More waspish whining

[avevale_intelligencer]

I can't remember where I saw it now, but I read somewhere that a national survey had declared Roald Dahl most popular children's author of all time. The survey, the article went on to say, was conducted as part of "Roald Dahl Weekend."

Is it just me?

Maybe it is. Maybe I have a crabbed and suspicious nature. That's probably why I view with similar suspicion the claim by UK Drama that David Tennant was voted the most popular Doctor of all time. I mean, maybe he was, there are all sorts of reasons why he would have been...but if the voting had gone to, say, Patrick Troughton, would they have broadcast an entire weekend of back-to-back black and white wobbly-setted episodes with him in? Far more sensible to take all the votes and then declare the winner to be the one with the recent crop of bright shiny episodes that look like quality twenty-first-century product.

Democratic consultation, after all, only has to be seen to take place. It doesn't actually have to be acted on.

Comments

[keristor.livejournal.com]

No, it's not just you. Whenever I see any survey results which support the people who commissioned the survey I am suspicious. For that matter, I'm suspicious of any poll which samples a minute percentage of the population, the sort which proclaim that the average household only contains 6 books, based on a sample of only a thousand out of 20 million or so.

Perhaps someone did actually look at Roald Dahl's book sales, and he sold more than any other children's author. OK, that would show something (although not necessarily how popular he is with the target audience). But no one got my opinion on the authors I liked as a child, nor that of anyone I know about. Nor did anyone I know of vote on the most popular Doctor. So how much those poll results are actually worth is, as far as I'm concerned, very dubious.