{"id":4253,"date":"2016-05-23T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T08:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=4253"},"modified":"2016-05-18T15:14:54","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T15:14:54","slug":"treasures-national-and-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=4253","title":{"rendered":"Treasures \u2013 national and international"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jamala\/Andrei<\/a>

Jamala\/Andrei Maximov\/flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Much has been written in recent times about the growth in the number of individuals being labelled \u2018national treasures\u2019. \u00a0Private Eye maintains an informal register of each occasion when yet another well-known person achieves national treasure status, i.e. by being referred to as such by the media. Sir David Attenborough is probably in the number one spot, closely followed by the likes of Clare Balding, Barbara Windsor, Joanna Lumley, Henry Blofeld and Sir Patrick Moore, to name but a few.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that not only individuals can be nominated as national treasures. Once the institutions are included, then the NHS has to be up there at the top, or possibly in tied place with the BBC, presumably with The Archers<\/em> in second place.\u00a0 But looking beyond our borders, we have just celebrated\/enjoyed\/endured\/ignored * the 61st<\/sup> Eurovision Song Contest, and this extraordinary annual event, played out on TV screens all over the world, surely has by now achieved the status of a sort of \u2018international treasure\u2019. \u00a0Well, European perhaps, although I never knew Australia was in Europe, but there you go. \u00a0Actually, the criterion for participation is that the country has to be a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).\u00a0 Apparently Australia was invited as a guest in 2015, and hasn\u2019t had the courtesy to leave.<\/p>\n

As a child, Eurovision was the one of the few programmes on the telly that we all watched together as a family. The rest of the time, viewing was strictly rationed to educational material that my brother and I were allowed to watch at specified times, and only after all our homework had been completed. \u00a0My father\u2019s attitude to television always conveyed the impression that surely one could be doing something more worthwhile, but for some reason Eurovision had special status. We would cheer, boo, cast votes, try and copy some of the more unusual languages and generally have fun.<\/p>\n

Some facts that you may not be aware of:<\/p>\n