Going Down
‘It is the BBC which keeps us all honest.’
(Michael Grade, head of Channel 4)
The lifts go up and down in Portland Place,
Heavy with programme-makers and the like,
Expressing all that moves the Island Race –
Cricket and cars and clowns who take the mike.
On coming changes you can put your shirt:
Reform? We can’t afford to be too fussy.
Perhaps the Beeb will burgeon under Birt,
Or Auntie might become a shameless Hussey.
Reith is long gone, but certain ghosts remain
And prompt those zealots who have not resigned
To educate, inform and entertain.
If money talks, can Chequeland change his mind?
Onward, unbowed, will march the Corporation:
‘Nation shall Speak of Ratings unto Nation.’
Roger Woddis
The Times Saturday Review, Sept. 19, 1992
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