... But with Respect

Sir Robin Day has picked 16 of his memorable encounters with statesmen and parliamentarians for this book, which is more than a collection of interview texts. In his introduction, Sir Robin explains how the TV interview has grown in importance and changed in character. To each interview he adds a scene-setter so as to present it in the context of its time and to illuminate the personality of the interviewee. The interviews range from Sir Robin's encounter with Nasser in 1957 shortly before the Suez fiasco, to his 1992 election interview ("Where is your soap-box?") with John Major. There are interviews with previous Prime Ministers at critical moments in their careers. Here is Harold Macmillan in 1958, making his breakthrough as a TV personality. Here is Ted Heath, announcing his notorious U-turn in 1972. Here is Harold Wilson, having scraped back to Number 10 as a minority Prime Minister in 1974. Here is "Big Jim" Callaghan at the time of the 1976 sterling crisis. Here is Margaret Thatcher at the 1983 election and again in 1987.
Here also are those who never reached the top - Roy Jenkins, Enoch Powell, Quintin Hailsham, Hartley Shawcross, Neil Kinnock - and the two unorthodox personalities of Lord Lambton and Dennis Skinner. As icing on the cake, Sir Robin has the tables turned on him in an interview by Bernard Levin. Sir Robin Day was one of the original newscasters for ITN in 1955. In 1959 he joined the BBC's "Panorama" to which he contributed for 30 years. From 1979-1989 he chaired Question Time on BBC1. From 1979-87 he presented "The World at One" on BBC Radio 4. He was knighted in 1981.