A regional daily editor is calling on his fellow peers in the industry to “get in on the act” of a madcap craze sweeping the web.
Peter Barron, who has led the Northern Echo from the front for the last 15 years, was left with no alternative but to accept the gauntlet thrown down on a weekday breakfast radio show.
BBC Tees presenter Mike Parr goaded Peter to join the likes of Bill Clinton and Britney Spears in the Ice Bucket Challenge – a global phenomenon to raise awareness for the neurodegenerative illness amyotrophic lateral sclerosis which has gone viral on the internet.
Darlington market place was the setting for the shivering spectacle as Peter, president of Darlington Operatic Society, chose three ‘nuns’ involved in its upcoming theatre production of Sister Act to assist him through the ordeal.
They took great delight in tipping a bucket filled with ice over his head as the 52-year-old was videoed for his reactions.
“I had to apologise immediately to the ladies for blaspheming,” he said.
“I’m afraid I said ‘Jesus’ in front of the holy sisters.”
“When I got back to the office I was still shivering,” he added.
It’s been something of a challenging time of late for the long-standing Newsquest editor, who is also a National Council for the Training of Journalists board member.
Apart from becoming a published children’s author – he’s been appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Durham, a championing role in which he helps to represent the Queen in the county, as well as being awarded the MBE for services to journalism and the community in June.
Now Peter’s passed on the mantle of the cool challenge to Darlington golf professional John Stacey who looks after the Rockliffe Hall club where this week’s English Senior Open championship is being staged.
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Fantastic!
I know plenty here will want to pour cold water on this, (ha ha, did you see what I did there?) but this is brilliant and will engage and connect with readers and advertisers for quite literally minutes until the next thing.
Until then more videos like this please – and videos of buckets of icy water tipped on sleeping kittens by that Korean bloke to the tune of ‘Is this the way to Amarillo?’
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Mr Barron shows his great imagination and enterprise by, er….doing what everyone else does!
Still the newspaper industry is hardly endowed with original thinkers . Top brains on JP came up with the brilliant idea of…a nostalgia page.
Can’t fault Mr B for charity fund raising. Will the icy water improve his circulation, though?
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Yawn. Another bandwagon to jump on.
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I agree Tony Sher! I also wish nothing ever became popular.
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Broth. That was problem with papers. Directors decided to make them less popular and web sites more popular. Only the first worked to any real degree. Directors not popular.
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Totally pointless and potentially dangerous.
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