Famous Orienteer on TV

[redpossum]

Just perusing the latest issue of the Radio Times I happened on the following programme to be shown on BBC2 Wednesday 23rd January at 9:50 - Wonderland: The Man Who Eats Badgers and Other Strange Tales from Bodmin Moor. No prizes for guessing who it is but there is a rather good picture of him on page 90.

[Carnage Head]

I was very excited when I saw this advertised on TV tonight

I hope he manages to squeeze O into his slot.

Is he on nopesport?

[Simon]

No orienteering, but Arthur is on Nopesport

[EddieH]

I know he tried to get orienteering into the program but he didn't think they'd have it.

[Scott]

Preview clip (though this computer has no sound, so I'm not quite sure what's going on).

[EddieH]

It's tonight, folks.

[redpossum]

Excellent preview. Interesting that Arthur has barn owl on the menu. Looking forward to watching it tonight.

[RS]

So who spotted anything orienteering related? I saw JK mug in sink and what was possibly a pair of Walshes on the hearth

[RJ]

The programme didn't make easy watching. No mention of orienteering... are we relieved or disappointed? What would be the reaction if he had had an orienteering map and was seen setting off for a training run?

The abusive calls were interesting! How many of the voices will now have been recognised?

[mikey]

On reflection, I think the fact that orienteering wasn't mentioned was a big positive.

[Mrs H]

I was a little disappointed i must admit. I just didn't think Arthur should have been bracketted with the others. Arthur is a happy man with an unusual and slightly bizarre hobby not a saddo with a somewhat dysfunctional personality like the others.

by the way Arthur - some of that stuff you were picking up looked a bit stiff - i hope the badger sandwich you gave young Neville one Interland was a bit fresher mind you it didn't seem to do him any harm

[graeme]

I thought it was fascinating. The programme gave no hint of a man who travels round the country to large social(?) gatherings of people and author of an amusing book. It was interesting how Arthur repeatedly used the work "roadkill" and the presenter never did. Clearly the programme makers had an image they desparately wanted to portray, and were pretty ruthless in the editing to achieve it (like the boots, clipboards and bobble hats image of orienteering we so often see). Would be interesting to hear the other side of the story.

I thought the way they used Sue's refusal to take part to portray Arthur as being a friendless old man incapable of a relationship despicable. Also through use of juxtaposition with the other guys, though who knows how misrepresented they were.

Did anyone else think the very last "nuisance" call (the one that talked about roadkill) was Arthur himself? Would be nice to think he finally got one over on them.

saddo with a somewhat dysfunctional personality

Is exactly how Arthur came over. Since you know it to be untrue, why believe it of the others?

[SeanC]

My wife (who is not an orienteer and has never met Arthur) said "he seems like quite an affable bloke".

Some of the other characters were worrying, particularly that panther hunter. Not someone to meet in a dark alley.

I wonder what they're saying at the Cornwall Tourist Board?

[Mrs H]

why believe it of the others?

It's a fair point - and i was actually pleasantly surprised at how well the bloke in the caravan scrubbed up at the end -nice jacket - but like Sean I thought the panther hunter posing round with his tomahawk really scary I hope he doesn't hear about the one at Fownhope!

[distracted]

I think the Radio Times review sums up what the director of the show was trying to achieve when he made the documentary:

There are no women in this brilliant documentary about Bodmin Moor in Cornwall and its residents, but it's still the best film about male-female relationships you'll see in ages. On the surface, it's a tale of eccentrics: Arthur, the retired civil servant whose hobby is eating roadkill (and whose wife is a vegetarian); Clifford, the self-appointed moorranger, who gives us a deadly serious lesson on how to defend yourself against a panther; Peter, the tie-wearing farmer who roars along country lanes on a quad bike singing hymns at the top of his voice; and Peter's son Simon, who has lived in a caravan since his marriage broke up, with drawings by his children pinned to the walls. Around these four, director Daniel Vernon spins a beautifully observed tale of male loneliness, with a hint of Royston Vasey about it, and funny, too.

As Graeme says, the editing to get to this must have been some effort...