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Television has seen many
a fine presenter,

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producer and interviewer, but rarely
does one person have it all.

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Sir David Frost was one such person,

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a pioneer who changed the
nature of broadcasting.

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(Good evening.) Good evening.

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David changed British television.

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He understood what people
cared about

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in terms of current affairs,
but also what made people laugh.

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The rule here is don't,
but if you must, confess as soon
as possible afterwards.

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LAUGHTER

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David was really the
person who defined

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the interview where the interviewer
doesn't try to become the story.

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He tries to extract the story.

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One thing you always knew
about David was that his lifeblood

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was appearing on television.

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I think David was
motivated by insatiable curiosity.

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Everything he saw interested him.

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He did it all with a minimum of ego,

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as well as becoming the only

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British interviewer to
actually take America.

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He was involved in
so many different revolutions -

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the revolution of British satire,

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the revolution of the
commercialisation of TV

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in the UK, in breakfast TV, and then
actually revolutionising what

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political interviews really meant.

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What made the man who
took on a president,

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whose career encompassed politics,
satire and entertainment?

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People. People made him happy.
His friends, his family.

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And then he'd interview you
and he'd be happy to talk to you.

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He was at the top of his game,
in the public eye for 50 years.

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He was unique, he was a one-off.
And that was our dad.

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David Frost was catapulted to fame

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as the host of the BBC's That
Was The Week That Was in 1962.

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It was a smash hit.
He was 23 years old.

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Ahead of him lay a spectacular
career in television.

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Hello, good evening and welcome.

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And I think you say things and I say
things that people want to hear,

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that they're thinking about
but haven't expressed.

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Let's welcome now, please,
Mr John Lennon and Miss Yoko Ono.

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APPLAUSE

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What does 69.4 carats really mean?

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It can't be dismissed
as an idle bauble!

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LAUGHTER

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Mr Muhammad Ali.

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APPLAUSE

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So far, after one session,
all the omens are good.

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'The David Frost Show.'

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David's ongoing career left the rest
of us gasping because it was

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so consistent, so persistent,

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so dogged, but of such quality.

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He was the only person to interview
seven consecutive US presidents

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and a total of eight
British prime ministers.

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He let us see people
like Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair,

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endless American presidents,
with a kind of clarity

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and a directness and a freshness.

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We would never otherwise
have seen them.

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And he understood the power and
appeal of all forms of television.

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He defied description, David,

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cos there'd never been
anybody like him before.

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He did all these different things.
He reinvented himself almost every
week and was hugely successful.

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But where did this success begin?

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He was born in
Kent on the 7th of April 1939,

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to the Reverend Wilfred
J Paradine Frost and Mona,

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who had two daughters,
aged 14 and 16.

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So, having sold the pram and
everything, as his mother put it,

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David Paradine Frost was
a late but welcome addition.

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His father instilled a Methodist
work ethic, which he

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would hand down to his three sons.

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I think, very much from
the Methodist upbringing,

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there were three main points. The
first one was to always contribute.

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The second one was to always use
the talent that you'd been given.

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The third one, which I think every
single one of us can take on,

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is never waste a second of your life
and always make sure that whatever

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you're doing, there's not something
better that you can be doing.

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He was obviously incredibly
intelligent,

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but he worked incredibly hard.
Something he's always told us is,

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"You've got to do what you love
because you can't work that

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"hard at something you don't love."
People say, "Ah, very puritanical.

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"Very puritan, very Methodist."

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That was a positive influence on me,
that side of Methodism.

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It was a loving childhood which
David described as relatively

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sheltered.
"Sheltered from Sunday newspapers

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"and alcohol by my parents'
principles, from meals

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"in restaurants, overseas trips and
aeroplanes by my parents' budget."

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But it gave David
his unerring optimism.

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He had a pretty strong mum, Mona.

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I remembering him saying.
He said, "Dads do their bit,

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"but mothers really do it."

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I think he got his confidence
from her. She was just the same.

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She'd bound into a room,
beaming, full of energy,

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and that's how David was.

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One of the things that David
wanted was success

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and the things that came with it.

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I think
he wanted a glittering lifestyle

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and he set out to get it
and he got it.

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Before finding that
success in television,

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David Frost's life could have
been very different.

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As a boy, he'd been
tempted by a career in sport.

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He was always very proud of the fact
that he'd been offered

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professional terms as a goalkeeper
by Nottingham Forest.

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I met his elder sisters and assorted

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nephews, nieces, cousins,
and they all told you, "Oh, yes.

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"He could have been a footballer,
you know.

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"He could have left
this world behind."

