Is Neil Oliver finished on the likes of the BBC and Channel 4?
I mean before Covid he seemed to be on the BBC quite a bit.
Now he has gone down the GBTV, C19 conspiracy rabbit hole he is now finished?
FWIW I always thought he was bit of a dick anyway, called himself a historian despite having no qualifications.
Oh I do hope so. A danger to the gullible.
hope so.
He's David Icke lite.
called himself a historian despite having no qualifications.
Are there any qualifications needed to call oneself a historian? I think he has an archeology degree hasn't he?
Burnistoun had his number years ago with the Robert Clach sketches
Are there any qualifications needed to call oneself a historian?
Maybe a degree in History?
An absolute tosser of a guy.
He'll have a whole new career in complaining he's been cancelled. Next thing he'll be all over QuestionTime, trending on Twitter and doing awful songs on mornning TV, like that other idiot.
FWIW I always thought he was bit of a dick anyway, called himself a historian despite having no qualifications.
Does he not have a degree in archaeology? And can only people with a qualification consider themselves historians? There's an undoubled expert local historian in the town where I live - I've never thought to ask if he's got qualifications.
FWIW - I don't like his politics nor self-aggrandising, and I'm sure his chance of BBC history work is pretty low now.
He's still on TV a lot. I know because I'm often shouting "not this gobshite again" and switching over.
I would think so. Maybe get work thru rright wing media but he is badly tainted
FWIW I liked his stuff on telly but t'missus thought him a jerk. I guess she was a better judge of character 🙂
There's nothing wrong with being a self-taught Historian.
His mainstream career is probably over though. GB News seems to be a one-way street and the people I know who work in that industry would loath to be associated with anything that overtly right-wing.
I never liked him as his hair didn't suit him.
FWIW I liked his stuff on telly but t’missus thought him a jerk.
She was right. Again.
Ironically, as with many of these 'anti-woke' people he seems utterly desperate to find a cause where he can be the victim of some great injustice - despite being a comfortably-off, reasonably successful white man.
Burnistoun had his number years ago with the Robert Clach sketches
Back when TJ had long hair.
comfortably-off, reasonably successful white man.
Does that make up about 99% of the "anti-woke"?
Tragic cases that just can't live with the fact that the world no longer revolves around them.
Almost certainly bedwetters into their early teens.
Why would you ruin a perfectly sensible comment like this:
Does that make up about 99% of the “anti-woke”?
Tragic cases that just can’t live with the fact that the world no longer revolves around them.
by adding this on the end:
Almost certainly bedwetters into their early teens.
Anyone that's incontinent in their early teens probably has a medical reason for it, whilst the term "bedwetters" is the language of the "anti-woke".
🙂
That’s the problem with being ‘woke’ (for want of a better word), no matter how careful you are, in the end you’ll offend someone and suddenly it’s you that’s the bad guy*
* or gal.
Oh yeah, and I have a BA Hons in history from a good university, but I wouldn't call myself a historian. Am I the anti-Neil Oliver?
* or gal.
*person
depends Grum - are you a slaphead? If so yes 🙂
Tragic cases that just can’t live with the fact that the world no longer revolves around them.
Annoyingly though it still does.
Annoyingly though it still does.
Only if we let it
Insufferable and looking more and more like an an Alan Partridge gone to seed.
I hear that he reads sermons now? Church Of GBeebies
I know he was on GBTV, but never watched it so don't know his views. Still, given descriptions above, having him back could be a good way for the Beeb to appease Dorries/DCMS by having him back presenting stuff he did prior (i.e. non-political).
There’s nothing wrong with being a self-taught Historian.
Theres also nothing unusual in pursuing a career in something other than the subject you studied at university. Most people don't (especially most people who study history) - its academic study not vocational training.
And being a presenter on a subject has nothing to do with being an authority on the subject. In fact it helps not to be. Certainly in the past it was a deliberate strategy for the BBC. James Burke - science presenter, chief reporter on the Apollo moon landings, had a degree in Middle English and had published an Art Encyclpedia before he got the job of Science presenter for the BBC. The aim was for arts experts to present Science programs and Science experts to present Arts programmes. The presenter needs to be an outsider to be able to convey an understanding of a subject to a ley audience
But anyway... knowing people who studied archeology alongside Oliver, the guy we see today isn't really a revelation to them - its just something he's had to keep a lid on during his presenting career to date.
