Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

Stop trying to make high culture funky

(Getty Images)

Clive Myrie, now probably the top face of the BBC, and host of their television coverage of the Proms, had a strange one on Twitter this weekend. A fan gushed at him that ‘[the Proms are] completely accessible – no formal dress code and you can buy a Prom ticket on the day for the price of a pint! To hear some of the world’s best performers. What’s not to love?’ To which Myrie replied, ‘We’ve to keep pushing on that. This is music for everyone, not a select few who know their crotchets from their quavers!! That’s boring and naff!!’

The people who take these ‘vital’ and ‘important’ stands against phantoms enjoy the cost-free thrill of demanding an immediate end to something that nobody is actually doing

What a strange exchange. A formal dress code and knowledge of musical notation aren’t things demanded at the Proms, no. But they aren’t demanded anywhere else either.

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