Secret Millionaire (Weds, 4/12, C4)
Nancy Banks-Smith
Thursday December 7, 2006
The Guardian
Well and away the most Christmassy thing was The Secret Millionaire (Channel 4), in which John Elliott, an upright downright good King Wenceslas, trudged through the snow (the weather kindly cooperated) giving his own money away to the needy with Emily Jones, the director/producer, doubling as his page. His cover story was that he was making a TV programme about living on benefit. No one queried this depressing project. Elliott was living on benefit himself and quickly worked out that the cheapest way to stay warm was to spend £2.80 on an all-day bus ticket.
These things stand or fall by the quality of the presenter, and John Elliott was impressive. He made £60m from water coolers ("£60m is too much for anyone, isn't it?") and is a lifelong believer in hard work and, of course, cold water. "One of my biggest regrets was leaving school at 15. It should have been 13." Gazing at the window of the Jobcentre, he said with absolute confidence "I could do that ... and that ... that." With bright, blue eyes, white hair and a big, pink face, he could go on without rehearsal as Santa Claus. By January, you know, he would be running Lapland.
The ironically named Kensington is in the poorest part of Liverpool. Half the population scrape along uncomplainingly on benefit. Elliott had difficulty finding a poor-but-promising prospect, and went to two places he would not normally frequent: a church and an asylum centre.
After the church service a flock of dark-haired women, radiating warmth and charm, invited him to join them for a meal. The Alfero family, originally from Nicaragua, lived together because one of the daughters, Maria, had run up an £800 credit card debt and her hard-working husband, Philip, could not get a mortgage for a house of their own.
The asylum centre was well run, providing necessities such as toothbrushes and underpants. Folding second-hand clothes, Elliott met another Philip, a cheerful Kenyan who had applied for several jobs as an accountant without any success.
The finest thing this rather fine man said was: "Let's keep an open mind." He hated debt but, observing how easy it was to obtain credit for trash and how hard to get a mortgage, he gave Phil and Maria £10,000 as a deposit on a house. He despised scroungers but found none in the asylum centre and gave them £7,500. He disliked refugees but he admired Philip and gave him a job in his own accounts department.
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Everyone seems to love Liverpudlians born overseas these days. I hope they never settle for the soc and bitching about how everyone and everything has let them down.