An urban myth

The BBC Today programme at 08:22 contained a piece billed thus:

"British number one Andy Murray will begin his Wimbledon campaign against American Robbie Kendrick. But is Andy Murray British or is he Scottish? Is it important? Author AL Kennedy ponders whether the definition could change according to his fortunes."

This was the usual, albeit better phrased than normal, piece that explained that when it was unimportant he would be a Scot, when important and winning British and if he eventually lost, a Scot again. This is of course total rubbish. It is a line that has been pushed by the BBC, and others, for some years now and just is not true. As an example, Colin Jackson's Welshness was always to the fore of descriptions of him; whether he was breaking the 110m hurdles world record, winning World Championships or being beaten by Roger Kingdon in the Seoul Olympic final. In Colin Jackson's case maybe his Welshness was over-emphasised as it is believed that he declined to run for Wales in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, preferring to earn some money by running in an event in Tokyo instead. Greg Rusedski's Canadian heritage seemed to be more remarked upon when he was winning than when he lost. It was as if the media wanted to remind us that he wasn't really British if he looked like doing well.

I could go on and on and on, but suffice it to say that in this, as in so many cases, the truth is the diametric opposite of that which the BBC like to pretend.