Stig court case: BBC loses battle over Ben Collins book
BBC: The Stig has never removed his helmet on the showThe BBC has lost a legal fight to stop publication of a book which reveals the identity of Top Gear’s driver The Stig.
The High Court in London refused to grant the BBC an injunction blocking the publication by HarperCollins of an autobiography of former Formula Three driver Ben Collins.
The book, called The Man In The White Suit, claims Mr Collins is the mystery driver on the BBC Two show.
1. Who cares?
2. This is contract law (and Equity as Jack of Kent reminded me, rightly, on Twitter) not freedom of speech – so knee jerkers of the world may have to get a grip and wait for some really important issues to come up before firing off sundry and random rants on twitter etc etc about ‘our right to know’ Wikileaks, Wikifreaks, , rape allegations, conspiracy theories etc etc etc.
3. I haven’t read the contract or the judgment – and I really cannot be arsed to do so. Ipso facto (to use one of our secret legal phrases) I am not going to give an opinion, view or even random punditry on this complete waste of licence payers money. I am fairly certain that very few people know who *Mr X* is and I have a feeling his book will hit the remainder bin at *Pinedland*… or other ‘retail outlet near you’ … at a hefty discount of 50% fairly soon. Time will tell, of course. I would imagine the press coverage and BBC coverage (ironically) will have helped sales. I don’t recall *Mr X* winning any major Formula 1 titles…. but, no doubt, readers who watch motorsport on TV or at the track will advise me if *Mr X* was actually quite famous.
Legal note: at least Mr Justice Morgan had the humour to hold the trial in *secret* – despite the fact that a huge number of people now claim to have known who the The Stig was but kept *schtum* ..and some may even have had him in the back of their cabs wearing the full kit, as a guest at their hen party, to dinner at chi chi Notting Hill dinner parties blah blah blah…. !
