Interview with a broadcasting legend

This week's Spectator Diary, written by Charles Moore, former editor of The Spectator and the Daily Telegraph, caught my eye because it mentions the former ITN journalist Sandy Gall and his tireless work for victims of war in Afghanistan.

Now 82, Gall was the first prominent person I ever interviewed. The year was 1979. Mrs Thatcher had just been elected prime minister; Sandy Gall was rector of Aberdeen University, having been elected the previous year; and I was editor of an Aberdeen student newspaper that was launched as a rival to Gaudie, the official (and very boring) student union propaganda sheet.

Reading the interview 31 years later it seems that one or two questions are as topical today as they were then. Judge for yourself:

What were your interests at university? Were you always interested in journalism?
Funnily enough, I only became interested in my last year. I was never particularly interested in Gaudie. I played a bit of rugby, and I was a member of the athletics team. I enjoyed being a member of the Lairig [climbing] Club, and I went to the [Aberdeen University] Debater sometimes.

So how did you get into journalism?
Well, I worked for six months with the [Aberdeen] Press & Journal as a sub-editor, and I did a couple of summer courses at Bonn and Mainz which helped get me a job with Reuters working in Berlin, Bonn and Frankfurt.

Your rectorial address was about the freedom of the press. You said Britain and America have the most free press in the world. What do you say to those, especially the unions, who complain that the British press is controlled by a few publishing tycoons?
Well, someone has to own the newspapers and it certainly musn't be the state. Private enterprise is far preferable. Every paper has to have an editorial policy. If the unions published their own paper they'd still have to choose an editor who has some sort of policy. Television, of course, has to remain impartial.

When he was addressing the first year students [Aberdeen student union leader] Bob Mclean was trying to get everyone to fight Government cuts in education. Do you think education should be a special case?
Of course I'd like to see students getting as much as they can but the country's economic state is bad and departments have to cut back. A special case could be made for lots of departments. You can't make a special case for students, except perhaps the fate of the country relies on the quality of the graduates.

Do you still think a degree is a worthwhile achievement or do you take the view that degrees have been cheapened by the vast numbers of students now at college?
No, I don't take that view. You still stand a better chance of getting a job with a degree. For instance, ITN only takes a few trainees each year but they're all graduates so it certainly helps to climb the ladder of the media. Anyway, university isn't just about getting a degree, it offers a very broad education.

Why did you sign the petition supporting the National Union of Students claim for a 24 per cent rise in [student] grants? Did you know that in Aberdeen the student union had to offer prizes to the person who collected the most signatures?
Really? Well, it seemed a worthy cause. I was trying to be representative.

Who do you take your advice from - the student union or the ordinary student?
I take advice from everybody, although a rector has an independent role and must do what he thinks best for students as a whole.

And so on.

Funnily enough, I notice that in the biographical notes alongside the main article it says: "Sandy Gall enjoys fine cigars".

Damn. I should have asked him about smoking!

Comments

[JocularJohnny]

Great cure for insomnia.

ZZZzzzzzzz!