The cult of John Sweeney may be smaller than that of L.Ron Hubbard, but it owes more to diuretics than dianetics. Here’s Sweeney explaining how a school theatrical role as an RSM in Oh What A Lovely War! inspired him to an outburst that had my three-year-old son saying, “That man is frightening me.” (Joan Littlewood has a lot to answer for…)
And if you saw that performance of Oh What A Lovely War! – please share.
One response to “Sweeney antagonistes (etc.)”
I rather wish he hadn’t said that. His explanation in the programme – basically that he had been freaked out by the ‘museum’ and being stalked by the son of a Hollywood star – held more water. Proving ‘I can shout louder than you’ doesn’t quite have the same psychological gravitas. It was not the BBC’s finest hour and the documentary itself was pretty weak. Compare and contrast the many, often self-inflicted provocations faced by, say, Louis Theroux – deflected with humour or an expression of polite bafflement. But it did illustrate rather well the point of the piece – that these organisations can get inside your head.