26 February (Part 2) - I was a Hotten Tot
This country
has gradually become one over-populated lunatic asylum over the past 30 years or
so. Everyone in charge of any tin-pot quango or Government Department has gone
right off their collective trollies. From Sunak downwards with no exceptions that readily come to mind.
Today the BBFC (Britain is Besieged by Flaming Cretins?) has decreed that the 1964 film Mary Poppins is unsuitable for children and
uprated its certificate from Universal to
Parental Guidance because it makes an innocent reference to the South African
tribe of Hottentots. Who knew that that was a term of abuse?
Does any adult know about the Hottentots let alone a young child? Michael Caine
will be getting very worried about Zulu, full of blood and violence but the same PG
rating as Julie Andrews and a magic brolly.
What has become of us? Probably I only knew the word Hottentot because my 8x
Great Grandfather was Hugh Hotten, born 25th March 1654 in Cornwall with the name
preserved until 1941 when my mother swapped it for something else. I think that
makes me a Hotten tot and descendent of a Dutch immigrant.
When I was
into reading Telephone Directories I knew every one of the
very few Hottens in the London book. There was one living just four stops away on a 301 bus until
fairly recently, closely related, but an unfriendly sod. Must be dead by now. Most of the London ones are.