A Day Like Today: Memoirs
For more than three decades, millions of Britons have woken to the sound of John Humphrys’ voice. As presenter of Radio 4’s Today, the nation’s most popular news programme, he is famed for his tough interviewing, his deep misgivings about authority in its many forms and his passionatecommitment to a variety of causes. A Day Like Today charts John’s journey from the poverty of his post-war childhood in Cardiff, leaving school at fifteen, to the summits of broadcasting. Humphrys was the BBC’s youngest foreign correspondent; he was the first reporter at the catastrophe of Aberfan, an experience that marked him for ever; he was in the White House when Richard Nixon became the first American president to resign; in South Africa during the dying years of apartheid; and in war zones around the globe throughout his career. John was also the first journalist to present the Nine O’Clock News on television. Humphrys pulls no punches and now, freed from the restrictions of being a BBC journalist, he reflects on the politicians he has interrogated and the controversies he has reported on and been involved in, including the interview that forced the resignation of his own boss, the director general. In typically candid style, he also weighs in on the role the BBC itself has played in our national life – for good and ill – and the broader health of the political system today. A Day Like Today is both a sharp, shrewd memoir and a backstage account of the great newsworthy moments in recent history – from the voice behind the country’s most authoritative microphone.
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William Collins
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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019
Copyright © John Humphrys 2019
Cover image © Jeff Overs/Getty Images
All images courtesy of the author unless otherwise stated.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions in the above list and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future editions of this book.
John Humphrys asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007415571
eBook Edition © October 2019 ISBN: 9780007415601
Version: 2019-09-13
For Sarah
Contents
1 Cover
2 Title Page
3 Copyright
4 Dedication
5 Contents
6 Prologue
7 Part 1 – Yesterday and Today
8 1 A childhood of smells
9 2 The teenAGE pAGE
10 3 Building a cathedral
11 4 A gold-plated, diamond-encrusted tip-off
12 5 A sub-machine gun on expenses
13 6 A job that requires no talent
14 Part 2 – Today and Today
15 7 A very strange time to be at work
16 8 Why do you interrupt so much?
17 9 ‘Come on, unleash hell!’
18 10 A pretty straight sort of guy?
19 11 Management are deeply unimpressed
20 12 Hamstrung by a fundamental niceness
21 13 A meeting with ‘C’
22 14 The director general: my part in his downfall
23 15 Turn me into a religious Jew!
24 Part 3 – Today and Tomorrow
25 16 The political deal
26 17 Shrivelled clickbait droppings
27 18 Goodbye to all that
28 Picture Section
29 Also by John Humphrys
30 About the Author
31 About the Publisher
LandmarksCoverFrontmatterStart of ContentBackmatter
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In which I answer the questions in the way I choose …
JH: Good morning. It’s ten past eight and I’m John Humphrys. With me live in the studio is … John Humphrys. It’s just been announced that he’s finally decided to leave Today after thirty-three years. Mr Humphrys, why leave it so long?
JH: Well, as you said it’s been thirty-three years and that’s—
JH: I know how long it’s been … far too long for the taste of many listeners, some might say. It’s because your style of interviewing has long passed its sell-by date, isn’t it?
JH: Well I suppose some people might say that but—
JH: You suppose some people might say that? Is it true or not?
JH: I’m not sure it’s really up to me to pass judgement on that because—
JH: What d’you mean you’re ‘not sure’! You either have a view on it or you don’t.
JH: Well I do but you keep interrupting me and—
JH: Ha! I keep interrupting you! That’s a bit rich. Isn’t that exactly what you’ve been doing to your guests on this programme for the past thirty-three years and isn’t that one of the reasons why the audience has finally had enough of you … not to mention your own bosses?
JH: I really don’t think that’s fair. After all it was only politicians I ever interrupted and only then if they weren’t answering the question.
