I've heard about this but haven't seen the finer details........surely they didn't drive over/around the actual Cenotaph did they?
Playing Devil's advocate, The Cenotaph is situated on Whitehall, which is a (major) thoroughfare. So all sorts of vehicles are driving past it all the time. Quite a few other films have shot scenes (driving ones) in that area and I don't recall similar resentment.
Personally I think, being a cynic, that it is all a huge publicity stunt........the BBC can't afford for the new TG to fail. It is too big a cash cow for them.
Well Chas I never indicated that my comments were aimed at you. They were very general and a response to the overall thread and frankly unnecessary media coverage as a whole. I certainly was not putting words in YOUR mouth. I think though that I would question the need and value to have raised this post in the first place. This is a democratic forum (about Landcruisers if I recall) and I am using my right to disagree with what you have suggested. And that is MY opinion. We agree on lots of stuff and share a beer or two on many occasions. Doesn't mean I have to always see it your way though. Personally, I don't see it as a story worth examination. That plays straight in to the hands of those who are, it is suggested, using this as a ploy.
I don't actually see it as disrespectful. That's a stone pillar. Not a battle field. For most of the year people just pass it by. They didn't do this on remembrance Sunday did they? What about all the rally track days they have at old airfields where many crews never to returned from sorties over Germany. I just find it selective as I said. Would it have been ok if the TG crew had driven a load of tanks past the monument?
And Westminster council, really? BBC Top Gear ask permission to run Ken Blocks 4x4 800bhp Mustang on closed roads through Whitehall and you didn't think it'd involve drifting and donuts? I call bullshit on that
But why Whitehall? all that's needed is a road, there must have been some reason for that choice, now where did I put that rattle?I think the monument means a lot and is a fantastic symbol of what was done by a few to stop what could have been. Having said that, it's not a shrine. Was this done for publicity? Not entirely convinced the conversation went like this "let's do it there because it'll piss off a lot of people and we'll get publicity". Was more a Whitehall would be a cool place to do it.
I do think though that people get to rattled and in turn rattle others and cause others to rattle back purely because there are platforms which allow them the audience. 10-15 years ago it would have been a conversation down at the pub which would have been distracted by someone saying "coor, look at the tits on that birds" and then it owuld have ended.
The issue with all this is that then people have to change their ways so as to not offend the minority. And sadly, we're quite good at that. It's not my fault if you're offended - it's yours.