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He probably made the
correct decision, in that

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it's unlikely he would have
been at the top of his game

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for 50 years,
like he was with television.

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And he also liked the fact that
at that stage there was a maximum

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wage you could take in football of
£25 a week, I think he said it was.

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So, yeah, he liked to retell it,
but only when prompted

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and I think he was proud that he
probably made the right decision.

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We've come here to help lead you
in a crusade to Jesus Christ

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and to help promote
the kingdom of God in Britain.

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He also took training as a Methodist
lay preacher.

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It wasn't due to his father's
influence alone.

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As a 15-year-old,

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David saw the American Evangelist
Billy Graham, describing it not

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so much as a Damascus experience,
but a Harringay one.

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The power of the performance
remained, as did his faith.

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I heard, at the funeral, that he
knelt down by his bed every

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night and prayed
and that kind of came as a little

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bit of a shock to me,
but we did talk about religion.

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He definitely did have a faith.

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David was somebody who definitely
had a set of very clear moral

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principles and precepts about
how he should live his life.

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Of all the friends I've had,
he was the one who had, I think,

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the tightest grip on a belief.

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Um...

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Journalists tend to not
bother about those sort of things

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and he belied it.

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He was brilliant, my father.

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He had never given me a hint
of the fact that he prayed every day

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that I would go into the Methodist
church and the Methodist ministry.

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And he never wanted to lay that on
me, as it were,

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but he prayed about it and I only
learned about it after he died.

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But the young David had
set his heart on going to

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Cambridge University.

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The interview was the first time
he had spent a night

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away from his parents.

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The second time was when he won
his place to study English.

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He soon revealed a natural
confidence.

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By the time I went round
the societies fair

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at the beginning of term,
I knew I'd like to run that,

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Footlights, and so on,
so I had my ambitions and of course,

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it was an amazing place
because of the talent there.

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I mean, Peter Cook,
a year ahead of me,

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John Cleese, a couple of years
behind me, all of the Goodies.

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He succeeded in becoming editor
of the university arts magazine,

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Granta, and secretary of the comedy
society, Footlights.

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David was virtually sort of stage
manager and everything and

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Peter said to me once he didn't want
him in sketches, he was terrible!

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But he was a good organiser,
of course.

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And they had their second-hand
dinner jackets or something

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and they drove to the

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Palace Theatre, Westcliff, Cambridge
Footlights, to do, you know, a show.

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And Peter said, "We got out
of the van and there was a poster -

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"David Frost presents
Cambridge Footlights" -

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he'd been to the printer's.

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This was the beginning of a rivalry
between the satirist Peter Cook

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and David.

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I know the Beyond The Fringe
people - Alan Bennett,

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Jonathan Miller,
Dudley Moore and Peter Cooke -

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they did feel that David...copied
a lot of their work.

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And a lot of their ideas.

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He took the idea of impersonating
public figures.

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They had done lampoons
of Harold Macmillan and so on.

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So they were the real
breakers of convention,

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but they did it in the theatre.

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He did it on television.
That was the big difference.

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In his second year at university,

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the Footlights were asked to produce
an item for regional television.

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While I was at Cambridge, I started
doing things for Anglia Television
and so on,

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which I think my father originally
thought was Anglican Television.

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He thought it was another
branch of the Church!

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Stepping into a TV
studio for the first time was

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a revelation for David Frost.

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I just felt, getting into television,
"This is home."

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I really did.
It was an extraordinary feeling.

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He honed his performance skills,
working the comedy circuit

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while pursuing a career as a
reporter with Anglia Television.

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I see from this that the 8:30 from
Liverpool Street arrives at 11:11.

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But it doesn't. It's running later.

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And there's not even a special
announcement to tell

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the public about it.
What do they think?

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Anglia thought that David Frost
wasn't cut out for television.

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What do you think of the fact
that the trains are later?

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However, after graduating in 1961,
he was taken on as a trainee

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by Associated-Rediffusion, where
he struck a chord with two actors.

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I was sharing a flat
with Terence Stamp

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and he made a film called Billy Budd
and became sort of famous

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and not me,
but he had to do TV interviews

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and I used to go along and sponge,
get a couple of drinks

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and just have an evening out
and see people.

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And when you go to these things,

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you're always met by someone
who meets your car

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and shows you a dressing room, gets
you a coffee and stuff like that.

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This young guy did all this,

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but he was so impressive.
As we were getting in the car,

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I said to him, "What's your name?"

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And he said, "David Frost." And
we got in the car and drove away

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and Terry Stamp and I both turned
to each other at the same time

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and said, "I think we're going
to hear from that guy again!"

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But as a sort of joke because his
personality was extraordinary.

