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From the Reverend Kate Bottley:Ìý
I love telly, and I’ve always watched a lot of it.Ìý ÌýMy most precious TV memory is Wednesday nights, when my nan would babysit while Mum and Dad went out. The rest of the week we were a ´óÏó´«Ã½ household, but my Nan, on the other hand, well she liked the ‘other’ channel. So it was Coronation Street, looking for the cat on the wall in the opening credits, followed by ‘This is your Life’, with Eamon Andrews and his big red book. Do you remember it? Now, If you don’t, what happened was the host would surprise a well known face with an evening all about them, telling their life story.Ìý
The best bit though was the opener, when Eamon would give clues to who the famous face might be, my Nan and I would try and guess, shouting possible answers at the screen, until the celebrity was revealed, I’d look up and ask ‘Who’s that Nan?’ Often unable to answer, she’d cluelessly huff in disgust, muttering ‘No idea love’ and go and make a brew. It’s a golden couple of weeks just now for telly lovers, as castle trapped celebrities covered in cockroaches overlap with sequinned strictly stars.Ìý
But like those Wednesday nights of the 1980s, as the famous faces appear I can sometimes hear my nan’s voice in my head tuttingÌý ‘Well, I’ve never heard of him.’ The bible has plenty to say about no one going unrecognised, psalm 139, a poem to an ever present God says “You search me and you know me, you know when I sit and when I rise…you know all my ways.’ And of course it isn’t just the so called big names, I find the idea the that source of love in the universe knows each of us, an indescribable comfort. It reminds me too that just because I don’t know who someone is, it doesn’t mean they aren’t known and it doesn’t mean they aren’t loved.Ìý
As the weeks go on in castle and on dancefloor, I get to know and love the people on my screen, the ones I’d heard of before and the ones I hadn’t, celebrating their triumphs and always being quietly relieved that when it comes to getting up close with snakes and spiders or learning that tricky tango, it’s them and not me!