DAVID FROST’S “HUMDRUM” BEGINNINGS. David Frost had a satirical program in the 1960’s —That Was the Week That Was— which could be considered a forerunner of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. The show ran first in Britain and then there was a version, also starring Frost, in the United States. Frost’s long career in broadcasting is described in this wikipedia entry. Tristan Quinn describes him as a “legendary broadcaster” in a review of the authorized biography FROST by Neil Hegarty.
Despite his success, Frost was and is apparently considered an upstart—somebody that, as I understand the term, would be a “striver” to some in Britain and a Horatio Alger figure to some Americans.
Quinn notes that: “Frost’s relentless ambition was rooted in his humdrum beginnings.” He went to Cambridge where “his state education and brimming confidence alienated many”.
The biographer of Peter Cook (of Beyond the Fringe) wrote that the theatre crowd at Cambridge “loathed Frost ‘from his suburban accent to his silly little bicycle clips'”.
Quinn quotes Hegarty: “He was in reaction to this experience for the rest of his life.”