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An audience with John Humphrys...

John Humphrys is one of Britain’s best known and most controversial broadcasters and has been a journalist for more than half a century. You can enjoy an afternoon in his company on Tuesday 9th June at The Apex.

John was BBC TV’s youngest foreign correspondent and has anchored most frontline news and current affairs programmes on both TV and radio. He has won just about all the national broadcasting awards - including the Sony Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement.  The citation read: “He has truly changed the face of radio and the nature of the radio interview for an entire generation.” He is also well-known as one of the leading presenters on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. He is frequently referred to by newspapers as a “national treasure” – which he loathes because he says it makes him feel a bit like one of Queen Victoria’s commodes!

Interestingly, he managed to become a hate figure for BOTH major political parties. When the Conservatives were in power, he was savagely attacked by one cabinet minister for “poisoning the well of democratic debate” with his style of interviewing. When the Labour Party was in opposition he was praised by them for his robust approach. Then, when Labour came to power, all that changed and he was attacked by New Labour for giving ministers a hard time. He was described as the “John Humphrys problem”. They called for him to be sacked. So he went from being a hero of the democratic process to a villain in a matter of months! A funny old business, politics…

Apart from his broadcasting work John writes books and newspaper columns and has set up his own charity: the Kitchen Table Charities Trust. He also presents that rare programme: a serious television quiz show, Mastermind

The event at The Apex is on Tuesday 9 June at 2.30pm. Tickets are £20 (£18 concessions). Call the Box Office on 01284 758000, or visit www.theapex.co.uk for more information, or to book your tickets.