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“Canal boating Celebrities”


frangar

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23 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Glad I'm anonymous, after watching a programme where a family of vloggers had their car and house torched because a couple of lads in hoodies decided they didn't like their blog.

I’ve never really got the whole celebrity thing..either wanting to be one or idolising one.

 

My work has brought me into contact with some so called famous people but to me they are just other people….some are idiots and others I’d happily buy a pint and have a chat. 
 

As for the fame for being famous thing of reality TV & YouTube….well that’s just ridiculous. 

 

As you say ‘fame’ does bring the nutters out. I recently worked with a fairly minor TV person. Lovely bloke and well into my buy a pint catergory….however in the audience was a chap who has styled himself to be his look a like…even down to wearing the same t shirt the next day….and he was just a ‘fan’…not someone who earned a living doing it….

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1 hour ago, frangar said:

I’ve never really got the whole celebrity thing..either wanting to be one or idolising one.

 

My work has brought me into contact with some so called famous people but to me they are just other people….some are idiots and others I’d happily buy a pint and have a chat. 
 

As for the fame for being famous thing of reality TV & YouTube….well that’s just ridiculous. 

 

As you say ‘fame’ does bring the nutters out. I recently worked with a fairly minor TV person. Lovely bloke and well into my buy a pint catergory….however in the audience was a chap who has styled himself to be his look a like…even down to wearing the same t shirt the next day….and he was just a ‘fan’…not someone who earned a living doing it….

 

My experience is very much the same as yours. Most are very different to their on-screen personalities, a few feel they have to live up to it 24/7 and are best avoided. 

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Martyn's expression "Well known for being well known" sums it up. This syndrome goes back many years: what had Lady Barnett and Gilbert Harding done to justify being on telly (admittedly, the latter in particular went on to justify his selection by the programme's producers).

 

In the recent series of 'I'm A Celebrity' there were eleven or twelve contestants. I'd heard of Richard Madeley, Adam Woodyatt, David Ginola and,,,,er....er....

 

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Athy said:

Martyn's expression "Well known for being well known" sums it up. This syndrome goes back many years: what had Lady Barnett and Gilbert Harding done to justify being on telly (admittedly, the latter in particular went on to justify his selection by the programme's producers).

 

In the recent series of 'I'm A Celebrity' there were eleven or twelve contestants. I'd heard of Richard Madeley, Adam Woodyatt, David Ginola and,,,,er....er....

 

 

This is like a significant proportion of the younger generations wanting to be famous as Instagram 'influencers', a few thousand followers and they demand a living for er, er, flaunting the freebies and sponsorships that they expect. 

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5 minutes ago, Athy said:

Joe and Rose Skinner?

Tom Rolt?

Now they are legendary, and interesting from a boat and canal history perspective. Would watch more videos about them.

 

I wouldn't consider Tim and Pru to be vastly authoritative about boats, and they've owned for years, but they are an entertaining and warm couple, with all the foibles of a long marriage, who can narrate and present a good canal themed series. Their celebrity though is from the stage and acting, predating their canal stuff. A lot more people around the globe will know Pru as the wife of a cantankerous seaside hotel owner than will think of her pootling around on a narrowboat.

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To be fair the Foxes only say they are celebrities in the canal community and judging by this forum - on which they are the subject of much discussion despite not being members - they appear to be correct.

 

Joe and Rose Skinner are arguably much better known posthumously and they've only ever been well known within canal circles. Their fame stems from being the last of a particular breed of which there were once many, and it's possibly because their longevity brought them into the memory spans of folk who are still alive today and of modern media. I don't think Tom Rolt is a celebrity at all, but he is well known as an author amongst at least amongst transport enthusiasts.

Edited by Captain Pegg
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11 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

To be fair the Foxes only say they are celebrities in the canal community and judging by this forum - on which they are the subject of much discussion despite not being members - they appear to be correct.

 

Joe and Rose Skinner are arguably much better known posthumously and they've only ever been well known within canal circles. Their fame stems from being the last of a particular breed of which there were once many, and it's possibly because their longevity brought them into the memory spans of folk who are still alive today and of modern media. I don't think Tom Rolt is a celebrity at all, but he is well known as an author amongst at least amongst transport enthusiasts.

They can say that they are celebrities in the canal community, but with 130k subscribers that's a lot more than the number of boats on the network. I don't dislike them, don't watch them, have seen a couple and the presentation and production are well done. If that kind of video floats someone's boat then I can't begrudge the Foxes their YouTube advertising revenue.

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3 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

I have a similar view. I've watched two of their vlogs. One was the Ribble link trip which I watched to see how difficult punching the tide on the Douglas was, and the other was their trip on the Coventry for which a link was posted on a thread here. They passed within 200m of my childhood home yet were able to offer some facts of which I had never been aware.

 

Like many others I think they are looking for a way of earning in a world where paid employment is increasingly unfulfilling. I can relate to that.

 

Exactly. I too saw the Ribble link one as I sailed round there and watched them on the Cheshire waterways video. Wouldn't consider them to be an authority on anything but if they can make entertaining content that doesn't contain bad or unsafe advice then their channel is one of the better produced ones out there.

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5 hours ago, BilgePump said:

They can say that they are celebrities in the canal community, but with 130k subscribers that's a lot more than the number of boats on the network.

Yes. But a fair proportion of the 30,000 or so CRT-registered boaters must have come across them online, with the result that they (or their boat) will frequently be recognised when boating.  Whereas their non-boater subscribers represent a drop in the ocean of the general population, so when walking down the street, away from the boat, almost no-one will recognise them.

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