Off the Page - Le Tour de France

[TourOfSardinia]

High brow stuff on BBC Radio 4 today:

listen here for the next 7 days even outside the UK.

blurb:

Le Tour de France is the world's biggest annual sports event, bathed in history and controversy. It began as a publicity stunt organised by a struggling French newspaper, and now millions line the route every year. Academics claim the race taught the French what their country actually looked like. Contributors to the programme include Johnny Green, former road manager of The Clash and cycling nut, who sees the participants as rock and roll gods; Agnes Poirier who remembers being dragged to watch the race every year and wonders if the French will ever win again; and Michael Simkins, author of Detour de France, a journey in search of sophistication. The presenter is Dominic Arkwright, the producer Miles Warde.

 

[metaCYCLE]

gotta check it out. thanks for the heads-up.

 

[stefrees]

just listening now, quite good actually

 

[The Hitch]

the bbc aknowledging this thing of ours as a sport. Well i never.

Usually, even on bbc news the only sports you will hear about are football (duh) tennis (only during wimbledon) rugby (during the 6 nations and during world cup) and most recently lots and lots on f1.

The link.

These are the events bbc has rights to broadcast.
last year on a bbc quiz, out of 6 athletes only 1 was able to answer the question - what race did alberto contador win this year, and he was merely taking a guess.

Still good to see they have aknowledged it.

 

[Thee_chisa]

the bbc aknowledging this thing of ours as a sport. Well i never.

Usually, even on bbc news the only sports you will hear about are football (duh) tennis (only during wimbledon) rugby (during the 6 nations and during world cup) and most recently lots and lots on f1.

The link.

These are the events bbc has rights to broadcast.
last year on a bbc quiz, out of 6 athletes only 1 was able to answer the question - what race did alberto contador win this year, and he was merely taking a guess.

Still good to see they have aknowledged it.

athletes aren't the brightest buttons in the box

 

[Polish]

What a great discussion!

Thank you for the link.

Will there be more segments?

 

[Francois the Postman]

I like the intro...

"[the first race was held in 1903 and won by Maurice Garin] The race was so successful that it happened again the next year. This time Garin was disqualified for cheating, and a noble tradition was born."

So more true than it wanted to be.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

These are the events bbc has rights to broadcast.
last year on a bbc quiz, out of 6 athletes only 1 was able to answer the question - what race did alberto contador win this year, and he was merely taking a guess.

Still good to see they have aknowledged it.

To be fair to that format, it's "on the buzzer", and Matt Dawson buzzed immediately, then guessed in a panic, because he was losing. We don't know how many of the other 5 would have known but weren't quick enough. I can pretty much guarantee Tuffers wouldn't have known though.

How funny would it have been for Dawson to have buzzed, and smugly said "the Volta ao Algarve" or "the Spanish national time trial championships"?

Would have reminded me of that time when, on Just a Minute, Clement Freud was given the topic "Big Ben", and while the other contestants were talking about London, this aged writer and politician, grandson of Sigmund, was reeling off stats about Ben Roethlisberger to the whistle.

 

[The Hitch]

just heard the programme.

Very high quality show. Really good.