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    A Day Like Today: Memoirs
    Unavailable
    A Day Like Today: Memoirs
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    A Day Like Today: Memoirs
    Audiobook13 hours

    A Day Like Today: Memoirs

    Written by John Humphrys

    Narrated by John Humphrys

    4/5

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    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    ‘The bombshell book everyone is talking about’ DAILY MAIL

    ‘A radio genius … the maestro of the show’ EVENING STANDARD

    As presenter of Radio 4’s Today, the nation’s most popular news programme, John Humphrys was famed for his tough interviewing. He has been at the heart of journalism for decades. Now, he offers his life story from the poverty of his post-war childhood in Cardiff, leaving school at fifteen, to the summits of broadcasting. Along the way, he recalls the experiences that have marked him most: being the first reporter at the terrible disaster in Aberfan, reporting from South Africa in the dying days of apartheid, from Ireland during the Troubles, and from the White House on Richard Nixon’s historic resignation.

    With his trademark tenacity and no punches pulled, John also weighs in on the controversies of his career, the role and limitations of the BBC, and the broader health of political debate today. He hopes you’ll tune in.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateOct 3, 2019
    ISBN9780008356521
    Unavailable
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    • 4/5
      (19 August 2013, Arcadia Bookshop, Oxford)This book was bought on the trip to Oxford detailed in this post. An excellent political autobiography that deserves its description as one of the best of the genre written in the 20th century. It’s very detailed and did take a long time to read (and I will admit to getting a big bogged down in all the mechanisms of the ERM) but very much worth it.Major’s conservatism was of the socially responsible kind, in fact initiating many of the policies that New Labour took and ran with. He never forgot his own start in life and did seem to genuinely aim to lift people out of poverty, remove class distinctions and offer education of whatever kind people needed, while making public services more accountable (even if league tables obviously went a bit far in the end; he is clear-sighted on the propensity to ‘game’ these, however). He does make much of the fact that Blair decried his policies while in opposition then took them over when it power, with Blair even using pet words and phrases of Major’s in his own rallying calls, which seems a bit much, really. Having said that, he does have a decent word for Blair’s support during the Northern Ireland peace negotiations and subsequent work on this area. He is also generous about other characters’ actions, e.g. Heseltine’s decency during the last leadership campaign Major fought.Major’s prime ministership fell during an important time in my life, when I was getting interested in party politics and voting for the first time, so it was interesting to read about the background to some of those seminal events. He clarifies why he has been said to have done too little in Yugoslavia (letting the UN get on with it rather than wading in), and he does admit his mistakes, although I have to say here that he does not mention his own contribution to the accusations of ‘sleaze’ levelled at the Tories after his ‘Back to Basics’ campaign, which was a bit disappointing. He’s very clear on Margaret Thatcher, both in power and after power, and quite scathing about her breaches of etiquette in openly talking about him and even campaigning against him – I had thought this would be more mealy-mouthed on that area. He paints amusing and affectionate portraits of his fellow politicians at home and abroad, and reprints his lovely eulogy for John Smith.A humane and interesting book about a man who was perhaps more interesting than contemporary reports portrayed him. He seems to be a decent man who genuinely wanted to serve, and consulted his immediate family on the big political and career decisions. There’s an additional chapter in this edition which looks at ‘what next’ from 2000, which is a bit unnecessary now, as I don’t really remember the exact detail of what came true and what didn’t. But overall a fascinating and valuable read.