Voting Station

Barry Norman

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Critic

The Resume

    (August 21, 1933-June 30, 2017)
    Born in London, United Kingdom
    Journalist for the Kensington News, Johannesburg Star, Rhodesia Herald, Daily Sketch, Daily Mail, Observer, Guardian and Radio Times
    Collaborated with artist Wally Fawks on the comic strip ‘Fook’
    Hosted ‘Film…’ on BBC One (1972-98)
    On BBC Radio 4, hosted ‘Today’ (1974-76), ‘Going Places’ (1977-81) and ‘Breakaway’ (1979-80)
    Wrote ‘And Why Not? Memoirs of a Film Lover’ (2003)
    Named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to broadcasting (1998)

Why he might be annoying:

    Before moving on to criticism, he was the gossip columnist for ‘The Daily Mail.’
    He was often mocked for fawning over Tom Cruise and Michelle Pfeiffer during their appearances on ‘Film’: ‘I must have done hundreds and thousands of bloody interviews and those are the only ones that get mentioned.’
    He singled out for praise Kevin Pollak’s performance in ‘Se7en,’ even though Pollak does not appear in the film. (Presumably, he was thinking of Kevin Spacey, who portrayed the villain.)
    He compiled a ‘Top 100’ films list for ‘Radio Times’ (January, 2012) that became notorious among film buffs for including only three films that were not either American or British productions: ‘The Seven Samurai’ (1954), ‘Shoah’ (1985) and ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ (2000).
    He was associated with the catchphrase ‘And why not,’ but it actually originated with comedian Rory Bremner’s impersonation of him.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His parents both worked in the movies: his father as a producer and director, his mother as a film cutter for Ealing Studios.
    He was married to Diana Narrcott for 53 years until her death.
    He noted one of the benefits of ending his career as a critic: ‘It’s a relief not to have to watch so much crap.’
    He successfully marketed a brand of pickled onions using a family recipe handed down through the generations (2007).
    The Guardian wrote that he ‘perfected a flair for talking beguilingly about cinema to a mass television audience but in a way that did not make aficionados wince.’
    He said about his approach, ’ I always knew that nobody's right and nobody's wrong in criticism. The only thing I could do was to make sure that whatever I said was what I really believed.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 82 Votes: 62.20% Annoying