actually related).
Today I learned what “at the bottom of the garden” means! I had only ever encountered it as the place where fairies are supposed to live.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I just checked Hebrew “Hair” article on Wikipedia now, and my handsome mug is still there all these years later. It’s nice to know I’ve still got it. (The fame, I mean, not the hair.)
My other main claim to fame is that I once lived on the same floor of the same building as the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer — but fortunately not at the same time.
I once shared an elevator with Christopher Lee. That's about it.
ReplyDelete@DR - Well, at least it was you - not your Dad - who shared the elevator; and it was actually Christopher Lee - not his cousin.
ReplyDeleteI don't personally know Sacha Baron Cohen, but I did know his cousin Simon (*first* cousin; the autism scientist) - which surely counts for something?
On a similar note; my Dad once had a pee standing next-to British & US Open Golf champion Tony Jacklin. This near-brush-with-celebrity got me considerable kudos as a primary school kid.
I once commented on the same blog as a guy who shared an elevator with Christopher Lee!
ReplyDeleteI'm clearly in the presence of greatness here.
ReplyDeleteI stood next to Cliff Richard in the backstage gents at the 1979 Greenbelt festival!
ReplyDeleteDavid - That almost sounds like the headline of a tabloid expose!
ReplyDelete