Swot Idol

‘IF you’ve got it, flaunt it. And if you haven’t got it, flaunt the fact that you haven’t got it.

Not everyone made it past the audition stage

Having established that we are a nation of ill-educated, ill-informed illiterates, we aim now to show ourselves up to the rest of the world.

The Telegraph reports that the BBC is to launch a quiz show, called Hard Spell, inspired by a craze for televised spelling bees sweeping America.

‘It will be like Pop Idol with spelling,’ the show’s producer, Karen Smith, tells the paper. ‘We want it to be fashionable to spell well.’

A noble aim no doubt, although given the spelling ability of the average British teacher (let alone their pupils) a forlorn one, we fear.

‘We will be looking at the meaning of words and at their derivations, so the programme will be educational by its nature,’ explains Ms Smith, ‘but we hope to make it ‘cool’ to be a good speller.’

We can hear those posters of Britney Spears and Orlando Bloom being torn down from bedroom walls as we speak, and the posters of Cuthbert Biggins-Smythe taking their place…’

Posted: 5th, April 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink