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Eagle-eyed viewers of Mastermind may just have spotted something unusual when it returned to BBC2 last week. They would have noticed that there was no audience in the studio. That was blindingly obvious. Only the really sharp-eyed might have spotted that the presenter (yours truly) might — just possibly — have occasionally had a delicate … Read more
This may be the first newspaper column I have ever begun with a personal appeal to my readers. My defence is that we are living in such strange times. Unprecedented even. And for once I’m not referring to the Covid crisis. Some of you may disagree with what I write. In normal times that wouldn’t … Read more
The bank manager was reasonably friendly but just a little aloof. First names were not used. He was Mr Jones. I was Mr Humphrys. We sat either side of his highly polished mahogany desk on which there were two very small glasses of dry sherry — one for him and one for me. I was … Read more
John Watson, then a Tory MP, knew he had a bit of a battle on his hands. He was addressing his audience about the benefits of nuclear power. Not an easy case to make with so many coal miners filling the chairs in front of him. But he felt pretty confident he could persuade them … Read more
When broadcasting legend John Humphrys left Radio 4’s Today show after 32 years, he delivered a parting shot in this paper that outlined his fears over the BBC’s intrinsic Left-wing, metropolitan, anti-Brexit bias. One year on, as the new director general promises reforms, he argues the BBC is in an even worse state — held … Read more
Covid has affected everyone, but one group of workers has been especially hit. They can no longer do what they have done for generations, if not centuries. And yet their plight has attracted surprisingly little attention, let alone concern. They are members of the Royal Family. Their job is mostly to rush around the country … Read more
On November 22, 1977, I stood on the Tarmac at JFK Airport with a crowd of excited journalists and VIPs. A shout went up. We’d spotted, emerging from the light cloud, the drooping nose of the first supersonic passenger jet ever to cross the Atlantic on a commercial service. This was Concorde. It had taken … Read more
There are probably more jokes about economists than there are economists themselves. The oldest is that if you bring ten economists together you will get eleven opinions. Which makes what is happening in this Covid-stricken world so remarkable. Economists actually agree with each other — up to a point. They agree that we are facing … Read more
‘I don’t trust Boris’: Ex-Today show host John Humphrys savages the PM accusing him of being ‘great at bluster’ but no good at ‘delivering’ John Humphrys said he is ‘not a fan’ of Boris Johnson and did not vote for him The former Today show host added the Prime Minister is no good at ‘delivering’ … Read more
We can’t say we weren’t warned, can we? The streets of London — and other big cities too — are swarming with Russian spooks. Some of them much scarier than others. The sort who might jab Russia’s enemies with the poisoned tip of an umbrella or smear a deadly nerve agent on a door handle. … Read more