Who First Came Up With It

[weecalf]

This week saw the untimely death of a great race horse trainer in Henry Cecil .Lots have been said and wrote about the great man this week .One commentator call him a "Flawed Genius " Why with this over use compliment are people praised and in the same comment a hint of criticism ( spelling) is suggested.Why not leave it a genius which he was at what he was famous for training horses ,Who came up with back handed compliment

[jno]

I don't know what the context was. But I'd say being very good at one thing and average at others doesn't make you a flawed genius, you actually have to be bad in some way for it to count as a flaw.

[Answerprancer]

Dunno, but that's a bloody good question - it's as if people give their praises grudgingly for some reason.

[DJHawkes]

well I could probably compile a huge list of flawed geniuses, (does that word exist?), probably headed in this modern era by Michael Jackson or Elvis, but historically I'd be adding Napoleon Bonaparte, Rasputin and Charlie Chaplin, it could be an endless list

[carrust]

Garth Brooks is flawed, but definetely NOT a genius:-)

[DJHawkes]

oh we'll see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCi4X0pa0ok

[carrust]

OMG!!!!! My ears are bleeding:-)

[Jeza]

Maybe he was described as flawed because one of the owners a sheik something or other took all his horses away. It was in the 80's or 90's I think.

[DJHawkes]

yes jeza that may be it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98ITcHfAT4E

[Dee Sa]

Thanks dotty, you know I am a Garth fan.

[emmie]

the context was to do with his private life i suspect.

[emmie]

a great which ever way you look at it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cecil

[Maydup]

He had some real dips in his career, but like Ronnie O'Sullivan in snooker, when he was good he was genius.

[emmie]

i do think he was a flawed genius, but genius nonetheless

[DTCwordfan]

"I'm a flawed genius. The flaw is, I'm not a genius."
- Hudes

[aelmpvw]

no such thing as a flawless human being ...

[emmie]

if we were all perfect wouldn't that be dull.

[weecalf]

Then why used genius in the first place if you are going to demean it .The man was a genius at what he did in being a race horse trainer should have been left at that .In a different context some people are described as lovable rogues .Whats that about then .If you are burgled the person is hardly lovable .That would be the last way you would describe them .

[FredPuli43]

If Henry Cecil's private life makes him flawed there's no hope for many. Married three times and went to a prostitute once during one of them, is about it. It's a wonder he could stay in Newmarket with a private life as spotless, by Newmarket standards, as that ! He did the conventional Newmarket things: started by marrying the daughter of a trainer (they're a great lot for inbreeding),married more than once, smoked and drank in good measure (Newmarket was the only small town I knew with two wine merchants doing weekly deliveries, as a 'round', to save you the trouble of getting a van to bring the stuff home every week) but he didn't do any of it to excess by local standards.

He lost 40 horses when the owner suddenly took a dislike to how the yard was being run and he subsequently fell out of favour as a trainer. He must have had about 200 horses in his yard but that was probably down to about 60 at his low point. But class is timeless and, even when ill with the same cancer that killed his brother, he remained a good, and ultimately successful ,trainer.