Five surprising things we learnt about Jeremy Corbyn on The One Show
Jeremy Corbyn ended a day of campaigning yesterday with a gentle grilling on The One Show, which brought up some bizarre revelations.
The quizzing, which focused on personality rather than policy, sat in stark contrast to his earlier car crash radio interview on Woman’s Hour, where the would-be PM was unable to say how much one of Labour’s key policies would cost.
Twitter was won over by Mr Corbyn’s ‘warmth’, as he handed presenter Alex Jones a pot of jam, spoke about his love for his allotment and man-hole covers and even gave a cheeky wink.
Here are five of the strange things we learnt:
He didn’t do well at school
Jeremy Corbyn may be applying for the top job in the country but he didn’t actually do that well at school. Despite going to grammar school, he only got two Es at A level. He said “I was not an academically successful student. My mum was an ever-generous lady and I said, ‘well these are pretty poor, these results’, and she sort of looked at me and said, ‘they probably couldn’t read your writing’.”
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He was a naughty toddler
Most toddlers have a naughty side and Corbyn was quick to show he was just like the many and not the few. After showing a picture of himself in reins as a baby, he joked: “I was a bit free-spirited and I kept climbing out of the pram and running off.”
His hedge used to be a block of concrete
Corbyn proudly said he trimmed the hedge outside his house. Nothing unusual about that. But he added the fact that is sure to be a question on future pub quizzes – it actually used to be a lump of concrete. He said: “That’s an entrance to a garage and that was a lump of concrete. It was the devil’s own job to break up that concrete and turn it into a garden.”
There are no ‘boy jobs and girl jobs in his house’
Referring to Theresa May’s ‘boy jobs and girl jobs’ comment during her One Show appearance, Corbyn was asked himself if the same applies in his household. He shook his head solemnly and insisted the same does not apply for himself and his wife, Laura Alvarez.
He’s not above a spot of jam-based bribery
What better way to endear the people interviewing you than to give them a jar of home-made jam? That is exactly what Corbyn did – perhaps thankful that there were no awkward silences that defined the BBC interview at the start of the day…
The interview seemed to go down well with many:
Corbyn more human alone on the One Show than Theresa and Philip May combined
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) May 30, 2017
Jeremy Corbyn’s interview on the one show was so heart warming and cute how can anyone not want this man as their leader
— tiegan (@neny_aa) May 30, 2017
After a rather fraught day at times, Corbyn did well on The One Show. Seemed really comfortable there.
— Scott Reid (@scottreid1980) May 30, 2017
Jeremy Corbyn coming across as warm, funny & genuinely human on The One Show, light years away from robotic Theresa May.
— Janis Blower (@Just_JanisB) May 30, 2017
Although not everyone was convinced by Corbyn, who only the night before was questioned about his views on the IRA:
Are people seriously going to vote Labour because of how Jeremy Corbyn acted on the One Show? #SumsUpTheCountry #GeneralElection
— Naval Fluff (@naval_fluff) May 31, 2017
Jeremy Corbyn on the One Show talking about his garden as he plots to punish fellow gardeners with his nasty little #GardenTax. Nice.
— Toby Roake (@tobyroake) May 30, 2017
Jeremy Corbyn coming across as a kindly old man on the One Show, all very nice but he’s not really a leader of a nation
— Sawds (@Sawds) May 30, 2017
Now @jeremycorbyn is on the one show,trying to be Mr Nice, it’s a pity he would be no good as the PM, we need a Leader not a follower.
— Steve Holt (@Steveholt100) May 30, 2017
Labour continue to trail in the polls, although they have managed to reduce the Tory lead, with some polls putting them just five points behind.
Top pic: BBC