I’d make a better job of it now, I’m sure. I’m unlikely to get a chance though, for the compelling reason that she’s dead.
The first live interview I conducted on the radio was thirty years ago. A Christmas ‘Special’ in 1981; I interviewed Mary Whitehouse and let her get away with it. I think (though recollection is hazy) I probably asked about three or four questions in the forty minutes that she went on, and on, and on. Of course, I should have interrupted but she didn’t actually appear to be breathing. It was one word sliding into the next without a pause.
“Mrs Whitehouse, thanks for joining us; is there really a place for an organisation such as yours in these modern times? Many commentators might suggest....” (I don’t think I got any further)
That was my opening question, and she was off. Like a thoroughbred scooting out of the stalls in a six furlong dash at Ascot.
There are probably as many media courses and ‘coaches’ available to match the number of media jobs that don’t exist anymore, and I’m sure they spend many hours ‘teaching’ the art of interviewing. I don’t think it can be taught. You can either do it or you can’t. You can improve, and learn, but if you can’t relax, and empower your interviewee to relax, you can’t do it.
Earlier this week, I asked Razia Iqbal, Special Correspondent for BBC News, about the techniques she employs for the breadth of interviews she conducts, from the less challenging encounters with authors on ‘Talking Books’ to the harder hitting political interviews on mainstream news.
Confirming this contrast, Razia told me when conducting a three minute ‘junket interview’ with a star plugging a movie, she never wastes any time with introductory chit-chat (“I love your dress; who designed it?”) and goes straight in, ever aware that a P.A. clutching a stopwatch is hovering a few feet away.
In relation to the longer interview, Razia referred to the drama of silence, and how not being panicked into filling every gap may draw a more reasoned response, and a more compelling story. We reflected upon unfashionable styles of interviewing and Razia said she was learning a great deal from looking back at interviews from British television in the 1950s; Edith Sitwell and Carl Jung interviewed by John Freeman in the ground breaking Face To Face series.
There is a disagreement amongst many prominent interviewers about how much preparation should be undertaken prior to an interview. In the relatively recent past, the BBC has gone through a lot of anxiety in drawing up rather terrifying flow charts for its presenters, instructing them that if the guest answers this way, then guide him or her to this next question box and so on. Many breathed a heavy sigh of relief when John Birt moved on, and his grand vision was buried in a lead-lined box, somewhere under the Blue Peter garden.
This week I also chatted with Adam Boulton from Sky News and we discussed a similar theme about styles of interviewing. Adam told me we should never be worried about asking ‘the stupid question’, in that appearing to be completely ignorant of the subject may encourage an interviewee to open up and explain their position more thoughtfully. As Adam conducts most of his interviews in the heat of the Westminster greenhouse, this seemed like sage advice when questioning a reluctant politician.
“The best question you can ever ask” said Adam, “is ‘Why?’”
In summary, it seems to be important not to over-prepare to the point that the interviewer seems to be reading from a series of cues, and thus not responding to the replies; but equally that Terry Wogan look of ‘frozen fear in the eyes’ is soon picked up by the guest and brings with it a lack of confidence in the interviewer from which the encounter will never recover.
Confidence and relaxation are vital.
One of the most famous political interviews was broadcast in May 1997, when, on BBC Newsnight, Jeremy Paxman asked the same question, twelve times, to former Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard.
Razia Iqbal told me that Jeremy Paxman has since revealed that he did this not for the reasons that have been recorded in history – a pursuit of the ultimate truth, but simply because he had been informed, in his earpiece, that the next item wasn’t ready.
So, if by some miracle of resuscitation I was interviewing Mary Whitehouse today, I would take on board some of that advice from Adam Boulton and Razia Iqbal, and try out the occasional pause here and there, but more likely, I would probably find myself yelling, “Will you bloody well shut up for a moment, so I can ask you something else?”
This week I have:
Been listening to the excellent ‘Pickin’ Up The Pieces’ album from Fitz and the Tantrums
Reverted to buying paper copies of the Times & the Racing Post. I missed the ‘feel’
of them.
Stared, and pursed my lips at a minor member of the Royal Family who didn’t leave me enough space to edge out of a lane near Windsor. She frowned back at me.
