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A Day Like Today: Memoirs

Memoirs

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A Day Like Today: Memoirs

By: John Humphrys
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About this listen

‘The bombshell book everyone is talking about’ DAILY MAIL

‘A radio genius … the maestro of the show’ EVENING STANDARD

As presenter of Radio 4’s Today, the nation’s most popular news programme, John Humphrys was famed for his tough interviewing. He has been at the heart of journalism for decades. Now, he offers his life story from the poverty of his post-war childhood in Cardiff, leaving school at fifteen, to the summits of broadcasting. Along the way, he recalls the experiences that have marked him most: being the first reporter at the terrible disaster in Aberfan, reporting from South Africa in the dying days of apartheid, from Ireland during the Troubles, and from the White House on Richard Nixon’s historic resignation.

With his trademark tenacity and no punches pulled, John also weighs in on the controversies of his career, the role and limitations of the BBC, and the broader health of political debate today. He hopes you’ll tune in.

 Art & Literature Europe Journalists, Editors & Publishers Politics & Government Words, Language & Grammar World Writing & Publishing Memoir War Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

‘Offers readers the best bits of an extraordinary – and lucky – life that canters through key moments of recent history…Humphrys even offers us glimpses of his human side off-mic’ Sunday Times, Best Books of the Year 2019

‘This is one of the best books ever written about our industry.’ Piers Morgan

‘The bombshell book everyone is talking about’ Daily Mail

The combative broadcaster’s memoir mixes engaging snapshots of his early career with some score-settling and a robust defence of his interviewing style’ Guardian

‘He bears a magnificent grudge … This is an unparalleled record of contemporary politics at the jaggy end … Wry, angry, often poignant … The BBC’s purpose, the unassailable facts, impartiality:these are his lifelong mission.’ Melanie Reid, The Times

‘Humphrys is impassioned and sometimes furious in this vivid account of his life … He writes from long experience and close observation … There are some genuine Humphrys milestones included.’ Sunday Times

‘John Humphrys is a radio genius … the maestro of the show’ David Sexton, Evening Standard

All stars
Most relevant
John Humphrys does not fit the mould of the majority of BBC newsmen. He is from a working class background in South Wales and did not go to university. Instead he worked his way up being a reporter on a local paper to eventually being the kingpin on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, a position that he held for 33 years. In this fascinating book he tells his story with his customary grumpy old man delivery; he becomes most animated in the chapters describing his days as a reporter, his description of the Aberfan tragedy is particularly poignant. He talks in depth of his days as a foreign correspondent for the BBC in Bangladesh and later the USA during the Watergate scandal and South Africa during apartheid and the Zimbabwean independence. John Humphrys can truly claim to have had a ringside seat to history during these times.

On his return to London he did not take too well to being a BBC newsreader and it was his transition to radio where he really made his name. John Humphries talks about his deep seated mistrust of those in authority and his cynicism of the establishment and he relished his role as inquisitor in chief of politicians for three decades and this is the job for which he will be most remembered. I have always found there is a tendency for the Today programme to fall into the trap of wanting to create the news rather than reporting it and John Humphries does little to confound this, describing the show (and it IS just a radio show) as the "flagship current affairs programme on the BBC" and "the most prestigious radio programme in the country". Its listeners are notoriously both vociferous and loyal and the show has itself become part of established political regime that a young John Humphrys may well have detested.

Gnarled old hack with a ringside seat to history

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It was a pleasure to hear the broadcaster tell his personal story in his own words. Events such as the Newsnight scandal and the Hutton Inquiry were particularly thrilling drive-through's of recent political history. I can think of no better narrator and guide than the author.

The Entwhistle interview was the high-point for me. The interview, played in full, is brilliantly framed to even greater dramatic impact than it had at the time. The same can be said of several other items too. The Aberfan tradgedy is also very movingly described.

Humphrys' sage reflections on the state of political debate and on persons in politics and the BBC were very welcome too.

My only criticism would be a slight lack of coherence or lack of weight on certain issues on which Humphrys opines, but perhaps to ask more of a journalist in this respect is unreasonable. Such reflections are best when they relate to the state of our present culture and its immediate future. It's certainly a fascinating insight into the man and his times and particularly the organisation he worked for.

Fascinating account

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i loved this book from start to finish a must read or listen great life experience

a great book

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From the very start, this is a compelling listen. It begins with the clever trick of Humphrys interviewing himself. The tone is introspective and even self-critical, as Humphrys revisits his career and some of his most combative or significant encounters with leading politicians and figures in public life. It’s honest, blunt, and highly revealing about the institutional mindset of the BBC - and Humphrys’ long-lasting love-hate relationship with it. The sections reprising the Andrew Gilligan and Jimmy Savile affairs are the most fascinating. The candour and the trademark gravelly delivery are enough to make this an instant hit. Listen today!

Parting shot from an expert marksman

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Wasn't sure when I first started listening and nearly returned it. So glad I didn't. Very interesting.
The author narrates the book very well.
well worth the listen

Bloody fantastic

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