Peter Rhodes on learning maths, queuing for pans and a close look at the art of subtitling
The excellent new season of Wolf Hall (BBC1) offers an insight into the subtitlers' art. It is obvious that the people writing subtitles work not from the original script but from what they hear, or think they hear, the actors say.
The result is Thomas Cromwell, played by Mark Rylance, declaring (according to the subtitles) that the recently beheaded Thomas More “is sure to buy a head.” It's a very odd comment until you play it again, ignoring the subtitles. What Cromwell actually says is that the decapitated Thomas More “is shorter by a head.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has rightly resigned. But spare us, please, the suggestion that any normal, decent person, on learning of John Smyth's sadistic depravity, would have rushed to the police. In real life, time and again, normal, decent people, including teachers, social workers and neighbours, have suspected child abuse but done nothing to stop it. One of the most shameful human instincts, among bishops and citizens alike, is the desire not to get involved.