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David secured himself an agent,

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Noel Gay Artists, whom he would
stick with throughout his career.

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They soon had reason to celebrate.

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"It seems," wrote his agent,

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"that we have a
very big property in David Frost."

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Indeed. He had finally arrived.

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(Good evening.) Good evening.
An odd week...

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David was completely different
from us.

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We were all learning sketches,
singing songs, doing bits

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and pieces.
He kept the whole thing together.

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A peaceful Sunday afternoon,
the Salvation Army band...

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In any live programme, things go
wrong, so instead of us coming

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to a dreadful stop and not knowing
what to do, just cut to David.

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I wonder why in all the rehearsals
you refused to do that last link.

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Now we know.

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And that takes real nerve.
Real nerve.

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Not getting put out by that at all.

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The speed of David's rise was
quite extraordinary.

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One minute,
nobody had ever heard of him,

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and the next minute, everybody had.

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At the age of 23,
not just being a TV star,

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but one of very few TV stars, so
he was very much in the spotlight.

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It's astonishing, really,
to think of now.

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But certainly the man of the moment,
the man of last week, and with

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the Labour Party conference, the man
of next week, is Hugh Gaitskell.

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Hugh Gaitskell has, in recent years,
established himself as the only

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possible leader of the Labour Party.

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A look at his colleagues and it's
clear that they are not really

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capable of leading a carthorse.

233
00:14:00,046 --> 00:14:03,526
It's impossible to understand
all these years later what

234
00:14:03,526 --> 00:14:07,926
an extraordinarily fresh
and original programme that was

235
00:14:07,926 --> 00:14:11,966
and in some ways,
it was the beginning of the '60s.

236
00:14:11,966 --> 00:14:16,766
Next, please. Come along. Who's
next? Ah, Mr Henry Burke.

237
00:14:16,766 --> 00:14:22,366
It was a mixture
of jokes and comedy, scepticism, wit

238
00:14:22,366 --> 00:14:26,966
and then serious, really serious,
informed current affairs.

239
00:14:26,966 --> 00:14:29,246
And that was a perfect formula.

240
00:14:29,246 --> 00:14:32,686
Just shows if you're Home Secretary,
you can get away with murder.

241
00:14:32,686 --> 00:14:35,046
No-one was protected.

242
00:14:35,046 --> 00:14:38,966
The age of respect
disappeared with TW3

243
00:14:38,966 --> 00:14:41,486
and got replaced by something else.

244
00:14:41,486 --> 00:14:44,246
And things like politics were
never the same again.

245
00:14:44,246 --> 00:14:46,886
# They argued, they pleaded
They fought and they bluffed

246
00:14:46,886 --> 00:14:50,166
# They couldn't agree
But they all got stuffed. #

247
00:14:50,166 --> 00:14:54,206
And what we didn't know at the time,
but what was happening around us,

248
00:14:54,206 --> 00:14:57,046
was the cultural
revolution of that time.

249
00:14:57,046 --> 00:14:59,886
The pop revolution happened
and George Best

250
00:14:59,886 --> 00:15:03,126
came into Manchester,
the first glamorous footballer.

251
00:15:03,126 --> 00:15:07,006
So the epicentre of it for us
was Manchester,

252
00:15:07,006 --> 00:15:10,646
but when we looked outside, the only
significant thing that we saw -

253
00:15:10,646 --> 00:15:13,086
and it wasn't fashion
in Carnaby Street -

254
00:15:13,086 --> 00:15:16,126
was David doing that show,
and that was terribly influential.

255
00:15:16,126 --> 00:15:17,366
Oh, it's Wilson!

256
00:15:17,366 --> 00:15:19,406
LAUGHTER

257
00:15:19,406 --> 00:15:24,246
It certainly is, Connie.
And why did you choose Wilson?

258
00:15:24,246 --> 00:15:28,646
Well, I thought that the
other one was probably cleaner,

259
00:15:28,646 --> 00:15:31,366
but he wasn't so bright.

260
00:15:31,366 --> 00:15:35,846
The very first show on, there were
these enormous number of phone calls.

261
00:15:35,846 --> 00:15:37,566
Television press office.

262
00:15:37,566 --> 00:15:41,846
Why so many people wrote
in favourably was obviously because

263
00:15:41,846 --> 00:15:44,606
they were terrified this thing
was about to be swept off the air.

264
00:15:44,606 --> 00:15:47,606
"They'll never let it continue,
they'll stop it," you know?

265
00:15:47,606 --> 00:15:50,046
All my friends, us '60s guys,

266
00:15:50,046 --> 00:15:53,086
we'd never miss
That Was The Week That Was.

