Webchat with Justin Webb on 8th March at 1pm about his new book The Gift of A Radio

[JuliaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re delighted to announce a webchat tomorrow, Tuesday 8 March, with radio presenter Justin Webb about his new book The Gift of A Radio: My Childhood and other Train Wrecks (Penguin 2022). Justin Webb is the longest serving presenter of BBC Radio 4’s flagship news and current affairs programme ‘Today.’ For the best part of four decades, he has been a voice on the airwaves or a presence on our TV screens. Among his awards is Political Journalist of the Year, which he won for his coverage of the Obama presidential campaign. He’s a regular columnist in The Times and for the Unherd website.

The blurb of Justin’s book: “Justin Webb’s childhood was far from ordinary. “The TV news came on and a lugubrious-looking chap in a light coloured suit with a deep, plummy voice said something about the balance of payments. ‘That’s your father’, my mother said, quite unprompted.”

Between his mother’s un-diagnosed psychological problems, and his step-father’s untreated ones, life at home was dysfunctional at best. But with gun-wielding school masters and substandard living conditions, Quaker boarding school wasn’t much better.

And the backdrop to this coming of age story? Britain in the 1970s. Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and Free. Strikes, inflation and IRA bombings. A time in which attitudes towards mental illness, parenting and masculinity were worlds apart from the attitudes we have today. A society that believed itself to be close to the edge of breakdown.

Justin will be joining us live tomorrow, Tuesday 8 March from 1pm for an hour. If you can’t join us then, please do post your question here in advance.

As always, please remember our webchat guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is dominating a thread, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. (We may suspend the accounts of anyone who continues after we've posted to ask people to stop, so please take note.) Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Many thanks,
MNHQ

To me facts are important and sex matters. It's also a huge political hot potato on the left and we ought to be taking an interest in that as well. I hope Stonewall will continue to come on the programme (they did recently) and be treated respectfully but sceptically as all pressure groups should be

Not a question but a thank you for your clear comment, and for doing the web chat. Your book sounds extremely interesting.

@MrsIglesias

Interesting! It perhaps puts the rest of the 70s in perspective for me... I have another question about writing a book. So much of what you do is spoken: did you find it hard? Or enjoy the change of format?

ah that's interesting -- I write exactly as I speak! Always have. It works for me though it will win no literary prizes. So in fact I found writing easy because I never thought about it for a second. I just wrote. My son who studies at UEA where they have a fantastic writing programme tells me that that is what they are taught anyway so bingo!

@eggsandham

Hi Justin - I love your style of interviewing and believe it to be far more effective than the hectoring styles of say John Humphries or Jeremy Paxman. Is that a conscious decision that you made? And do you think it's better at eliciting info from politicians than the more combative style of some of your colleagues? It strikes me that one of the reasons why politicians talk in sound bites and just repeat the same thing over an and over again in interviews is because they're terrified of their interviewers - which is not necessarily the best way to hold them to account. Do you have a view on this?

I am not sure about this. I am not an aggressive person so I think that helps. I think there is a time for combative questioning and particularly if the interview is playing for time you have to interrupt. It's maybe more about tone than aggression I strive to keep the tone civil and conversational because I think that's what people want in the morning. I think part of it is time Nick Robinson's politcal thinking podcasts are a triumph because he has time to draw people out and they respond.

Re. Bath Rugby:

There is a view that the training ground is too fancy (it has topiary!)

This made me properly snort with laughter; a close relative is head gardener at Farleigh House!

@FreezerBird

Re. Bath Rugby:

There is a view that the training ground is too fancy (it has topiary!)

This made me properly snort with laughter; a close relative is head gardener at Farleigh House!

@selseywilhemina

hi Justin! it feels like even though the pandemic is over there's a lot more guests appearing on Today on the telephone/Skype rather than coming into the studio. do you think that makes a big difference to interviews? and how would you weigh up the good (i guess it makes more guests possible?) against the bad (technical difficulties)?

if I had my way we would get everyone back as soon as possible. It's not just the lines (though they are often awful) it's more the fact that down the line interviews when you can't see a person face to face are a completely different experience. There is none of the normal human contact that can add so much. I suppose it means we can hear from people who would otherwise not be available but in general I am giving a big thumbs down to anything where we cannot see the whites of the eyes

@SpinningTheSeedsOfLove

To me facts are important and sex matters. It's also a huge political hot potato on the left and we ought to be taking an interest in that as well. I hope Stonewall will continue to come on the programme (they did recently) and be treated respectfully but sceptically as all pressure groups should be

Not a question but a thank you for your clear comment, and for doing the web chat. Your book sounds extremely interesting.

thanks for taking part -- hope you enjoy the book if you get to see it

To me facts are important and sex matters. It's also a huge political hot potato on the left and we ought to be taking an interest in that as well. I hope Stonewall will continue to come on the programme (they did recently) and be treated respectfully but sceptically as all pressure groups should be.

Thank you.

On a separate note, I read the question about Bath Rugby as Beth Rigby

@FreezerBird

Following on from the previous question about war reporting and the current world situation: it's not unusual at the moment for people to ration their intake of the news and to avoid constant coverage whether via 24 hour news or social media, for the good of the mental health.

I presume that isn't really an option for you - do you ever wish it was? And how do you cope with having to have this stuff constantly in your eye-line, as it were?

this is a very important issue among people I work with and the BBC to its credit takes it very seriously. We are encouraged not to become entirely immersed in the news when off duty and to my thinking this is good advice for all. We saw it in the pandemic - constant doom scrolling through endless breathless reportage is bad for you. it just obviously is. Listen to a bit of Today and then get on with life is my advice

time to be off now. thanks so much and do please put my book into hands of anyone who might be interested - particularly those who were growing up in the 70s. V best to all .....

Thank you

Thanks so much all for the great questions and to @JustinWebb for the the engaging and honest answers .

Thanks

@JustinWebb

time to be off now. thanks so much and do please put my book into hands of anyone who might be interested - particularly those who were growing up in the 70s. V best to all .....

Signed editions available still at Waterstones if anyone wants one!

www.waterstones.com/book/the-gift-of-a-radio/justin-webb/2928377080990

Think I will grab a copy on Audible.

Thank you Justin! I'm going to buy your book.

Couldn't think of any good questions but will buy the book & keep up the good work - not just the GC stuff but all the calm, forensic questioning - best Today presenter by far

To me facts are important and sex matters. It's also a huge political hot potato on the left and we ought to be taking an interest in that as well. I hope Stonewall will continue to come on the programme (they did recently) and be treated respectfully but sceptically as all pressure groups should be.

Amazing 👏👏
Thank you Justin. Big fan of yours, even more so now, and your book sounds fascinating.