Greatest Cities of The World with Griff Rhys Jones
Griff Rhys Jones gets under the skin of another three cities in the second series of Greatest Cities of the World, Rome, Sydney and Hong Kong.
Following the success of the first series Griff will be exploring a typical 24 hours in the life of Rome, Sydney and Hong Kong. Griff paints a landmark portrait of each metropolis revealing what gives each city its unique identity.
Griff takes viewers off the usual tourist trail and discovers the interesting, quirky and sometimes eccentric secrets and traditions that form the heart and soul of each city.
When in Rome he does as the Romans do, from discovering how everyday tasks are exalted beyond the mundane by being performed in a uniquely Roman way, such as drinking coffee, eating a meal, and going for a walk, to learning about directing the most dangerous drivers in Europe, farming Rome’s livestock and taking a late night scooter ride. In Sydney he discovers a city more than two millennia younger than Rome, but which is enjoying soaring confidence – and property prices – on the back of the 2000 Olympic Games. He goes shark spotting by helicopter, hosts a meat raffle, cleans swimming pools and tries to avoid being ‘up himself’, in line with Sydneysider etiquette. In Hong Kong, he discovers a shop that sells gifts for the deceased, finds himself bottom of a maths class, and sings a Maoist anthem to a group of bemused tourists. Griff comes to realise how important luck, superstition and fortune are to the people who live in a city where consumerism and spiritualism sit side by side.
From the historical grandeur of Rome, to a laid back lifestyle in Sydney and the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, Griff’s relentless curiosity and sense of adventure give him the opportunity to experience each city in a unique and inimitable style.
Armed with his trademark humour, Griff tracks down the individuals who epitomise the character of each city, and celebrates the infinite variety of life in these great cities.
One Nation Magazine asked Griff the cities featured are all very different – what was it about each one that made you choose them?
The fact that they are so different. Each city tends to have its own character and their people seem to have different roles to play.
Rome is completely obsessive about history. It is preoccupied with its past glories and wonderful traditions. People are not considered true Romans even today unless they can trace their family back for seven generations. I take part in a ceremony that dates from the Renaissance and a church service that could have taken place in the middle ages. Everywhere I am taught the correct way of doing things – drinking coffee, eating a meal, directing the traffic, going for a walk, carving marble. The Romans love their customs and their city. It feels like a jumble but is in fact a melange of displays and “mostra” or shows. This is the city as theatre. Everybody is playing a role and their life is partly about fulfilling their allotted place in and amongst the beautiful scenery and props, partly about showing that they are above it all and all that stuff is for other people.
But if Rome is the decorated city Hong Kong is the city as machine. Here there are very few furbelows and no mostra. Hong Kong is a working place. Everybody is getting on. Hong Kong has a history of precariousness and even now people want to ignore the possibility that it might all come tumbling down in thirty odd years when the “special relationship” with China comes to an end, or be overtaken by Shanghai which is furiously copying it and pinching its act. So the population lives for the present. There are few statues in Hong Kong, except those left by Britain. The largely immigrant population are busy literally making new land in the sea, building new office blocks and reaching for success and it is an infectious drive – a fast moving conveyor belt of life. But a new generation have been born there and young people will be questioning whether they want the same future as their parents struggled for
Sydney is another colonial outpost, emerging at around the same time, but from the beginning it was a white working class city, the new order, and the programme celebrates its hedonistic life style. It strikes me as a town where the fussiness of Rome would be frowned on and the busy-ness of Hong Kong laughed at. Sydneysiders work to live, to enjoy their beaches and their harbour and their wonderful restaurants. The days when Poms arrived and were depressed to find it a little like Southend are long gone. Central Sydney is glamorous and cool. It is the well-groomed suburb by the sea. But perhaps the laid back social clubbing days are going. Bondi is a place to live not holiday. The people who yearn to belong to the old established beach clubs there have to promise that they will attend every Saturday for three years. Can they do it? Gradually it is becoming a much more competitive and less settled place. Are the new Sydney settlers going to have to work too hard to be able to be quite as laid back as their predecessors?
