Is Professor McMillan for real?

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2012
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

9 June

I'm sure that he's real, but is his every word on The Verb for real?

As I have said in a Tweet or two, great though it is to have the programme, has Professor Ian's geniality begun to wear a bit thin? That and the attempt to shock, inspire and amuse - I know it's the cabaret of the word, but cabarets don't always have the same Master of Ceremonies, and I don't get:

* Asking me to listen as if I were missing a layer of skin (in the last programme)

* Never having anything critical to say, although the occasional provoctaive question

* Even why there are so many regulars, given commissions or challenges

I have no regrets: without The Verb, I would probably not have heard Janice Galloway, written two pieces that I submitted to its competitions, encountered Paul Griffiths as (contrary)novelist (about which I have blogged elsewhere), etc., etc.

But would the next series of the programme benefit from giving guest hosts a turn, which worked well with Have I Got News For You? when Angus fell from grace.


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