267
00:15:53,086 --> 00:15:55,126
It was the best show on television.

268
00:15:55,126 --> 00:15:58,606
TW3, as it became known, was a hit.

269
00:15:58,606 --> 00:16:03,246
Viewing figures grew from
3.5 to a peak of 12 million.

270
00:16:04,686 --> 00:16:07,126
# That was the week that was. #

271
00:16:07,126 --> 00:16:11,206
But in 1963, it became
a victim of its own success,

272
00:16:11,206 --> 00:16:15,646
pulled over fears it could affect
the impending general election,

273
00:16:15,646 --> 00:16:18,126
but they didn't go quietly.

274
00:16:18,126 --> 00:16:22,366
The BBC announced this
afternoon that the present

275
00:16:22,366 --> 00:16:26,446
series of Andy Pandy will
end on December the 28th.

276
00:16:26,446 --> 00:16:28,446
It is felt that in an election year,

277
00:16:28,446 --> 00:16:31,886
the political content of this
programme, which is one of its

278
00:16:31,886 --> 00:16:36,966
most successful ingredients, will be
more and more difficult to maintain.

279
00:16:39,926 --> 00:16:42,806
A key part of TW3 was its power

280
00:16:42,806 --> 00:16:46,326
to respond to major news events.

281
00:16:46,326 --> 00:16:49,966
'News has just come in that
President Kennedy has been shot.'

282
00:16:49,966 --> 00:16:52,486
With all the satire stripped away,

283
00:16:52,486 --> 00:16:57,486
the next day's TW3 devoted
itself to the sorrow felt.

284
00:16:57,486 --> 00:17:01,166
The reason why the shock
was so great,

285
00:17:01,166 --> 00:17:04,806
why, when one heard the news last
night, one felt suddenly

286
00:17:04,806 --> 00:17:09,126
so empty, was because it was the
most unexpected piece of news one

287
00:17:09,126 --> 00:17:11,126
could possible imagine.

288
00:17:11,126 --> 00:17:14,766
It was the least likely thing
to happen in the whole world.

289
00:17:14,766 --> 00:17:18,406
If anyone else had died, Sir Winston
Churchill, De Gaulle, Khrushchev,

290
00:17:18,406 --> 00:17:22,526
it would have been something that
somehow we could have understood

291
00:17:22,526 --> 00:17:26,406
and even perhaps accepted.
But that Kennedy should go, well,

292
00:17:26,406 --> 00:17:28,966
we just didn't believe
in assassination any more.

293
00:17:28,966 --> 00:17:31,446
Not in the civilised world, anyway.

294
00:17:37,406 --> 00:17:43,606
# A young man rode
with his head held high

295
00:17:43,606 --> 00:17:48,286
# Under the Texas sun... #

296
00:17:48,286 --> 00:17:51,486
This programme caught
the eye of NBC,

297
00:17:51,486 --> 00:17:57,446
so as TW3 ended in the UK,
another version opened in the USA

298
00:17:57,446 --> 00:18:01,126
with David, not as host,
but as guest presenter.

299
00:18:01,126 --> 00:18:04,766
For those of you who wrote in that
you hated our pilot show,

300
00:18:04,766 --> 00:18:07,806
wait till you see this one!
LAUGHTER

301
00:18:07,806 --> 00:18:11,846
And at the same time,
he launched shows in Britain.

302
00:18:11,846 --> 00:18:15,886
The juggling of a transatlantic
career had begun.

303
00:18:15,886 --> 00:18:18,646
Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr Paul McCartney.

304
00:18:18,646 --> 00:18:21,206
APPLAUSE

305
00:18:22,446 --> 00:18:25,926
It became almost a joke that
David would go to America,

306
00:18:25,926 --> 00:18:29,126
sort of, you know,
eight days a week.

307
00:18:29,126 --> 00:18:33,006
Obviously,
he was extremely energised

308
00:18:33,006 --> 00:18:36,006
and stimulated
by the American market.

309
00:18:36,006 --> 00:18:39,046
We used to call it
his "straight off the plane" face.

310
00:18:39,046 --> 00:18:40,646
"Morning, all."

311
00:18:40,646 --> 00:18:43,086
The colour of porridge
and everything and boy,

312
00:18:43,086 --> 00:18:45,006
he clicked into action very quickly!

313
00:18:45,006 --> 00:18:48,806
What sort of shtick did you do...?
What's that? American?!
That's American, isn't it?

314
00:18:48,806 --> 00:18:51,966
It certainly is. Eh? You go out there
a lot, do you? Yes, I do. It shows.

315
00:18:51,966 --> 00:18:55,086
Does it really? Yeah. Are you with us
now, or are you on Concorde?

