Highbrow Speak Of The Week

My absolute favourite show at the moment is a BBC production called The Cleaner.

Greg Davies plays Paul "Wicky" Wickhead, a professional crime scene cleaner who finds himself meeting the most eccentric, interesting, loony characters at every job site he visits.

The writing is crisp and the guest cast is among the best of British cinema and television, including Helena Bonham Carter, David Mitchell (Upstart Crow) and Stephanie Cole (Still Open All Hours) who get to play in a weird sandbox here.

It's a treat that you should definitely check out.  

Usually when I include a quote from a comedy, it's something witty or weird, but this time, it's surprisingly inspirational.  Something that Wicky hears from a theatre owner that he (and I) really likes.

Turns out the quote is something that a British politician, Sir Henry William Forster, wrote in a letter to Seymour Halpern who had written to him to ask for advise on how to live a successful life.  Forster included this quote that he had seen written in chalk on a wall once and it is truly magnificent.

“Do what you can, being what you are, shine like a glowworm if you can’t like a star, work like a pulley if you can’t like a crane, grease the wheels thoroughly if you can’t drive the train.”

Again, watch The Cleaner.  You won't be sorry.