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quarter of an hour you could almost see the steam coming out of the phone as he violently questioned my editorial judgement and verbally abused me, while I tried to keep calm in front of my team – and about 50 others in our open-plan office! It was good to get out of the office and away from


all the squabbles. My most enjoyable election was in 2001, when I went ‘on the road’ to make three special, Saturday morning shows. We travelled to Middlesbrough, Taunton and Dover, and each programme included an eclectic mix of strong political interviews, incisive on-the-ground reporting from presenters Jim Naughtie and Sue McGregor, and some excellent arts coverage – poems and book readings – for some light relief. The visit to Middlesbrough was especially


memorable. It was where my Dad was born and brought up, and we broadcasted the programme from the South Bank area where he lived. The pool hall he used to frequent in his misspent youth was still standing! To cap it all, this ‘Labour’ programme had


exclusive interviews with Peter Mandelson and – even more of a rarity – Arthur Scargill, who was standing as a Socialist Party candidate. Great days indeed.


Friends and colleagues: Top, Roger with Michael Parkinson at Bury’s Theatre Royal and above with Today presenter James Naughtie


Roger Hermiston joined the BBC in the 1990s and has covered General Elections at home, American presidential campaigns, war in Kosovo and civil war in Algeria. He is the author of Clough and Revie; The Greatest Traitor, (a major biography of the Cold War spy George Blake) and is now working on a book about Churchill's wartime Cabinet, called All Behind You, Winston.


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