People’s lifestyles in Rome, Sydney and Hong Kong vary greatly – which would appeal to you the most?
Hong Kong for a week. Rome for a month. Sydney for a year.
What were your favourite moments whilst filming – and least favourite?
Too many great things – helicopter spotting a Great White just off the surf on Bondi. Walking in a cloister, with the talkative nun from a silent order. Riding a scooter around the Coliseum at night. Working on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Meeting the mathematical prodigies in Hong Kong.
I was wary of the escaped owl in the Sydney Ladies College, because I thought I would injure it and found the audience at the Meat Raffle tougher than the steak.
These cities have very different cuisines – did you have a favourite?
I ate best in Sydney. It’s a fusion city. The best Roman food, the best Hong Kong food and a bewildering cosmopolitan running buffet of the freshest ingredients in between. Mmmm.
Which was the friendliest City?
I loved the Chinese people we met in Hong Kong because they were so funny and easy-going. Given that I spoke no Cantonese nobody was reserved or difficult, nobody stood on their dignity, except perhaps a senior scout and he was being a senior scout. Nobody seemed worried about “face” like I’d been warned. People were eager to help and to be friendly, even when we arrived with Tigger the director and our intrusive camera. I was sorry to say goodbye.
What surprised / shocked you most about each of the cities?
Rome is small, tiny really, compared with London, but you can easily get lost. Its suburbs are an utter mess and the place is covered with Graffiti, which is infuriatingly stupid but is part of a philosophy of rebellion, (“furbo”) and a deeply held belief in the idea of “I’m all right Jack” – called “menefrigismo”. It means “only little people do what they’re told”. As for me, I can throw down a sweet wrapper if I damn well want to.
Sydney is actually still very conservative and dedicated to dullness under its more flamboyant new skin. I’m fifty six, so I quite like some of that. But some of it is daft. They give new citizens a bit of vegemite to tell them what is really Australian.
Hong Kong is a tough, tough place. Kids have to get fluent in two other languages, as well as their own, and a lot of people have two jobs. Flats are tiny even if you make it. It has the energy of Victorian Manchester.
Which three Cities would be next on your list if you make another series?
There are too many – Moscow. Mexico City. Chicago. We haven’t been into Africa or South America at all. And Europe still offers Berlin, Venice or Lisbon. I am glad that there are hundreds of great cities. They may be slightly frightening in their failures but big towns are also infinitely rewarding. They are organic machines for co-existence. Beyond and behind the main street and those international shops each has a surprisingly unique character.
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3 Responses to “Greatest Cities of The World with Griff Rhys Jones”
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Sydney ranked as a “great city” along with the likes of London, Paris, Rome and New York etc. I don’t think so! What was he thinking!
Sydney IS a great city: but I agree with you Eric D – the series title is “GREATEST” – and Sydney pales alongside the other 4. Does this mean that Sydney is “greater” than Rio or “greater” than Tokyo? No, my conclusion is that there will have to be further series to include what are undoubtedly other “Greatest” cities.
Having lived in London & been to NY I think that Sydney IS a great city, thanks to the amazingly beautiful harbour, it is one of the most spectacularly beautiful cities in the world. NY is filthy, overrated & the people were jaw droppingly rude to us. As I’ve worked in retail I make an effort to be polite to everyone & the general attitude from everyone we met (except the homeless in Times Square) made me long for home. London was a while back, but I have fond memories of traipsing kms through the centre of London at 1am on a Mon trying to find a place to sit & have a coffee. As we lived there & worked in the West End we thought we knew the places that would be open. There was 1 cafe & it was packed. We had moved from inner city Sydney & its thriving cafe culture, where good coffee could be found at any hour so we were stunned.
Personally I think Brisbane is the dark horse to be watched here. Its really come into its own & the people are friendly in the way Sydneysiders used to be. Its clean & culturally its thriving. There’s a reason 75 000+ people per year move to SE QLD. Get beyond the motorways & explore & you find a great place to live. I spent a few years in Bardon, loved the experience.