Any Questions? from Taunton, 1 October 1948 © BBC
I am more used to asking questions than answering them. It's easier, on the whole.
If stuck one can just ask why? And the interviewee is usually happy to carry on talking while one collects one's thoughts.
However the tables were turned this week when I was called to give evidence to a House of Lords communications committee about the future of investigative journalism.
It was all a little intimidating.
First comes the detailed scanner check and body search, then the walk through the ancient and overpowering Westminster Hall, where Sir Thomas More was condemned to death and the bodies of Kings and Queens have lain in state. It was then up the stairs ed gigantic murals of great events in British history to the long and cavernous corridors where committees meet.
Summoned into the presence of peers I sat facing a semi-circle of questioners, on camera, and tried to give honest and truthful answers while keeping my job at .
So I had a lot of sympathy this week for Clare McGinn, the editor of Any Questions? and Any Answers?, when I asked her to answer questions about her programmes and their presenter.
You can hear the result here.
Next week is heading to Salford for the Radio Festival and an interview, much sought after, with the boss of BBC English Regions, who is of course responsible for local radio - and the forthcoming cuts to the 40 stations in England.
Any questions for him? I do hope you will be listening.
Roger Bolton presents
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- The picture shows 'Any Questions?' from Taunton, 1948. Major Lewis Hastings, Lady Violet Bonham-Carter, Ralph Wightman and St John Ervine, the team of experts answering questions put to them by of the audience during the broadcast from the Corfield Hall.
