Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Top-flight TV executive and former BBC Director General, forced to resign after a row with Downing Street over Iraq War coverage.
On the island
Eight records
One of my brothers said to me, Look, Greg, I hope you're not going to embarrass the family and play eight Bruce Springsteen songs. So I promised him I wouldn't, but I thought as the first one I would play, I think the ultimate Bruce Springsteen song, which is Born to Run.
In our house, Buddy Holly was a big factor. I have a one brother six years older, and he was a big Buddy Holly fan, and therefore we were all Buddy Holly fans. The the Buddy Holly song I've chosen is It Doesn't Matter Any More, which of course was came out roughly the same time as as Buddy Holly died, and of course with his death went straight to number one.
I thought about it for a long time and I thought, look, w what's my favourite Beatles song? And I thought, Strawberry Fields.
Like a Rolling StoneFavourite
I first saw him, I think, in'64 at the Albert Hall, and I've seen him on most tours since. So I had to have a Bob Dylan song. I decided the song I would choose would be Like a Rolling Stone, which was the turning point, I think, in folk rock.
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
I remember my first child being born to Alice. I was a bit scared of her being born at home. I thought they're all going to leave me with this baby. What do I do? And I remember sitting on the day she was born. sitting on a rocking chair with his tiny little thing. Trying to sing to her. And I sang to her uh Summertime from Porgy and Bess.
Sue, my partner, is a is a meatloaf fan. I I'm not a great meatloaf fan, but she is. And you know, when you do the job sort of jobs that I do, you know, you get home fairly late quite often. And I remember quite regularly coming home and these two little kids dancing around the bedroom to meatloaf and bat out of hell.
My my eldest son, Matthew, has a band. He's had it for a decade. They play quite a lot. Every so often I go along, and every so often they make the very brave decision of allowing me to sing with them. And I only do one song, and uh I'd like to take this on my island. It's Jerry Lee Lewis and Great Balls of Fire.
I consulted my kids, who said that you can't have. Eight records that are all prior to nineteen seventy five or something. So I said, Okay. So I thought through records of the last decade or so and I thought of uh Blur and Country House.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:46Do you remember what your feelings were when you read [Lord Hutton's] report for the first time?
I sat in one room and read it. My head and deputy head of news were in the next room reading it. I walked into their room and I said, Listen, we've been I won't use the exact word I used. But we all agreed. It was so one sided. that it wouldn't sustain and that if we could see through the next few days the public would be on our side.
Presenter asks
2:27Did it occur to you that you may have to resign?
No, I never thought I was going to I really didn't resign. I was forced out by the governors. But I never thought I would have to resign, no. Nor did I think Gavin should have resigned either. I thought uh and I think to this day that that we were right.
Presenter asks
5:57What ambitions did [your parents] have for you and your siblings?
They certainly brought us up with a set of values. ... We were brought up quite competitive. Not academically, 'cause we w none of us were academic stars. But I mean, um, winning at football for my father was much more important than whether you passed your exams.
The keepsakes
The book
The Complete Works of Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
I would like the complete works of Dylan Thomas if I could
The luxury
a guitar and a book on how to play guitar
I've never played a musical instrument. So I'd like a a guitar and maybe just a book to tell me how to learn to play.
Presenter asks
6:31Did you have an ambition bubbling under then at any point when you were a young boy?
Yes, I always I didn't want to be ordinary. I made up my mind very early on in my life I was not going to be like everybody else. And that did mean getting out of suburban London. It did mean um Trying to do different things.
Presenter asks
22:31What was it [Alastair Campbell] wanted?
Alastair Campbell wanted blood, as did others around him. We've always got to remember that Alastair Campbell basically wanted journalists to broadcast and to write what he wanted written, and if they didn't, he quite regularly intimidated them. I did think Campbell. was an obsessive.
Presenter asks
25:18Did you at any point feel that in some way the BBC had contributed to the pressure that was put on [David Kelly]?
Well, if he'd never met Andrew Gilligan in the Charing Cross Hotel, he would be here to day, so we all must bear some of the responsibility. But he. quite regularly briefed journalists, so he knew exactly what he was doing. I think the pressure that was then put on him by a whole range of parts of government, it was intolerable.
“If you can make them feel valued, then you can do great things in an organisation. And I think we achieved that.”
“You've got to have the confidence, really, in life to just grab what you what you can and do the things you want to do.”
“I made up my mind very early on in my life I was not going to be like everybody else.”
“I think organizations work when the staff. Enjoy what they're doing. I think that's the way to make organizations successful.”
“anyone can live through good times. Well, how do you survive the bad times is the test, the real test of people.”