Tuesday, April 03, 2007

A serious and a less than serious Blair

In a continuing effort to move with the time, Tony Blair has been publishing podcasts on his Number 10 website for some time now. What is nice about this from a student's perspective is that all sound files have been transcribed, so if there's anything you don't quite get on a first hearing you can check back to see what exactly is being said amid the countless instances of you know and I think. Of particular interest is Blair's conversation with actor, comedian and writer Stephen Fry (quite probably my second favourite Brit) on such topics as multiculturalism, Britishness and being in politics.

A somewhat more striking example of Blair's media efforts was recently on show at this year's Red Nose Day, where he made an amazingly convincing guest appearance in a special "Lauren the teenager" sketch by Catherine Tate. Here's the inevitable YouTube clip:



(The reference at one point to Rory Bremner can be understood if you know that he has been known to imitate British politicians including Tony Blair. Ross Kemp is an actor who used to play a role in the popular soap series EastEnders.)

2 comments:

pierre-yves said...

Nice clash between Lauren and Tony! And the interview with Stephen Fry might be useful for BA2 students as we have a listening comprehension test soon with Mr.Jacquinet...
Also, one might wonder: who is your favourite Brit then? (though I may have a hunch:))

Lieven Vandelanotte said...

I'm such an open book ;) LV