Chris Rock, not Will Smith, is the hero men need

There was an explosion of masculinity on the stage at the Oscars last night. Male behaviour was on display for all to see. No, not from Will Smith, who behaved like a big, dumb baby, but from Chris Rock. It was Rock’s calmness and stoicism, his mastery of his emotions, that was truly manly. If you want to know what a real man is, look not to Smith and his impulsive swearing and slapping, but to Rock and his Herculean suppression of his shock and fury.

I am in awe of Chris Rock this morning. I get distracted if someone in the audience so much as coughs when I’m giving a talk. I bat back every point of information in university debates for fear I’ll lose my train of thought. And yet there was Mr Rock, violently assaulted in front of millions, sworn at and humiliated before his peers, and what does he do? He falters for mere milliseconds, then puts his hands behind his back and carries on with the show.