Portillo is back with his jackets! (Great British Railway Journeys Series 9)

[gazthomas]

Why couldn’t he pronounce Welsh place names properly - disrespectful at worst, cringeworthy at best

 

[pemma]

I remember a while back reading about someone who bumped into Portillo whilst waiting for a train (at Manchester Piccadilly, IIRC, and not while he was filming). Apparently Mr P. was quite personable and happy to exchange a few words on that occasion.

I've heard when people approach him and say something things like "Do I recognise you from somewhere?" or "Aren't you a TV presenter?" his response is to hold out his hand and say "Michael Portillo. Pleased to meet you."

 

[Requeststop]

Why couldn’t he pronounce Welsh place names properly - disrespectful at worst, cringeworthy at best

Think you are being a bit tough on the poor old colourful bloke. Can you pronounce all places in Spain the correct way? He can.

How would you say Penzance in Penzance? PEN-zance, or pen-ZANCE? is it CAM-borne or cam-BORNE? We Cornish can tell if we have a visitor or not by the way they pronounce town and village names. We don't think it's disrespectful if they get the stress the wrong way. We just have an internal snigger.

 

[gazthomas]

Think you are being a bit tough on the poor old colourful bloke. Can you pronounce all places in Spain the correct way? He can.

How would you say Penzance in Penzance? PEN-zance, or pen-ZANCE? is it CAM-borne or cam-BORNE? We Cornish can tell if we have a visitor or not by the way they pronounce town and village names. We don't think it's disrespectful if they get the stress the wrong way. We just have an internal snigger.

It’s because of his Spanish and for that matter Scottish background that I thought he would be more sensititve. As for challenging whether I can pronounce things, what’s it to do with you, but I would say that I am a considerate traveller and that I would take advice from the locals! Back to Portillo, the BBC employ an army of people to advise on how to pronounce foreign places so that offence is not caused so why we can’t do this closer to home I don’t know. That was my point!

 

[pemma]

the BBC employ an army of people to advise on how to pronounce foreign places so that offence is not caused so why we can’t do this closer to home I don’t know. That was my point!

I imagine the BBC have sufficient reporters in all parts of the UK so that at least someone who works for the organisation knows how to pronounce most if not all UK place names correctly. The problem is more likely that they aren't consulted on every place name, only the ones which appear more difficult to pronounce. Jeremy Vine is well known for mispronouncing northern place names even though there are BBC employees only a phone call away who can advise on the correct pronunciations.

It's also worth remembering BBC presenters don't pronounce place names like Paris and Barcelona the same way as locals do (they used an Anglicised pronunciation), even if they ensure they get place names like Algeciras and Augsburg pronounced correctly and when a place name has multiple recognised pronunciations e.g. Basel the BBC get complaints whichever pronunciation they use.

It also doesn't help when TOCs use automated announcements that mis-pronounce place names. Why would anyone think an announcement for a station 10 miles down the line would be incorrectly pronounced?

 

[Busaholic]

Think you are being a bit tough on the poor old colourful bloke. Can you pronounce all places in Spain the correct way? He can.

How would you say Penzance in Penzance? PEN-zance, or pen-ZANCE? is it CAM-borne or cam-BORNE? We Cornish can tell if we have a visitor or not by the way they pronounce town and village names. We don't think it's disrespectful if they get the stress the wrong way. We just have an internal snigger.

The latter in the case of Penzance, but the former in the case of Camborne: would you say I'm right? Here's a couple for you, one a place name and the other a quite common surname in my part of the world - Crowlas and Andrewartha. Actually the real clincher is Praa Sands: to rhyme with bra, or pray-er?

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Off to the USA for 4 weeks from tomorrow evening for series 3 of Great American Railway Journeys.

 

[gazthomas]

Off to the USA for 4 weeks from tomorrow evening for series 3 of Great American Railway Journeys.

I bet he'll pronounce everything perfectly y'all! Well, we won't be any the wiser!

 

[pemma]

Off to the USA for 4 weeks from tomorrow evening for series 3 of Great American Railway Journeys.