316
00:18:55,086 --> 00:18:58,246
I'm there. Eh? I'm there.
How fast are we going?

317
00:18:58,246 --> 00:19:00,606
LAUGHTER

318
00:19:00,606 --> 00:19:06,686
By 1966, David fronted ITV
and BBC shows simultaneously.

319
00:19:06,686 --> 00:19:09,966
Each week, The Frost Report,
launched on the BBC,

320
00:19:09,966 --> 00:19:13,766
presented comedy sketches
based around a single theme.

321
00:19:15,206 --> 00:19:18,646
Marty Feldman was working in a sort
of editorial capacity

322
00:19:18,646 --> 00:19:20,726
as well as writing.

323
00:19:20,726 --> 00:19:24,366
I remember the theme of one
of the first shows was holidays,

324
00:19:24,366 --> 00:19:28,206
suggested by Marty,
who then disappeared on holiday!

325
00:19:30,326 --> 00:19:33,286
The Frost Report brought together
those who would go on to

326
00:19:33,286 --> 00:19:35,606
transform British comedy.

327
00:19:35,606 --> 00:19:37,766
Members of the future
Monty Python team

328
00:19:37,766 --> 00:19:40,406
and the Goodies
cut their teeth here.

329
00:19:40,406 --> 00:19:42,446
And Ronnie first worked with Ronnie.

330
00:19:44,166 --> 00:19:47,566
Good morning, Super.
Morning, wonderful!

331
00:19:47,566 --> 00:19:49,886
LAUGHTER

332
00:19:49,886 --> 00:19:53,406
He was a very good sort
of ringmaster who got around him

333
00:19:53,406 --> 00:19:55,446
a lot of very good people,

334
00:19:55,446 --> 00:19:59,006
so yes, he gave it a real
sense of direction and excitement

335
00:19:59,006 --> 00:20:03,766
and the feeling that with
television, you could go anywhere.

336
00:20:05,806 --> 00:20:06,966
Hi-yah!

337
00:20:15,726 --> 00:20:20,286
A key point of my life...
He was the turning point of my life.

338
00:20:20,286 --> 00:20:23,926
He completely changed my life
and my career,

339
00:20:23,926 --> 00:20:28,286
and I think it would be safe to say
he did the same with Ronnie B.

340
00:20:28,286 --> 00:20:30,766
One of the most memorable sketches

341
00:20:30,766 --> 00:20:33,646
was a parody of the British
class system.

342
00:20:33,646 --> 00:20:37,726
What we were all doing, or trying to
do at the time, was break down the

343
00:20:37,726 --> 00:20:41,686
class barriers, which sounds sort of
silly now, but it wasn't silly then.

344
00:20:41,686 --> 00:20:44,566
Indeed, there is one rich man
in Chelsea who is so snobbish,

345
00:20:44,566 --> 00:20:48,086
he won't even travel in the same
car as his chauffeur.

346
00:20:48,086 --> 00:20:52,926
And David did more with that show
than anybody to do that.

347
00:20:52,926 --> 00:20:56,406
I get a feeling of superiority
over them.

348
00:20:56,406 --> 00:21:00,046
I get a feeling
of inferiority from him.

349
00:21:00,046 --> 00:21:02,366
But a feeling of superiority
over him.

350
00:21:04,766 --> 00:21:06,726
I get a pain in the back of my neck.

351
00:21:09,806 --> 00:21:13,006
The moment class is mentioned in
this country, that is the picture,

352
00:21:13,006 --> 00:21:15,246
John Cleese, Ronnie B and me.

353
00:21:15,246 --> 00:21:17,886
And it was a very clever
little sketch at the time.

354
00:21:17,886 --> 00:21:21,286
La Rose D'Or de Montreux,

355
00:21:21,286 --> 00:21:24,006
a la majorite absolut,

356
00:21:24,006 --> 00:21:29,886
a l'oeuvre presente par la British
Broadcasting Corporation, Londres...

357
00:21:29,886 --> 00:21:32,326
Frost Over England!

358
00:21:38,406 --> 00:21:41,246
A special edition
of The Frost Report won

359
00:21:41,246 --> 00:21:44,766
the 1967 Golden Rose of Montreux.

360
00:21:44,766 --> 00:21:46,446
And as you must know by now,

361
00:21:46,446 --> 00:21:49,926
Frost Over England has won
the Golden Rose and the Press Prize.

362
00:21:49,926 --> 00:21:53,806
First of all, champagne, I think.
Let's open a fresh bottle.

363
00:21:53,806 --> 00:21:55,526
When I managed, in the evening,

364
00:21:55,526 --> 00:21:59,726
I remembered to say "thank you" in
all the languages represented there.

365
00:21:59,726 --> 00:22:05,646
Merci beaucoup, arigato gozaimasu,
grazie, Vielen Dank,

366
00:22:05,646 --> 00:22:09,086
dekuji vam, dziekuje bardzo,
koszonom szepen, etc, etc,

367
00:22:09,086 --> 00:22:11,926
I could do the whole lot.

368
00:22:11,926 --> 00:22:15,606
And that shows that
I was quite confident,

369
00:22:15,606 --> 00:22:19,846
that I bothered to nip out to the loo
and learn that, or whatever.

370
00:22:19,846 --> 00:22:25,126
His confidence also gave him the
ability to unsettle his colleagues.

371
00:22:25,126 --> 00:22:28,806
If he was appearing live, which
he loved, he would deliberately

372
00:22:28,806 --> 00:22:33,206
make himself a little bit late,
to get the adrenaline going.

373
00:22:33,206 --> 00:22:37,046
Three or four minutes before
you were going to go on air,

374
00:22:37,046 --> 00:22:40,486
David would be conducting
a conversation with somebody

375
00:22:40,486 --> 00:22:44,086
on the other side of the Atlantic.

376
00:22:44,086 --> 00:22:48,926
In those days, the United Nations
had Boutros Boutros-Ghali,

377
00:22:48,926 --> 00:22:52,886
and this man rushes in and he goes,
"David, David! Come up!"

378
00:22:52,886 --> 00:22:54,606
And quite coolly, David says,

379
00:22:54,606 --> 00:22:58,046
"Boutros Boutros,
always a pleasure,"

380
00:22:58,046 --> 00:22:59,646
and walked into the studio.

381
00:22:59,646 --> 00:23:04,526
But behind this relaxed approach
was a serious man.

382
00:23:04,526 --> 00:23:07,486
His show on ITV,
The Frost Programme,

383
00:23:07,486 --> 00:23:10,686
revealed his unique
style of interviewing.

384
00:23:10,686 --> 00:23:12,806
Good evening and thank you.

385
00:23:12,806 --> 00:23:15,726
Tonight, it is my pleasure to welcome
the Foreign Secretary,

386
00:23:15,726 --> 00:23:19,326
the Right Honourable George Brown.
Welcome.

387
00:23:19,326 --> 00:23:21,966
And we must say how much
we appreciate it,

388
00:23:21,966 --> 00:23:24,366
particularly in the week
of the tragedy

389
00:23:24,366 --> 00:23:27,206
that befell West Ham at Swindon.

390
00:23:27,206 --> 00:23:28,486
Please...

391
00:23:28,486 --> 00:23:32,606
So, the guest felt, "Well,
this person is really at ease.

392
00:23:32,606 --> 00:23:37,126
"He doesn't seem particularly
wound up or anxious or aggressive,

393
00:23:37,126 --> 00:23:40,206
"so that puts me at ease, too."

394
00:23:40,206 --> 00:23:44,086
What have you done today?
What time did you get to bed, get up?

395
00:23:44,086 --> 00:23:46,806
He became people's friend, which is

396
00:23:46,806 --> 00:23:51,286
a clever interviewing technique,
because they let you in.

397
00:23:51,286 --> 00:23:57,846
I came home last night...
I got home from Brussels at 10:30.

398
00:23:59,966 --> 00:24:04,886
It took about an hour to get myself
back on speaking terms with my wife.

399
00:24:04,886 --> 00:24:07,366
THEY CHUCKLE
And then...

400
00:24:07,366 --> 00:24:11,966
He could lull his interviewees,
because he was such good company.

401
00:24:11,966 --> 00:24:15,406
And they would relax,
and he'd suddenly hit them

402
00:24:15,406 --> 00:24:19,086
with a very quiet question
and think, "Got you."

403
00:24:19,086 --> 00:24:22,966
Welcome back.
With me now, Dr Emil Savundra.

404
00:24:22,966 --> 00:24:27,966
This 1967 edition, with fraudulent
businessman Emil Savundra,

405
00:24:27,966 --> 00:24:32,686
was controversial, becoming known
as the first "trial by television".

406
00:24:32,686 --> 00:24:38,126
Fire, Auto went bust and a great many
people have not had claims paid.

407
00:24:38,126 --> 00:24:41,006
Is that true?
INAUDIBLE QUESTION FROM AUDIENCE

408
00:24:41,006 --> 00:24:43,686
No, no, that
question wasn't even intelligent.

409
00:24:43,686 --> 00:24:45,926
I'm not going to cross swords
with the peasants.

