It’s Friday, good reader, and you know what that means… Society Diary! There has been a fair selection of amusing charity sector tales over the past week and Diary can’t wait to share them with you.
Contemporary evil
But first, is it okay to describe our longest-serving post-WWII prime minister as a “contemporary villain”? The Victoria and Albert Museum described the late Mrs Thatcher as such in an exhibition and this week drew the ire of Maggie stans across the country.
The description appeared on a sign next to a Punch and Judy display at the museum, which read: “Over the years, the evil character in this seaside puppet show has shifted from the Devil to unpopular public figures including Adolf Hitler, Margaret Thatcher and Osama bin Laden, to offer contemporary villains.”
Perhaps the V&A could have used camper, less controversial examples of contemporary villainry like Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort or Janine of Eastenders.
Bridge charity seeks poet
On World Poetry Day this week, the City Bridge Foundation announced it was recruiting its first-ever poet-in-residence.
Diary is something of a budding bard and always fancied living in a bridge so spent the week penning an application.
It took inspiration from the 900-year-old charity’s press release, which read: “American hip-hop artist Fergie topped the Billboard Hot 100 with a track called London Bridge. In a schoolboy error made by many tourists, the music video featured nearby Tower Bridge, which has led to the modern phenomenon of oblivious TikTokers twerking to the 2006 hit on the wrong bridge. The fools.”
So, without further ado, this is Society Diary’s London bridge limerick:
There was an old bridge near a tower
Which tourists confused with another
Fergie wrote a song
That got its name wrong
Now Tiktokers twerk there each hour
Diary expects its phone to start ringing any moment but CBF be warned, it will take a fair wedge to tempt this columnist from its cushy desk at Civil Society Towers.
Farewell to Lenny
And finally, congratulations to Comic Relief for its successful night of fundraising last week in co-founder Lenny Henry’s final appearance as host after 39 years.
To pay tribute for his years of charitable chuckles, here’s Diary’s favourite Red Nose Day clip of Sir Len when he strutted around the stage next to Tom Jones as soul singer Theophilus P Wildebeeste.
