A deliciously funny insider account of British politics and of the BBC from one of the UK's most highly regarded and well-liked broadcasters.
John Sergeant is ITN's Political Editor and before that spent 30 years at the BBC coalface, latterly as the Corporation's political correspondent. He is widely respected both by the denizens of the House of Parliament and fellow journalists. More importantly, his appearances on shows like Radio 4's News Quiz have proved him to be an inspired comic turn.
This memoir will take us from his rather curious childhood, the son of decidedly eccentric parents to his flirtation with show business as part of the sixties satire boom-he starred in review with Alan Bennett-and from his early years in journalism on the Liverpool Post to his thirty years at the BBC. Memorably handbagged by Margaret Thatcher on the steps of the Paris Embassy as she lost the leadership contest, and the man to who Ron Davis confessed his midnight perambulations on Clapham Common, Sergeant has been the man on the spot in most of the major news stories of the last twenty years.
His mordant wit, keen sense of the absurd and acute powers of analysis pervade the book. He has a wealth of killingly funny anecdotes featuring the dottier members of both Houses of Parliament and his understanding of the labyrinthine workings of Westminster-and the corridors of Broadcasting House-is second to none. John Sergeant was, until 2002 political editor of ITN in 2000, after being chief political correspondent of the BBC for the previous 12 years. He joined the Corporation as a reporter on radio news in 1970. He was a special correspondent in many parts of the world, reporting from more than 25 countries. Among the conflicts he covered were the closing stages of the Vietnam War, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, and the guerilla war in Rhodesia. For the past twenty years he has specialised in political reporting from Westminster, and he has, at times, presented a wide variety of news programmes on R4, including Today and The World at One. He has also been a guest on many light entertainment shows, including Have I Got News for You, Room 101, and the News Quiz on Radio 4. He lives in Ealing and has two grown-up sons. He is the author of two books,Give Me Ten Seconds, which was a top ten bestseller, and Maggie: Her Fatal Legacy.
