Parlez vous Ronglais?
in late 2003 at the height of Ron-mania, and in an attempt to maximise the investment in Champions League coverage ITV filmed a pilot of this hilarious panel game. Darcus Howe presented two teams captained by Julian Fellowes and Lynn Truss. Other contestants included Eric Knowles, Jilly Goolden, Oz Clarke, and Tom Paulin. The teams were played excerpts of Ron Atkinson’s summaries in Champions League games and attempted to work out what he was saying. The programme featured various instances of Ronglish (for full details on Ronglish see here)
After a successful broadcast on ITV2 in early 2004 the go-ahead was given for a series of 8 episodes. However, plans were ditched in April 2004. Alternatives involving David Pleat or Mark Lawrenson never came to anything due to the lack of an atrocious pun in the title.
Of course, when Ron Atkinson is indisposed/learning French, Ron Dennis of the McLaren F1 team can stand in, his Ronspeak is all-but incomprehensible – it’s the product of an inferiority complex about once having been a mechanic, a head injury in the late 70s and far too many “MBA in 21 days” books….