2012-07-28
Straight On
text 02:58:05
Second to the right, and straight on till morning. Peter Pan, JM Barry.
Almost all the volunteer dancers in this segment work for the National Health Service. They include doctors, pharmacists, managers, nurses, radiographers, midwives and social workers.
The National Health Service is the institution which more than any other unites our nation. It was founded just after the Second World War on Aneurin Bevan’s famous principle, ‘No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.’
One of its most-loved hospitals is Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, to which JM Barrie bequeathed all the royalties from his masterpiece, Peter Pan.
British writers of children’s books have created characters who are known and loved all over the world. But the roots of their stories are every bit as global as their current success.
They draw on fairy stories from the Black Forest, Norse myths, Chinese and African folk tales. In cinemas and bestsellers they return to the world the gift that was given by word of mouth for a thousand generations.
As they said on Twitter, ‘people will watch the Olympic ceremony and go “what the fuck?” and the British will say “This. This is the fuck.”’
