This is a 7 part story.
If you like Ken Loach’s 1969 film ‘Kes’ – you’ll have fun.
If you don’t like ‘Kes’, I’ll see you next week.
Or just stick around and by the end of the week – you probably will like it.
Man In Field Makes Us Laugh
OK let’s set the tone for the week. Let’s see whose ‘in’.
Because only a Kes fan will find this video funny, I think.
Scenario:
Man in field.
Runs towards camera wearing red tracksuit.
A tune made most famous by Monty Python plays in the background.
Dialogue? None.
Is he improvising and just doing what the hell he wants? Probably.
Why is it funny? Because I had a PE teacher like this.
(We all had a PE teacher like this).
More tomorrow.
(And by the end of the week I’ll have explained how I went from watching Kes wide-eyed and open-mouthed in 1978 aged 10, to wandering around HMV in Newcastle in 2017 aged 49, alongside David Bradley (Billy Casper), buying every copy of Kes in the shop).
2 Comments
You can almost hear the John Motson commentary going on in his head., and the roar of his imaginary crowd.
I had a PE teacher exactly like this. He had ginger hair and wore a blue tracksuitcwith white piping. I can’t remember his name.
At the end of primary school I wrote him a letter, as I did to all of my teachers, well the ones I liked anyway,. I told him that he had been my best PE teacher ever. He was visibly moved. He told me that it was the nicest letter he had ever had. He very properly shook my hand. It was at that point aged somewhere between 10 and 11 I think, that I really understood that words had the power to move people.
It was then that I swore to myself that, not only was I going to be a designer, I decided that when I was six and it’s another story, but that I wanted to design things with really good words.
I can’t guarantee that I’ve kept that promise to myself. But I have tried, and I always know when I’ve broken it because it makes me feel disappointed in myself, so I try harder.
However, I now realise that it was easy for him to be the best PE teacher I’d ever had, because he was the only PE teacher I’d ever had. So now I understand that it’s not just the truth that matters, but real impact comes from how you tell it.
I’m going to watch Kes.
Thanks for taking the time to share this Shaughn.
The projects that used to ‘float my boat’ most, when I was agency side, were the ones that changed people’s behaviours. Packaging for example. encouraging people to buy ;’this’ over ‘that’ impulsively. And words were all part of that.
I was lucky enough to have lunch with David Bradley/Billy Casper. He described Ken Loach’s favourite scene in the whole of Kes. No one ever saw it as it wasn’t in the final film.
You’ll see why in tomorrow’s post.
Thanks again Shaughn.