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A week of Hitchens

Updated: Jun 25, 2018

As you're probably well aware - because I haven't stopped banging on about it - I interviewed the Mail on Sunday columnist, author and broadcaster Peter Hitchens a week ago today.

It was my first sit-down TV interview - which was for my university student newspaper's online platform - that I had ever hosted.


In the build up I was really looking forward to it and wasn't at all nervous.


That all went out the window, however, when the man himself arrived and I met someone who I admired and respected so much for the first time.


During the interview I was star-struck and while I was recording I thought to myself "I've messed up. This is going terribly", as I stuttered and stumbled through the questioning.


However, those fears were allayed when I watched the recording back. Everything looked and sounded great, and thankfully the general public seem to agree.

At the time of writing this, over three and a half thousand people have watched the video on YouTube and many people have been complimentary about it.


The comments really surprised me actually. I say that not because I really doubt myself, but the way the internet works is that people are generally critical.


If someone does a good job, it's easy to brush over it and say "well that's what they're there for". 


But I'm hugely appreciative of the reaction of people because it makes the job I work so hard to do, even more satisfying. And it boosts my confidence as well.


I particularly enjoyed people saying that they liked the questions because they were insightful, thoughtful and different. It's something I pride myself on and I'm glad people enjoyed that aspect of the video.


The full video was published on The Linc's website.


And a shortened five minute-long version was published on LSJ News.


It was great to meet a great journalist like Peter and the bonus was that he was a very nice person both on and off-screen.


After our interview was over - both Peter and I were disappointed we had to cut it early because of the demand for his speech to begin on time - he headed to the university's main lecture hall where he spoke for almost an hour about a range of issues.


Predominantly he spoke about Vladimir Putin and Russia, but he also spoke of the EU, the US presidency, Tony Blair and the Middle East.


I recorded the whole speech as well as the Q&A for my notes but due to demand, I have now published on YouTube. Apologies for the sound not being too great as it wasn't intended to be published:

Peter's been kind enough to publicise the interview on his Mail Online blog which has drawn a lot of viewers to the video I'm sure.

All in all it was, and continues to be, an amazing experience and hopefully there will be many more like it.


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