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Anorak News | Flogging A Dying Dog

Flogging A Dying Dog

by | 31st, August 2006

EVEN since perma-tanned David Dickinson reintroduced us to whipped hair, polishing up tired old bit of mahogany has been a mainstay of the TV schedules.

Dickinson has not been on our screens much of late. His star burnt brightly for a time. And having appeared on BBC TV’s Bargain Hunt, ITV’S I’m A Celebrity and featured on his “official” website, in which he refers to himself as “The Duke”, David has been trying to crack America.

As David’s website says, he has just sold his show “Dealing With Dickinson” to BBC America. The hope is that the title alone should attract a big audience among America’s vibrant drug dealing communities, and remind them that drugs and bric-a-brac are “cheap as chips”.

But with David away, who is the young buck that will be tomorrow’s antique? Why, it’s none other than Paul Martin.

Paul fronts the daytime TV show Flog It. As the guide says: “Paul Martin and his team of experts invite members of the public to bring their antiques to be viewed and valued, with an option to sell at auction.”

And Paul’s private life is every bit as interesting. He’s in Hello! with his girlfriend Charlotte, with whom he is ready to settle down.

“My widowed mum can’t wait for me to get married and have kids,” says Paul, a 42-year–old from the second Elizabethan period, “and I can’t wait to have kids either. I think I’ve met the right person.”

That remains to be seen. But as Paul tips the object of his desire upside down and examines her underside for signs of good breeding, he wants to tell us about animals.

Paul’s the “ambassador” for the Animals Asia Foundation, which seeks to raise funds and awareness to end animal cruelty in China and other Asian places.

Why animals should suffer more in China than here is a debatable point. And it is something that might be troubling Oswald, Charlotte’s basset hound, who is “going through a difficult time”.

“He’s only got a few months to live,” say Paul with barely concealed menace. But we’d like to save Oswald for posterity, if not the nation.

And suggest that he should be stuffed and mounted. Like David Dickinson…



Posted: 31st, August 2006 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink