What a treat! This morning listening to the radio we have been treated to the last John Humphries program before retirement . Previous Prime Ministers are lined up to pay well earned tribute. We have been promised that he will still be around...but this early morning program will have to carry on without him.
I am quite sure they will go on regardless... he will be missed but it can’t have been easy, being up so early in the morning with a clear mind and sharp wit. He deserves a well earned rest from having to be up in the middle of the night several days a week. But retirement has got its downs as well as its ups.
Having retired myself recently I know the strangeness of not doing all the things I’ve done for years...it is odd for me to be able to sit up in bed on Sunday mornings to listen instead of rushing around . For John Humphries it won’t be all good news....there will be mornings when he will be listening with impatience to other people’s attempts at sorting out the daily politics.
He will still be working on other programs we have been told...so it’s not complete retirement. But this early morning program for many of us sets the tone for the day. All the other contributors are fine, we won’t be going short of the sort of news information we have enjoyed for years. Setting the tone for the day, it has been a welcome couple of hours which I’ve often dosed through but always enjoyed.
Ex Prime Ministers have turned out for this early morning program which in itself is extraordinary. In order to get to the Beeb so early in the morning some effort has been required. That they have been prepared to do this to pay tribute to a radio interviewer is wonderful!
I hope John Humphries enjoys his retirement and we will still enjoy his other programs on the radio and television. But early mornings will never be quite the same...the words "Rest in peace" keep popping into my mind but he’s not dying thank goodness, just retiring.
So go with the joy of knowing how many people have been eager to pay tribute to him this morning... he will be missed......but hopefully he’ll enjoy his time of freedom from getting up in the middle of the night!
1 comment:
Off course, he has a much younger wife and young children, so probably still, plenty to get up for in the mornings.
And he will be freed from the daily routine to do other things that interest him, perhaps taking up the Paxman mantle with a challenging program on politics now and again, or even going on to host the Hard Talk TV show on occasions with interviews with controversial people in or out of the public eye.
Alternatively, he might have a role in the "Archers" an every day story of country folk?
He was hard hitter, but there are others around who are as astute and challenging as he was, particularly the likes of Laura Keunsburg on BBC Politics.
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