Leg 1 ends in Toronto so this series includes Canada as well but I don't know how much of the series will be in Canada.

 

[pemma]

I've started a new thread for the new American series here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/michael-portillo-great-american-rail-journeys-series-3.159728/

 

[Calthrop]

I rarely watch television -- but spied in passing last night (Feb. 6th), notice of a half-hour TV offering on TV titled approximately, "Railways in World War I". My non-telly-habituated mind immediately leapt to thoughts of a feast of film from that actual era, of rail action in Britain and on the Continent: was disappointed to discover it to turn out to be Portillo doing his standard stuff, WWI-themed. The guy rather annoys me -- I find him something of a clown, albeit basically good-hearted; and for me, metaphorical "talking heads" on television are not riveting -- and of course, this programme was largely Mr. P. yakking with assorted participants / experts re assorted aspects of the topic, interspersed with the occasional brief actual "period" item. Memo to self: don't make wild assumptions about what is showing on TV...

 

[Requeststop]

I think you are a little bit tough on Mr P on this one. WW1, a century ago and the track builders, engineers, the logistics of operating and working a system under terrible conditions. Supply troops, Horses, Food, Ammunition, other logistics, then to remove the injured, the dead, the tired and weary.

Yakkity Yak for many reveals something new, opening and different to what they may have thought was a situation or condition. Historically something new can be learned by some if not yourself

Yes MP can be a bit trivial, but in his series on Railways during WW1, I think he honoured the Rail "community", for want of a better description, of all who worked in the industry, management, admin, and practically to assist a victory under tremendous difficulties.

Mr P pressed the right buttons for me, if not for you.

 

[Calthrop]

For sure -- "one man's meat", etc. ... it just turned out to be totally not what I'd been (mistakenly) expecting and looking forward to !

 

[Crossover]

Seems he is going down that zip-line in Wales on tonight's episode.

Made more amusing after Julie Walters comment "You'll never see Michael Portillo doing this" (I may have paraphrased there)

I remember a while back reading about someone who bumped into Portillo whilst waiting for a train (at Manchester Piccadilly, IIRC, and not while he was filming). Apparently Mr P. was quite personable and happy to exchange a few words on that occasion.

When he was on our train a few years ago, a few forum members went over to meet him, though I didn't. They got a photo with him and had a quick conversation

 

[pnjman]

Not sure if this is the correct thread but he was filming in Hinckley Station this evening.

 

[squizzler]

Every time I watch an episode I wish they'd do something about the length of the intro. I mean, everybody knows by now the programme is themed on old guidebooks, and that minute or two where this is explained at the start of every programme could be used for content such as more arial footage of trains going through the landscape between segments.

 

[Mikey C]

Not sure if this is the correct thread but he was filming in Hinckley Station this evening.

The last couple of years, the British segment has been pretty short, just a couple of weeks, as I guess they're running out of lines to cover!

Instead his jackets are touring the world...

 

[Strat-tastic]

Every time I watch an episode I wish they'd do something about the length of the intro. I mean, everybody knows by now the programme is themed on old guidebooks, and that minute or two where this is explained at the start of every programme could be used for content such as more arial footage of trains going through the landscape between segments.

That's the pre-coming-up coming up! Steady on. They'd have to make another four minutes of original programming

 

[CaptainHaddock]

The last couple of years, the British segment has been pretty short, just a couple of weeks, as I guess they're running out of lines to cover!

Instead his jackets are touring the world...

I'm sure that he's already done some lines more than once, just stopped at different stations. In any case, as others have said, it's not really a show about the railways, the railways are just used as an excuse for him to visit various tourist attractions, museum and craft centres, so they're unlikely to run out of places to visit any time soon.

 

[backontrack]

The latter in the case of Penzance, but the former in the case of Camborne: would you say I'm right? Here's a couple for you, one a place name and the other a quite common surname in my part of the world - Crowlas and Andrewartha. Actually the real clincher is Praa Sands: to rhyme with bra, or pray-er?

WE DON'T STOP CAMBORNE WEDNESDAYS!