Chief of Staff
From the archive... 18 July 1974.
In the 1970s when I was working in television, I spent much of my time in Northern Ireland. There, the crucial thing was to be even-handed at all times - and so it was that I had all manner of dealings with any number of politicians, prelates, soldiers, civil servants, black propagandists, thugs, terrorists and freedom fighters from across the wide divide. Not least were several clandestine meetings with the most wanted man in Britain and Ireland - Daithi Ó Conaill, chief of staff of the Provisional IRA. At the time, five years into 'The Troubles', I was preparing a documentary for Thames TV about the political process, and his would be an important, though highly controversial, contribution (Ó Conaill was regarded on all sides as being a political thinker and strategist, though obviously a hard-liner).
It took a long time to reach him, but in time we met, and he agreed to take part in the programme (at which point, Ian Paisley angrily withdrew), and we filmed the interview in a 'safe house' outside Dublin. Someone in the TV crew had a stills camera, and Ó Conaill didn't object. Here he is on the left... and that's me on the right.
For me, this was a defining journalistic moment: I’d been assiduously working towards this interview for months, without any sure indication that I would get anywhere near this moment. And when it happened, I knew I’d pulled off a career coup – and irritated the hell out of the British government, who were less than pleased. The interview was done by Peter Taylor, the award-winning veteran reporter who is now one of my oldest and closest friends. There's more on the Troubles here
Chief of Staff
From the archive... 18 July 1974.
In the 1970s when I was working in television, I spent much of my time in Northern Ireland. There, the crucial thing was to be even-handed at all times - and so it was that I had all manner of dealings with any number of politicians, prelates, soldiers, civil servants, black propagandists, thugs, terrorists and freedom fighters from across the wide divide. Not least were several clandestine meetings with the most wanted man in Britain and Ireland - Daithi Ó Conaill, chief of staff of the Provisional IRA. At the time, five years into 'The Troubles', I was preparing a documentary for Thames TV about the political process, and his would be an important, though highly controversial, contribution (Ó Conaill was regarded on all sides as being a political thinker and strategist, though obviously a hard-liner).
It took a long time to reach him, but in time we met, and he agreed to take part in the programme (at which point, Ian Paisley angrily withdrew), and we filmed the interview in a 'safe house' outside Dublin. Someone in the TV crew had a stills camera, and Ó Conaill didn't object. Here he is on the left... and that's me on the right.
For me, this was a defining journalistic moment: I’d been assiduously working towards this interview for months, without any sure indication that I would get anywhere near this moment. And when it happened, I knew I’d pulled off a career coup – and irritated the hell out of the British government, who were less than pleased. The interview was done by Peter Taylor, the award-winning veteran reporter who is now one of my oldest and closest friends. There's more on the Troubles here