Discovered that Newmarket’s Michael Bell is training a horse named ‘Joe Strummer’
Terence Dackombe, February 2011
The first live interview I conducted on the radio was thirty years ago. A Christmas ‘Special’ in 1981; I interviewed Mary Whitehouse and let her get away with it. I think (though recollection is hazy) I probably asked about three or four questions in the forty minutes that she went on, and on, and on. Of course, I should have interrupted but she didn’t actually appear to be breathing. It was one word sliding into the next without a pause.
“Mrs Whitehouse, thanks for joining us; is there really a place for an organisation such as yours in these modern times? Many commentators might suggest....” (I don’t think I got any further)
That was my opening question, and she was off. Like a thoroughbred scooting out of the stalls in a six furlong dash at Ascot.
There are probably as many media courses and ‘coaches’ available to match the number of media jobs that don’t exist anymore, and I’m sure they spend many hours ‘teaching’ the art of interviewing. I don’t think it can be taught. You can either do it or you can’t. You can improve, and learn, but if you can’t relax, and empower your interviewee to relax, you can’t do it.
Earlier this week, I asked Razia Iqbal, Special Correspondent for BBC News, about the techniques she employs for the breadth of interviews she conducts, from the less challenging encounters with authors on ‘Talking Books’ to the harder hitting political interviews on mainstream news.
Confirming this contrast, Razia told me when conducting a three minute ‘junket interview’ with a star plugging a movie, she never wastes any time with introductory chit-chat (“I love your dress; who designed it?”) and goes straight in, ever aware that a P.A. clutching a stopwatch is hovering a few feet away.
In relation to the longer interview, Razia referred to the drama of silence, and how not being panicked into filling every gap may draw a more reasoned response, and a more compelling story. We reflected upon unfashionable styles of interviewing and Razia said she was learning a great deal from looking back at interviews from British television in the 1950s; Edith Sitwell and Carl Jung interviewed by John Freeman in the ground breaking Face To Face series.
There is a disagreement amongst many prominent interviewers about how much preparation should be undertaken prior to an interview. In the relatively recent past, the BBC has gone through a lot of anxiety in drawing up rather terrifying flow charts for its presenters, instructing them that if the guest answers this way, then guide him or her to this next question box and so on. Many breathed a heavy sigh of relief when John Birt moved on, and his grand vision was buried in a lead-lined box, somewhere under the Blue Peter garden.
This week I also chatted with Adam Boulton from Sky News and we discussed a similar theme about styles of interviewing. Adam told me we should never be worried about asking ‘the stupid question’, in that appearing to be completely ignorant of the subject may encourage an interviewee to open up and explain their position more thoughtfully. As Adam conducts most of his interviews in the heat of the Westminster greenhouse, this seemed like sage advice when questioning a reluctant politician.
“The best question you can ever ask” said Adam, “is ‘Why?’”
In summary, it seems to be important not to over-prepare to the point that the interviewer seems to be reading from a series of cues, and thus not responding to the replies; but equally that Terry Wogan look of ‘frozen fear in the eyes’ is soon picked up by the guest and brings with it a lack of confidence in the interviewer from which the encounter will never recover.
Confidence and relaxation are vital.
One of the most famous political interviews was broadcast in May 1997, when, on BBC Newsnight, Jeremy Paxman asked the same question, twelve times, to former Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard.
Razia Iqbal told me that Jeremy Paxman has since revealed that he did this not for the reasons that have been recorded in history – a pursuit of the ultimate truth, but simply because he had been informed, in his earpiece, that the next item wasn’t ready.
So, if by some miracle of resuscitation I was interviewing Mary Whitehouse today, I would take on board some of that advice from Adam Boulton and Razia Iqbal, and try out the occasional pause here and there, but more likely, I would probably find myself yelling, “Will you bloody well shut up for a moment, so I can ask you something else?”
This week I have:
Been listening to the excellent ‘Pickin’ Up The Pieces’ album from Fitz and the Tantrums
Reverted to buying paper copies of the Times & the Racing Post. I missed the ‘feel’
of them.
Stared, and pursed my lips at a minor member of the Royal Family who didn’t leave me enough space to edge out of a lane near Windsor. She frowned back at me.
Discovered that Newmarket’s Michael Bell is training a horse named ‘Joe Strummer’
Terence Dackombe, February 2011
