John Major

:This article is about the British politician. For the 15th-century Scottish philosopher called John Major, see John Mair. For the Canadian politician, see John C. Major.

Media representation

During his leadership of the Conservative Party, Major was portrayed as an honest ("Honest John") but otherwise dull man, unable to rein in the philandering, bickering and general sleaze within his party. John Major's appearance was noted in its greyness, his prodigious philtrum, and large glasses, all of which were exaggerated in caricatures. For example, in Spitting Image, Major's puppet was changed from a circus performer to that of a grey man who ate dinner with his wife in silence, occasionally saying "nice peas, dear". The media (particularly The Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell) used the fact that Major was observed by Alastair Campbell tucking his shirt into his underpants to caricature him wearing his pants outside his trousers, as a pale grey echo of Superman.

Related Topics:
Philtrum - Spitting Image - The Guardian - Steve Bell - Alastair Campbell - Underpants - Caricature - Superman

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Private Eye parodied Sue Townsend's The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, age 13¾ to write The Secret Diary of John Major, age 47¾, featuring "my wife Norman" and "Mr. Dr. Mawhinney" as recurring characters. The magazine still runs one-off specials of this diary (with the age updated) on occasions when Sir John is in the news, such as on the breaking of the Edwina Currie story or the launch of his autobiography.

Related Topics:
Private Eye - Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole - Norman - Mr. Dr. Mawhinney

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Because he grew up in Brixton, the so-called "capital of the Jamaican community in London", he was regularly joked about as being Rankin' John Major by Curtis Walker and Ishmael Thomas, the hosts of an early 1990s BBC comedy programme called Paramount City http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/p/paramountcity_7775080.shtml.

Related Topics:
Brixton - Curtis Walker - Ishmael Thomas - 1990s - BBC - Comedy programme - Paramount City

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Later he would also be depicted as Johnny Reggae by the cast of

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The Real McCoy http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/r/realmccoythe_1299002606.shtml. His Brixton roots were also used by the Conservative Party's 1997 Election campaign in 'Black' newspaper The Voice, using the slogan 'What can the Conservative Party offer a working class kid from Brixton? It made him Prime Minister'.

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He is also most likely the Prime Minister featured in J.K. Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Related Topics:
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

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