We Are The Wordsmiths to The World - Andrew Crofts
Monocle Magazine hit the headlines a few months ago by putting Britain number one in its “soft power” league, claiming we were the “most powerful nation in the world in terms of cultural influence”. Admittedly that was in the wake of the Olympic/Jubilee euphoria, but even if you discount the hyperbole, British writers should still be feeling pretty cheerful about the future. If we cast our minds back to Danny Boyle’s Olympic opening ceremony, a huge part of the show referenced characters who originated in the minds of British writers – Messrs Potter and Bond obviously, Mary Poppins, Captain Hook, Cruella de Vil – all now cliched images certainly, but our cliches none the less. Looking back over my ghostwriting client list of the last few years I am struck by how many of them are international – India, Nigeria, China, America, Uganda, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Monaco, Bermuda, Brazil, the Netherlands, Australia, the United Arab Emirates …. This seems to have come about ...