The trouble he has is that he will now have to keep top trumping himself in the future to remain "relevant"/controversial.
Covid will effectively be over at some point and he'll have to move on to other subjects of outrage. I think that's when we'll really see what a dark place his mind is.
I suspect he is still having to moderate some of the subjects he'd like to give opinions on.
Oversaw a huge drop in NTS Scotland membership during his stint. And yes, a complete tool.
Theres also nothing unusual in pursuing a career in something other than the subject you studied at university
Phew!
The trouble he has is that he will now have to keep top trumping himself in the future to remain “relevant”
No trouble, I would imagine. Take his historical claim that the 2020 lockdown was
the biggest mistake in world history
Well, it’s already history now. So if Bozo and Chums next week decide to mandate the wearing of masks then Oliver will find it trivial to simply update the
‘biggest mistake in world history’.
He could do one a week. Possibly two?
Masks next Monday?
Next Thursday? Transgender shoes?
Following week? COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters.
Xmas Special: Snowflake cancels snowflakes in favour of Black Lives Matter
Etc
Poopscoop
Full MemberThe trouble he has is that he will now have to keep top trumping himself in the future to remain “relevant”/controversial.
Yep, and that's actually pretty hard. You need to have the exact right mix of intuitiveness, cynicism, dishonesty, intelligence and just the right balance of selfawareness so that you can position yourself, and the ability to suspend self awareness so you can act like you're not a carefully constructed frankenstein's monster. And then you have to get it right, over and over. Most people just couldn't do it and I reckon that most people that could do it will always choose not to.
Some people are really good at it- Katie Hopkins was a natural. It's all about the journey, knowing where you need to go, exactly where too far is and where not far enough is and making sure you never ever get to the end. But everyone runs out of room to manoeuvre eventually. Oliver is super mega bad at it.
called himself an historian despite having no qualifications.
It's 'an' historian, like it's An Hathaway. 😉
I've already defriended a Facebook 'friend' this week for promoting a Katie Hopkins video, then another shared that Neil Oliver video, which I watched.
Was actually quite taken aback at the rubbish he was spouting.
I didn't realise he was a dick.
* An angry Alan Partridge gone to seed
Perhaps a history column in the mail.
*an history column 😛
Is Neil Oliver finished?
I hope so.
Think he's great and have enjoyed his musings over the last 18 months or so. However, that beardage needs some serious attention, what a mess.
Does he have a future as an archaeologist? Or a TV historian? No idea. I’d like to see him try though. The Neil Oliver history come back tour. In which no one of interest will talk to him, and he ends up paraded around Hay-on-Wye by a militant wing of the WI who give him a tongue lashing for his hateful world views. All the while flicking cake batter at him.
I dunno like so many of these people he seems to relish the notoriety. He comes across as a very angry little man with nothing particularly original to say about anything, good or bad.
Think he’s great and have enjoyed his musings
Now we know your just trolling nobody finds Neil Oliver great
He wasn’t even good before he became an irrelevant angry dick.
Even when he talked about relevant things as a collumist he was a non
Oversaw a huge drop in NTS Scotland membership during his stint.
NTS Annual Review 2016-17 states membership 366,000, NTS Annual accounts 2019-20 states membership 371,803 so it has gone up.
I thought he was only anti vaccines for children which is a perfectly respectable viewpoint.
He looks like a pound shop 1990s era George Best, and he's a knobber, so I'm out.
I respect his opinions on mesolithic archaeology
On virology & epidemiology, Hes just a clown
But that's GBnews for you!
I thought he was only anti vaccines for children which is a perfectly respectable viewpoint.
Never had you down as a GB News kinda guy mefty. Lockdown driven you towards extremism?
We can only presume that too many of us were seen to be awakening from the toxic trance into which we had been put by propaganda from the nudge unit. Fear has been the key to nearly two years of unprecedented power for politicians and their scientists – fear has also blinded people to the reality of manipulation and mass hypnosis used to make them, and to keep them, compliant. But with that fear on the wane, losing its power to do harm, much like the virus was losing its power, it was plainly time to cast another spell.
