The Young One

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvSbgAe9Zl4&start=275]

From 1992, an appearance on the Late Late Show where Cliff Richard was joined by the previous guest, comedian Ben Elton.

Uncle Gaybo asked him the following question:

Gay Byrne: “How do you respond to the old cliché, Cliff, you’re too good to be true?”

Cliff Richard: “Well I suppose what can you do about truths?”

Byrne: “You really are asking for it, aren’t you?”

Richard: “You’ve brought out the absolute worst in me. I’ve said, I’ve spent since 26 years ago, I became a Christian so my lifestyle took on a whole new look and feel for me which I really enjoy. And ah I feel it’s the right thing for me to do. And I’ve spent nearly all that time saying to people ‘You can’t..’. The media do want to put us into bags. They want to compartmentalize us and say well he’s the goody two-shoes. And for a little while it was Bob Geldof and I had the weight taken off my shoulders for a little while you know. He was Saint Bob for a while.”

Ben Elton: “But he kept swearing and that was the end of that. You’ve got to do that. Swear more.”

Richard: “But I’ve been saying to people it’s crazy if people actually believe that people like myself are too good to be true, then they just don’t understand human nature at all. Nobody is perfect. Nobody. All I want to do is show my best side rather than my worst. There is a side of me that I don’t like and I try to what’s the word sub..what’s it?”

Elton: “Em..subdue it..?”

Richard: “Sublimate it.”

Elton: “Cover it up.”

Richard: “And obviously I succeed. So it’s a side of me I don’t want to share necessarily. And I guess a lot of people just don’t understand it. And so I get labelled ‘the goody two-shoes’. And it just means that I don’t cuss and swear at people or perhaps it means that I’m just nice with people and they consider that… What I don’t understand is though that is a kind of reversal of things isn’t it? So that nowadays people like myself it’s a derogatory term ‘Ugh the goody two-shoes’. In other words, trying to be right and good is becoming a thing that you deride.”

Sir Cliff Richard: ‘allegations are completely false’ (Channel 4 News)

Cliff Richard’s home searched by police following sexual abuse claim (The Guardian)

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70 thoughts on “The Young One

    1. munkifisht

      Exactly. I’m sick and tired of the irresponsible way people accused of being paedophiles are treated in the media. Even if found completely innocent he will never be innocent in the eyes of the public now. It’s the same media hysteria that was satirised so brilliantly in the episode of Brasseye. That said I’m no fan of “Sir” Cliff, I think he’s a creepy weirdo, and not that keen on paedophiles either

      1. les rock

        spot on Munkt. Terrible, immoral journalism. I don’t like the chap but you have him at the gallows already Lars. Shocking unprofessional journalism of the highest order

          1. Paolo

            Journal of record? That is a term from the pre-Internet era when reaching a mass audience was very difficult. This post will be seen and shared by thousands of people.

            If you think mob rule is ok then just say so.

      2. Derval

        Why do the police feel that it is necessary to inform journalists that they are searching someone’s home in relation to a particular crime?
        Surely that is private information.

    2. Hosanna in the Hiace

      +100
      Daily Mail stuff.

      Used to be a fellas was gay it was tantamount to being a paedo. Those days are gone thankfully – but the innuendo lives on

  1. Liam from Lixnaw

    A cassette for everyone in the audience! I would have hoped for one of his lovely Xmas calendars

          1. Banotti

            Myself and others can hopefully pressure him into giving it a rest. Too many comments sections are overtaken by lame gag merchants which broadsheet has so far avoided.

            If you’re posting a gag a day then please stop.

          2. Mick Flavin

            Counterargument: The lame gag-merchants are grand, po-faced contrarians and trolls are what ruin comment sections.

  2. RIGBY

    Ah lads. He hasn’t even been charged with anything, let alone found guilty of it. Emboldening completely ambiguous quotes from an interview two decades ago… We can do better than this.

        1. Caroline

          Hey hey. What’s with all the aggression? I know it would hurt Mani to think he had caused you offence. Remember there’s a human being behind each user name. When you encounter him in real life, Mani’s nothing like what you would expect from his posts on here. Whether he’s relaxing on his balcony 800 metres away, asking his wife if she saw that glint in the bushes, or just phoning up the Guards for a friendly chat, he’s a trousers-on-one-leg-at-a-time guy just like any of us. A lover, not a fighter – although he does have a surprisingly strong right hook if you need reminding about the terms of a restraining order.

          Just my 2 cents, friend.

    1. CousinJack

      Like Catholic Bishops, Cardinals and the Pope?
      Since when has modern christianity had anything to do with the teachings of the Carpenter

  3. ivan

    Is it a new police policy (in the UK) that they release the details of a person under investigation now, just so that even if they don’t get the conviction, his name is still mud in the minds of the public?

    1. Paolo

      He new the “press” would get wind of his house being searched so he just got in there first.

    1. Bobtheblob

      The way it uses the title of a cliff Richards song to unfairly insinuate that he is a paedophile?

      Nice try Lars. Sh*t post, poor judgment, fail

      1. STP

        Correct, coupled with the title of a great TV show.

        Lighten up, I’m sure (if it even comes to it) the courts will decide his fate, not headings and comments on BS.

  4. Planet of the Missing Biros

    So you guys are kicking off the witch hunt then.

    The text you made bold in an attempt to suggest something very sinister suggests absolutely nothing. He might be referring to an alcohol addiction or something as simple as intolerance towards stupid twats.

  5. Tony

    No Broadsheet is great. This post is tatty and vulgar. Quit throwing the baby out with the bath water! You comment a fair bit so you’re probably just feeling a bit hysterical or trolling in which case carry on. Fair play.

  6. Fergus the magic postman

    This is the first article I’ve read on this that goes as far as to suggest/ push an opinion on his guilt/ innocence.

    Not cool.

  7. The Lady Vanishes

    There’s a book called ‘The Horse Girl’ by Beverley Rhodes available for sale on amazon.co.uk. It details a childhood of sexual abuse at the hands of child sex rings run by the author’s stepfather. I was surprised when reading it to see the subject of this post mentioned by name as an individual involved in these circles. Surprised in the sense that no effort appears to have been made by anyone to remove it from amazon.co.uk or to sue for defamation in respect of it.

  8. The Lady Vanishes

    Oops, I think he was mentioned under his ‘code name’, which I suppose would make it difficult to sue without associating oneself forever with that code name.

  9. PJ Hammond

    Disgraceful post Lars. You are using your well-documented hatred of Cliff Richard’s music to compound this witch hunt.

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