410
00:24:45,926 --> 00:24:50,086
I came here to cross swords with
England's greatest swordsman.

411
00:24:50,086 --> 00:24:52,126
I'm afraid nobody is a peasant,

412
00:24:52,126 --> 00:24:54,806
I'm afraid they are the people
who gave you your money.

413
00:24:54,806 --> 00:24:56,206
Ah, this is fine...

414
00:24:58,086 --> 00:25:01,326
The Savundra interview was
ground-breaking, because again,

415
00:25:01,326 --> 00:25:02,966
it moved television on.

416
00:25:02,966 --> 00:25:08,166
He actually got a real figure
and put him under the cosh

417
00:25:08,166 --> 00:25:09,486
in front of a camera.

418
00:25:09,486 --> 00:25:10,886
Just a second.

419
00:25:10,886 --> 00:25:13,526
My husband was killed in a
car crash, he was a passenger,

420
00:25:13,526 --> 00:25:16,366
in January '65.

421
00:25:16,366 --> 00:25:19,566
And I was supposed to get £7,000.

422
00:25:19,566 --> 00:25:22,686
The claim was settled in
April '65 and the cheque was

423
00:25:22,686 --> 00:25:24,726
held up for other excuses,

424
00:25:24,726 --> 00:25:27,526
until June '65, when of course,
it bounced.

425
00:25:27,526 --> 00:25:30,366
The only thing I can say is this -

426
00:25:30,366 --> 00:25:34,646
all these, and the other
heart-rending stories

427
00:25:34,646 --> 00:25:37,846
which I have heard recently,

428
00:25:37,846 --> 00:25:41,766
have made me realise
only too well that

429
00:25:41,766 --> 00:25:45,366
my selling out was the wisest
thing I ever did.

430
00:25:47,006 --> 00:25:48,886
How? How do you mean that?

431
00:25:48,886 --> 00:25:53,486
By selling out,
I have no legal responsibility

432
00:25:53,486 --> 00:25:57,006
and no moral responsibility.
You have...

433
00:25:57,006 --> 00:26:02,166
You have TOTAL moral
responsibility for all these people!

434
00:26:02,166 --> 00:26:05,486
David attacked him
from a high moral viewpoint,

435
00:26:05,486 --> 00:26:09,766
he didn't go in for the fact
he was breaking the law,

436
00:26:09,766 --> 00:26:14,126
the essence of his attack was that
this man was behaving immorally.

437
00:26:14,126 --> 00:26:15,686
How do you sign a bit of paper

438
00:26:15,686 --> 00:26:18,926
that gets rid of past moral
responsibility? Tell me that.

439
00:26:18,926 --> 00:26:20,526
He doesn't sort of say,

440
00:26:20,526 --> 00:26:22,886
"You are the most evil man
that ever walked the planet,"

441
00:26:22,886 --> 00:26:25,126
he just keeps at him with
the questions

442
00:26:25,126 --> 00:26:26,726
and kind of wears him down.

443
00:26:26,726 --> 00:26:28,726
You can look at these people here...
Yes.

444
00:26:28,726 --> 00:26:30,926
..widows, widowers,
whoever they are... Yes.

445
00:26:30,926 --> 00:26:34,566
..and you can feel, "I have no legal
responsibility, and I have

446
00:26:34,566 --> 00:26:38,006
"signed a piece of paper and I have
no moral responsibility either"?

447
00:26:38,006 --> 00:26:40,646
Right. Thank you.

448
00:26:40,646 --> 00:26:44,726
It really made people take him
seriously,

449
00:26:44,726 --> 00:26:46,926
in a way that before that,
they hadn't been quite sure

450
00:26:46,926 --> 00:26:49,646
whether he was just a comic,
or an entertainer.

451
00:26:49,646 --> 00:26:52,286
It's not really the way
to end a series,

452
00:26:52,286 --> 00:26:54,326
but it's the end of the series.
Bye-bye.

453
00:26:54,326 --> 00:26:57,766
APPLAUSE

454
00:27:00,966 --> 00:27:04,206
At the age of 27, he set up
David Paradine Productions,

455
00:27:04,206 --> 00:27:07,086
still going strong today.

456
00:27:07,086 --> 00:27:10,006
Their first programme
featured the preacher

457
00:27:10,006 --> 00:27:13,206
he had seen as a teenager,
Billy Graham.

458
00:27:13,206 --> 00:27:15,806
It's like a door, he has a door,
and over that door, it says,

459
00:27:15,806 --> 00:27:18,886
"Whosoever will, let him come."
That includes you, me, everyone.