And here it is, in the form of yet another variant. How timely. Someone even managed to sprinkle, for a while, the acronym HIV over this latest mutation, like bitter icing on a stale cake.
This is just tinfoil-hat claptrap. ^^^
Shame, because there are valid criticisms to be made of the pandemic response but this kind of nonsense devalues any legitimate concerns.
Just watching Bombshell funnily enough.
Amazing that the UK has decided to go down the FOX News route after seeing how it operates and the damage it's done in the US, but here we are.
Never had you down as a GB News kinda guy mefty
No need to watch GB News, it was on his wikipedia page.
NTS Annual Review 2016-17 states membership 366,000, NTS Annual accounts 2019-20 states membership 371,803 so it has gone up.
Is that membership stat taken after his Starkey/black lives matter tweets?
Just went on Twitter (which I hate) to have a look at this tweets.
Yeah...
Perhaps a history column in the mail.
He only needs to go back to 1950 when Britain was still great, women and foreigners knew their place etc,. so quite an easy gig.
He write a column in the times, it's shit, I was cancelling my subscription and asked why I said he was one of the reasons. Call handler said yes he's a bit of a prat isn't he. Nicely understated I thought.
It’s ‘an’ historian
No it isn't, unless you pronounce it "istorian".
That seems to be one of the disputed ones cougar
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/is-it-a-or-an
But! There always seems to be a but—what about problematic cases such as historic? Should this be preceded with a or an? Some people, it must be said, do appear to feel very strongly that historic and historical should be preceded by an, rather than a. The reason for this is that in these two words the initial H was, for a long time, unstressed to the point of inaudibility, and so one would typically see “an historic(al”) written (and some people still do not pronounce the initial H of these two words). As many of the people reading this have only waded through this article so far in order to get a definite answer on the use of this indefinite article in this definite sense, here is what the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage has to say about historic:
A few words, such as historic and (especially in England) hotel, are in transition, and may be found with either a or an. You choose the article that best suits your own pronunciation.
Sorry. You're entirely right to call that out.
I was looking for a throw away comment to allude to insecurities driving a bullying agenda and ended up completely ham-fisting it.
Cheers.
That seems to be one of the disputed ones cougar
I do not recognise M-W as an authority on English.
In any case, the original 'correction' posted was incorrect.
How about Oxford press then? 😉
Is it ’ a historical document’ or ’ an historical document’? ‘ A hotel’ or ‘ an hotel’? There is still some divergence of opinion over which form of the indefinite article should be used before words that begin with h- and have an unstressed first syllable. In the 18th and 19th centuries people often did not pronounce the initial h for these words, and so an was commonly used. Today the h is pronounced, and so it is logical to use a rather than an. However, the indefinite article an is still encountered before the h in both British and American English, particularly with historical: in the Oxford English Corpus around a quarter of examples of historical are preceded with an rather than a
This debate needs its own thread, it would be an historic stw thread, no wait, a historic ......
Your whole arguement for an appears to hinge on people not speaking correctly.
Why you'd use an if you pronounce it correctly is unclear other than a nod to history which is a nonsense.
No need to watch GB News, it was on his wikipedia page.
as is the fact that, until GB News came along he hasn’t had any presenting gigs since 2018. The great thing about history as a subject for tv is it doesn’t really date - great for repeats - so although Oliver has been on our screens a lot it doesn’t mean he’s had a lot of lot of work. By appearing on GB news he hasn’t really undermined his TV career as it doesn’t seem he’d had one for a while
he’s tainted a back catalogue of work though. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, programmes like Coast were put together in a way that can be recompiled and repackaged so a lot of it can be de-Olivered
Oh; and his book on the Vikings managed to make an interesting topic really dull.
Why does he always wear a buff around his neck? It is annoying, especially as he isn't even using it as a mask.
kayak23
Full Member
called himself an historian despite having no qualifications.It’s ‘an’ historian, like it’s An Hathaway. 😉
I personally pronounce the H, so a historian for me, an historian sounds daft. We use an before vowels no haitches. 😆 Although if you are into an istory or like to go to an otel, crack on, not for me though!
