Celebs!

Every February Half Term I head north to Keswick.  Its something that I have been doing since I was 14 and for the last 25+ years has been an adventure that I share with several friends in a rented house.

I share this fact with you because everyday we buy some newspapers (normally 3 or more) that we all slowly plough through over breakfast before heading to the hills.  One of them is always a tabloid and it is where I find out all about the so called celebrities that currently rule our nation.

This year is no exception except that Kim Kardashian is now appearing in the Sunday Times under the heading "The Woman Who Broke the Internet".  Now it might just be me but I am pretty sure that she did not break the internet (or if she did break it then I missed it) - from memory this was just a publicity stunt.  BUT, I hear you shout, she is famous so it must be true!  Well, with the greatest of respect to Ms Kardashian, I would like to know exactly what she has done to be famous?  Pretty sure that she did not "invent" the internet (think that honour goes to Sir Tim Berners-Lee who, I'm pretty sure, doesn't court publicity in the same way) and a straw poll of people (of reasonable intelligence) failed to identify what she has done to help society (as I type this she is in the newspaper as she has hired a make up arist for her boobs....is this news?).

Now, I have nothing against Ms Kardashian and her ilk but can't help feeling that we are missing the point with people who we look up to in the world.  Jonathon Ives is British, a very modest bloke and the man who designed the iMac, iBook, iPhone, iPod, iPad etc etc. and yet many will look towards "celebrities" for inspiration rather than people who really achieve things.  In America an ex-Playboy model is currently telling everyone not to let there children have the MMR vaccine because of a report that was, long ago, discredited! Result?  It is likely that a measles epidemic will cause havoc in America - what are her qualifications to say this?  Has she read this very complex report and fully understood it?  A similar incident occured in the UK when a TV presenter said that she wasn't having her children vaccinated - again the result was people stopped having their children vaccinated.

Are we, as a society, slowly crumbling into this "celebrity" world?  My old mate Beckham went to the BAFTAs last week and then appeared on the front page of all the newspapers the following day - why?  No, I don't know either.  Obviously he was in a film that I missed.  I appreciate that Beckham has done loads for English National Football.....pause for effect........ but he never lifted the World Cup, or for that matter the Euro thingy either so why is he placed on such a pedestal (please don't say about him being the best dead ball kicker in his day or I will remind you of him missing the penalty!).

As a mountaineer I have had the pleasure of meeting many "celebrities" of that sport.  These are people who are at the pinnacle of the sport and have achieved more than can be imagined by most mere mortals - Chris Bonnington is still climbing in his 80s, leading numerous expeditions to the Himalayas etc and done so much for this country that he has been recognised with a knighthood.  I have met him on a few occasions, I called him Chris and he called me Gary (no Sir Chris required).  The respect is there, not a forced one caused by the media.  Alan Hinkes is the first (and so far only) Brit to climb all of the world's 8,000 metre peaks (less than 40 in the world have done so) and yet I have chatted to him without a gaggle of publicity people gathered round or people keep telling me that he is a celebrity because he has appeared on <insert name of pointless TV programme>.

So, what am I suggesting?  Well folks (for those of you who have read this far) I suppose I am saying GET A SENSE OF REALITY.  If someone has achieved something then respect them for it, if you have to be told that they are a celebrity then they are probably not (and appearing on a reality show does not make them one).

I'm not going to suggest that you all start thinking that Robert Falcon Scott was a great celebrity who should be worshipped? But maybe look at what people have done.

Here is a list of acceptable celebrities; Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, Billy Connolly, James Martin, Sir Geoffrey Boycott etc.

You get the idea.  Ernest Shackleton was knighted for getting closer to the South Pole than anyone else - that was before the Trans-Antarctic trip!

So, world, get things in perspective!

Here endeth this rant.

Oh yes, quick hello to Tracey & Mo for reasons I will not specify.