Humphrys provides jam-packed hour of insightful tales

I WAS slightly disappointed, but not surprised, that apart from myself, my fiance and two or three others, the crowd that filled Stratford civic hall to see one of our country’s finest and most formidable journalists was mostly made up of over-50s.

Admittedly, John Humphrys is predominantly appreciated by listeners of BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme and viewers of BBC Two’s Mastermind, who are probably less likely to be in their 20s or 30s. But this man, who began his career 43 years ago as a teenage reporter for a small Welsh newspaper, has seen so much, been to so many places and met and interviewed so many people, that his stories, memories and anecdotes are bursting with entertaining tales, lessons we can learn and startling thoughts that broaden our horizons.

Humphrys’ natural charisma, paired with his famous frank and forthright approach meant that whatever he was talking about - politicians, some of the more amusing answers given on Mastermind, the Alternative Vote, the Queen and the ‘compensation culture’, to name a few of the topics covered - was fascinating, funny and insightful all at once.

One of the anecdotes that provoked the most laughs (I’m sure others who were there will agree) was about a more-than-usually intimate encounter with Tony Blair shortly after the former Prime Minister agreed to be interviewed by Humphrys after refusing to do so for four years.

Possibly in a bid to save time, the festival organisers had Humphrys interviewed on stage for 40 minutes with the audience as observers, before allocating 20 minutes to questions from the audience. I was not fond of this format as it restricted what was talked about and at times meant that things were rushed along. It would have been far better if Humphrys could have spent the whole time in conversation with his spectators. And ideally, the afternoon should have lasted for at least an hour-and-a-half, if not a full two, as Humphrys’ lively nature and engaging way of talking meant most of us I am sure could have spent far longer delving into the mind of a reporting legend.

Sundari Sankar