Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A journalist who became Britain's first black television newsreader, best known for presenting News at Ten and interviewing controversial world leaders like Ara
On the island
Eight records
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61: I. Allegro ma non troppoFavourite
I've always thought of this concerto that if you are very good when you die and you go to heaven, you'll probably hear something from the Beethoven Violin Concerto.
from my home country, Trinidad. It's a Calypso. And this is by the Mighty Sparrow, who makes very sort of wonderful observations about Trinidad's economic climate
I've always seen this character so clearly — a run-down character who is up to no good, but who has this wonderful art… He can dance as nobody else can, and she sings it, I think, absolutely beautifully.
There are moments in films which never, never leave you, and you need only the slightest trigger to remember how wonderful you felt when you first saw this particular movie.
One of the great, great regrets of my life is that I was not involved in reporting the Civil Rights Campaign in the United States… I grew to respect a great deal Martin Luther King
Plácido Domingo and Montserrat Caballé
I'm not a great sort of opera fan, but I do love Bohème… so sort of wonderful to listen to.
Land of My Fathers (Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau)
The crowd at Cardiff Arms Park
I love watching rugby on television… the games I like to watch all involve Wales, especially for the singing. And the singing at Cardiff Arms Park of Land of My Fathers never, never, never fails to move me.
José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti
Getting these three great men together was no small feat. And I'd like to remember that occasion with hearing them all sing.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:59Do you believe you have more authority as a sole presenter?
I strive to have more authority, but I don't think there's any kind of magic really about one or two… Shortly after News at Ten became a one presenter show, I see that CBS have gone back to two presenters, which is why I'm a little wary about making any firm pronouncements about one or two.
Presenter asks
3:27Do you think [your popularity] has anything at all to do with the fact that you're black?
I don't think that. I think that certainly at the time that poll was taken I was certainly presenting the news much more than Peter Sissons or Michael Burke… I've never really been able to put my finger on it. Um and I'm not too sure that I can explain it at all.
Presenter asks
6:42Do you often get disturbed by what you see or what you have to report?
Yes, I get disturbed by, you know, very simple, common, basic injustices… When you see people suffering, when you see children being deprived of basic food and so on. That is very worrying.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Box of paints and a supply of brushes and paper
I think I would really like to do is to see if I have any time on this island where I could paint. And so I'd like to have a box of paints and a suitable supply of brushes and paper.
Presenter asks
22:42How would you characterize the difference between the BBC Nine O'Clock News and News at Ten?
The BBC nine o'clock news likes to think of itself as a programme of record… ITN takes the point of view that we can't do that… We try to make it as interesting as we possibly can. We try to make it somehow a little more accessible.
Presenter asks
24:24Would [moving News at Ten to a later slot] remove that onus from you? Couldn't you then become a little bit more analytical, a little less populist?
Oh, I think the character of the programme you do does depend on the time, and there's no question of that… I don't think it's a secret that we'd like it to stay precisely where it is. ITN, over a long period of time, has built up that ten o'clock slot, and we'd like to keep it.
Presenter asks
28:35Did you take your grown-up children to their first day at work, as your father did for you?
I'm afraid I didn't… they're much more independent than I ever was.
“I've always thought of this concerto that if you are very good when you die and you go to heaven, you'll probably hear something from the Beethoven Violin Concerto.”
“I found in certain parts of the world it's almost a necessity, really, to get away from the reality and the brutality of some life that one sees, the brutality of politics in some countries. I found that particularly in South Africa. I was quite amazed when I first went there to actually see apartheid working on the ground. I was quite horrified by it all, and I found some nights I either got back to my hotel room and cried or played music.”
“What I always found amazing is my father was never a great reader himself, but he always insisted that we read [The Times and The Spectator].”
“The pressure was absolutely intense. Unfortunately, I never won the scholarship, and my father had to pay. He was mortified… [C.L.R. James] says that as a child you were rated like racehorses… It was all terrifying, and looking back at it now, I'm absolutely horrified that one was put through this. And I don't really remember enjoying very much of my life at school… the fear of failure was absurd. I haven't lost it yet.”
“I've always been terribly, terribly grateful for all [my parents] did.”
“I think they [ITN] openly admitted that [having the first black television newsman would be a coup], and I didn't mind that at all. I didn't have a problem with that. What I tried to make sure was that I was not used entirely in that way, or that this arrangement also suited me. And one of the things I therefore did was to insist that I always went on the big stories as everybody else. I didn't want to do race relations, ethnic based stories in Brixton all the time.”