MICHAEL Gove is a decent and likeable chap (for a Tory, I mean). He endeared himself to me recently by confessing in a newspaper article about his former life as a geek.
I first met him in 1990, when he worked for Scottish Television and I for the Labour Party in Scotland. I always got on well with him and was pleased to see him elected to the Commons in 2005.
So why have I suddenly been getting flashbacks of TV images of a young Gove examining in detail the contents of celebrities’ dustbins? It did happen. It was a (regular, I think) feature within a late-night “yoof” programme, probably on Channel 4, but I’m not sure.
What on earth was that programme? Are there any clips of Michael’s muck-raking activities available on the web? Can anyone help? I’m not making this up, honestly.
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Wednesday 13 August 2008 at 8:47 am
You can find his entry on Wikipedia here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gove
I can’t see anything about rummaging through bins but he does admit that he likes role-play (the Dungeons and Dragons sort).
Wednesday 13 August 2008 at 11:43 am
If it was on CH4, it was probably an unlamented late night satirical programme called ‘A Stab In The Dark’.
It was a strange title for a topical show. A stab in the dark is almost guaranteed to miss the target and it certainly didn’t disappoint in that regard. Maybe that’s why it was cancelled after about 6 shows.
Highlight? Gove trying (and failing) to get one over on Tony Benn during an interview. Benn just patted him on the head as Gove got hotter and hotter under the collar. Lowlight? Gove delivering a poisonous little monologue about Scots in London, from which he presumably excluded himself…
Good luck tracking any of these down. I’d quite like to see them again myself, but only out of morbid curiosity
Wednesday 13 August 2008 at 12:53 pm
If it was a satirical programme could the segment have been (gasp) a satire of some description?
+1 HP for Michael Gove, methinks.
Wednesday 13 August 2008 at 1:00 pm
Richard, son, you’re really going to have to get a life (and a sense of humour) outside the Conservative Party. You know, girls are more likely to speak to you if you don’t remind them of Harry Enfield’s “Tory Boy” (I know you’re probably too young to know who that is but I’m sure you can get it on YouTube).
Wednesday 13 August 2008 at 1:55 pm
There are going to be plenty of nice girls at the Conservative Party conference.
I hear that tickets have sold out…
Wednesday 13 August 2008 at 3:40 pm
If it was a satirical programme could the segment have been (gasp) a satire of some description?
Unlikely, Richard #3. David Baddiel did the comedy, Gove did the politics and the polemics, while Tracy MacLeod just looked like she’d rather be anywhere else than in a late night TV studio with those two
Wednesday 13 August 2008 at 3:41 pm
There is nothing to top Tory Totty believe me.