It’s ‘an’ historian
No it isn’t, unless you pronounce it “istorian”.
Alright, alright. No need to get into an huff.
I can only presume STW is now going down some handwringing BBC-esque route to 'balance' by tolerating batshit craziness in the pursuit of said 'balance'.
Oh well, just a few more people to chuckle at and file under 'ignore'.
🤷♂️
I used to think he was quite funny. Then I realised I was mixing him up with Ross Noble.
Sorry Ross.
It is also difficult to overstate how bob-on accurate this piece from George Monbiot is. Now George can be a but of a loon himself sometimes, but this is on the money in explaining how so many folk who likely had a 'lentils and sandals' phase are now pro-Brexit and antivax. If only self-awareness came so easy.
A hotel just sounds wrong and is clumsy to say. An hotel runs off the tongue better
Historian some what is more neutral but on balance an sounds better to me
I think it also depends on how you say the "A" sound - a long A does not go with H, a short A does
A hotel just sounds wrong and is clumsy to say.
Must be an English thing. I was brought up to pronounce Hotel. That's how my folks spoke. No wonder you got picked on.
And I was brought up to pronounce A properly with a long sound not swallow it with a short one. Bet you can't say bath and laugh properly either
Why does he always wear a buff around his neck?
It's an affectation. He's like one of those blokes who always wear an army style cap and a shemagh scarf like they're deployed behind the Taliban lines but they're just going to Lidl. It makes them mysterious and alluring and impossible for the opposite sex not to swoon at their feet.
Why does he always wear a buff around his neck?
So you can't see where the scales end.
@gardentiger - yep he's spot on there.
FWIW I never minded Neil Oliver's presenting but always suspected he was a bit of a dick in real life. Not as much as it turned out though!
His mainstream career is probably over though.
Seems like a natural replacement for Andrew Marr.
Oliver's presenting was always like he was auditioning for the village am-dram production of MacBeth. All 'Burnham Wood is come to Dunsinane*' and that. Or the panto.
*May not be the actual words - can't remember.
In any case, and in answer to the original question...
He should be finished, yes. But so long as a sizeable group of attention-seeking 'adults' provide an audience for his dribblings, he'll go on coining it. If that audience grows some self-respect and stops using loonydom as a means of being noticed, then he'll just be another David Icke. But then again, his profile got a boost as a result of all the antivax frothing, so there's obviously a market to tap into.
Why does he always wear a buff around his neck?
It’s an affectation. He’s like one of those blokes who always wear an army style cap and a shemagh scarf like they’re deployed behind the Taliban lines but they’re just going to Lidl. It makes them mysterious and alluring and impossible for the opposite sex not to swoon at their feet.
Considering that Buffs pretty much started out being worn by mountain bikers, there’s an element of irony in that statement.
I’ve been wearing buffs, or similar knock-offs for many years, for the original purpose - to stop the back of my neck getting sunburned, and as a wind barrier in colder weather. And the same for shemagh scarves, I’ve had a couple of those for many years as well, I wear them mostly in the winter and I prefer them to regular scarves because they’re cotton and soft, and don’t irritate and itch like some other materials do.
Just waiting for the same accusation being made against Simon Reeve, who’s also worn them for about as long as he’s been making telly series, and likely for exactly the same reason.
As Oliver was presenting programmes that are pretty much all outdoors, he’s been using them for precisely the purpose they were intended for. Hardly an ‘affectation’.
His decent into the anti-vaxx rabbit-hole, along with the likes of Clapton and Morrison, however, does deserve the sort of criticism he’s getting, and rightly so. I used to quite like him on ‘Coast’, and on his original battlefield archeology programmes, but I wouldn’t bother watching anything he’s done now.
Yeah ditto, I don't mind what he wears, just that he's gone down a path that is just completely alien to me.
I'm being diplomatic.
A hotel just sounds wrong and is clumsy to say. An hotel runs off the tongue better
There is simply no way that someone can say 'an hotel' and it sound anything but insane.
Unless you drop the H, which also sounds ridiculous.
Try it. Try saying 'an hotel' in any sentence, it is just wrong.
replacment for Andrew Marr
I'm definitely on the wrong side of history
