Sir Peter Bazalgette gave Big Brother to Britain, but his true love is opera. This, surely, is cultural elitism at its most hypocritical
The man who brought Big Brother to a grateful Britain, Sir Peter Bazalgette, has been made chairman of English National Opera. Venerable opera critic Norman Lebrecht is up in arms, describing Sir Peter on his blog as "a cynical operator of no known values" and insisting that he should be stopped "now, before it's too late". I understand Lebrecht's pain.
Bazalgette has been on the board of ENO for some while, and has given generous donations to this most rarified of artistic endeavours. The money he has made from Big Brother – a show that became about seeing whether people might be persuaded to copulate for TV – has in effect bought influence over an art form that he loves. It's not edifying, but it's the way of the world. But what sticks in my craw is the gigantic gulf between the kind of entertainment this chap markets to the masses, and the kind that he prefers to employ to enrich his own soul. This, surely, is cultural elitism at its most hypocritical and divisive.