Sir Tim Smit went on a rant about the Cornish
(Picture: Rex)The co-founder of the Eden Project has been criticised after describing some Cornish people as “t***ers” who live in “imagined good old days”.
Sir Tim Smit said he made the outburst in defence of his good friend celebrity chef Rick Stein, who had his restaurant set on fire in 2017, allegedly by Cornish separatists angry at him for gentrifying parts of the county.
Sir Tim, who was born in the Netherlands before moving to Cornwall in 1987, told The Reason Why podcast: “You feel, I don’t, but you feel like saying, well if you were a bit more f***ing articulate you could speak up yourself but you haven’t.
“You’ve all got mums who made the best pasties in the world and it’s fantastic and it’s fabulous and you talk about the good old days and the good old days never were the good old days.
“They’ve been bad for about 70 years and they’ve been bad because of t***ers like you and that’s what I would actually say to quite a lot of Cornish people.
“I really would because you cannot define your life in terms of what you don’t like. You’ve got to actually define your life sometimes in terms of the sunny uplands you would like to aspire to.”
His comments stoked a social media storm with a Visit Cornwall chief summoning the old adage: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything”.
One local added: “If he is so sniffy about the humble pasty then let’s hope the organisers of the World Pasty Championships (a big draw for Eden out of season) take it esewhere [sic]”.
One Cornish woman commented: “Tim Smit has been very rude to the Cornish in order to stand up for his mate, Rick Stein.
“Eden is great and Heligan is beautiful, Stein’s fish and chips are ok too but two millionaires pontificating about the people who live here is a bit much; what do either of them know about real life anywhere, let alone in this beautiful but poor county?”
Seamas Carey, the Cornish performer behind the podcast, said he was trying to look at the effect social media can have on a “fragile, rural place” like Cornwall before Tim Smit got “all hot under the collar” to defend Rick Stein.
He told the Guardian: “I’m aware that [the] comments have ruffled the feathers of many people in (and out of) Cornwall. To my surprise, extracts of what Tim said were turned into a meme at surprising speed. He’s sparked debates in many households.
“It’s good to remember that Tim’s made big things happen in Cornwall, of which many people have benefited from. He’s a canny businessman, with a confident style.”
Smit later apologised said he was “sorry that some of the comments I made in the podcast have caused offence”.
He said: “My strongest words were directed at people who seek to damn him for making Cornwall attractive to outsiders.”
He went on: “I wasn’t intending to comment on Cornish people as a whole, rather some of those who would tell you that the past was better than now when the truth is different; it was not.
“Cornwall has been my home for more than 30 years and I don’t want a few harsh words on my part to damage the many friendships I’ve made in a place I love.”
