Where there's a will, swears away

As you all know by now, dear readers, I'm a bit potty-mouthed. And today, none other than Dame Joan Bakewell has been extolling the virtues of swearing on Radio 4's Saturday Live with the lovely Fi Glover and the now ever-so-slightly-overdone White Stripes opening gambit.

'Swearing is important for drama, and for comedy,' said Dame Joan (a dame!). 'If you want drama to be realistic - if you want drama to convey energy and real life - you have to speak as people speak in daily life. So I think there's a case for moderate amounts of it. There's a need for creative people to be creative with language, and swearing is a very rich part of the language and a very magical part of the language because it triggers anxiety and resentment, and all sorts of things - fear, shame - so swearing matters.'

Huh. And there was me thinking I'd gone off the excessive use of expletives after three of the six finalists in last night's Manchester Fiction Prize Gala went a bit over the top with the profanities. Especially that naughty Toby Litt. He made me start coughing with all his talk of cock. Tsk. See my official Manchester Literature Festival Blog review for more.