The greatest living Englishman
7:46am
Last night's GQ Men of the Year Awards were, as ever, a glittering occasion and a tribute to the talents of the magazine's editor, Dylan Jones (whose most recent Spectator Diary you can read here). Plenty of excellent choices for the 10th annual ceremony, including the editor of the year, Will Lewis, editor in chief of our stable mate Telegraph titles. I finally got to meet Michael Caine, who was given a Lifetime Achievement award and rewarded with a thunderous standing ovation at the Royal Opera House. He is almost certainly the Greatest Living Englishman. Why? Because, in the end, it is more fun to be Harry Palmer, a spy born in the sound of Bow Bells, than James Bond, endlessly fretting about the right brand of watch and the marque of your car. Sir Michael has played action hero and character actor, but his roots - see The Italian Job and Alfie par excellence - lie in the great traditions of English music hall and irony. He paid touching tribute to his wife Shakira with the good grace of a man who still cannot quite believe his luck. A true titan and a memorable night.
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Comments
Chris
September 5th, 2007 8:29amThe Emperor has no clothes, as Sir Kingsley Amis pointed out (I quote from memory): "He would deliver the lines 'You are the love of my life, I cannot exist without you,' and 'Would you bring the car round to the front of the hotel, please?' with exactly the same intonation."
Og
September 5th, 2007 9:33amMichael Caine the GLE? Great bloke, but hardly GLE material. Why not run a coffee house piece on this, take the top half dozen names that come out of the comments and then do a blog poll that lasts a week or so (make the blogpoll prominent). T Berners-Lee ought to be right up there (the world's richest man that never was).
Alex R
September 5th, 2007 9:44amMatthew, Just wondered if I could claim my prize for the Nelson Mandela competition. Think I correctly predicted that Rod Liddle would be the first to attack the statue.
alex
September 5th, 2007 10:18amYou're wrong on one point: the Greatest Living Englishman is undoubtedly Roger Moore. If there is any Bond you'd want to be, it would be the one depicted by Moore: not as sullen as Timothy Dalton or Daniel Craig, not as hairy as Sean Connery, and not as smarmy as Piers Brosnan. And not as Australian as George Lazenby. Moore had it all, and he was the most English Bond.
Tiberius
September 5th, 2007 10:35amWith so many Scotsmen (or should that be Scotch?)appropriating the exposure given by the media, it requires a bit of effort to see through the trees and discern the GLE. Rather like international quality goalkeepers, England has lost the supply of the truly great which we have seen in recent times. But I'd go for Steve Redgrave.
Perry
September 5th, 2007 11:10amAh yes! - Steve Redgrave - has to be. The genuine article.
Grant
September 24th, 2008 8:36pmYou're all wrong. It's Tracey Dear of the Waco Brothers. Look it up.