460
00:27:18,886 --> 00:27:22,166
Back in the days where everything
was owned by ITV

461
00:27:22,166 --> 00:27:25,766
or the BBC, David was
arguing about owning rights.

462
00:27:25,766 --> 00:27:29,526
So, he was one of the first
to set up an independent company

463
00:27:29,526 --> 00:27:34,486
and take control, whereas we were
always subject to the fashions

464
00:27:34,486 --> 00:27:36,646
and waywardness of television,

465
00:27:36,646 --> 00:27:41,606
David rooted himself in places where
it was secure in the business

466
00:27:41,606 --> 00:27:44,046
side of it, in contacts, in trading,

467
00:27:44,046 --> 00:27:49,086
in making alliances with people,
with other departments,

468
00:27:49,086 --> 00:27:53,766
with other independent companies,
with other franchises and so on.

469
00:27:53,766 --> 00:27:58,246
In 1967, he successfully
spearheaded the bid to launch

470
00:27:58,246 --> 00:28:00,606
London Weekend Television.

471
00:28:00,606 --> 00:28:04,086
He pulled together
a dazzling team of talents,

472
00:28:04,086 --> 00:28:08,246
and it was not surprising that
he won the licence, because in

473
00:28:08,246 --> 00:28:11,486
those days it was a beauty parade,
it wasn't a bidding contest.

474
00:28:11,486 --> 00:28:16,126
And sadly,
that team didn't last very long,

475
00:28:16,126 --> 00:28:19,846
but out of it came a very
successful television network.

476
00:28:19,846 --> 00:28:24,406
By the 1970s,
David Frost was everywhere,

477
00:28:24,406 --> 00:28:27,726
and his ability to handle
the interview was renowned.

478
00:28:27,726 --> 00:28:30,126
David did one of the funniest

479
00:28:30,126 --> 00:28:34,846
and most revealing interviews
with Muhammad Ali.

480
00:28:34,846 --> 00:28:37,326
The Christian Bible says
all white people are devils.

481
00:28:37,326 --> 00:28:39,726
Well, the Christian Bible says
all people are sinful.

482
00:28:39,726 --> 00:28:42,086
It says all white Gentiles
and Jews are devils.

483
00:28:42,086 --> 00:28:44,966
'Ali makes the mistake of quoting
scripture to somebody

484
00:28:44,966 --> 00:28:46,806
'who knew the Bible more than
he did.'

485
00:28:46,806 --> 00:28:50,966
You stop the show and let me go get
my briefcase. Yes, sure. Yes, yes.

486
00:28:50,966 --> 00:28:54,726
Can you stop the tape for a minute?
No, we'll keep the tape running.
Let me go get my briefcase.

487
00:28:54,726 --> 00:28:58,366
Get it in four-hundredths
of a second, all right? Right, right.

488
00:28:59,766 --> 00:29:02,246
Right, well,
he's just going to prove to us

489
00:29:02,246 --> 00:29:05,966
that all white people are devils,
so we'll keep the tape running...

490
00:29:05,966 --> 00:29:08,166
It's just a wonderful
theatrical moment.

491
00:29:08,166 --> 00:29:10,206
Now, if you look at it, you think,
"He's set that up."

492
00:29:10,206 --> 00:29:11,486
But he didn't, actually.

493
00:29:11,486 --> 00:29:16,446
It says here in Romans... Romans...

494
00:29:16,446 --> 00:29:18,086
Third chapter...

495
00:29:18,086 --> 00:29:20,646
and ninth verse.

496
00:29:20,646 --> 00:29:25,806
"What, then," it says,
"are we better than they?

497
00:29:25,806 --> 00:29:28,966
"No, in no wise.

498
00:29:28,966 --> 00:29:35,326
"For we have before proved
both Jews and Gentiles,

499
00:29:35,326 --> 00:29:37,766
"that they are all under sin."

500
00:29:37,766 --> 00:29:40,046
It was Ali who challenged him

501
00:29:40,046 --> 00:29:43,486
on a saying, a quotation,
and David got it right.

502
00:29:43,486 --> 00:29:48,566
It says, "All Jews and Gentiles,"
and in the Bible, "Gentiles" means

503
00:29:48,566 --> 00:29:52,646
"all people who are not Jews",
not just whites... No, no...

504
00:29:52,646 --> 00:29:55,166
Blacks, greens, blues and everybody.

505
00:29:55,166 --> 00:29:57,046
You're teaching me
something I don't know.

506
00:29:57,046 --> 00:30:00,886
I thought I should tell you that.
"Gentiles" means "everyone".
Let me put it another way.

507
00:30:00,886 --> 00:30:03,566
You shouldn't say that on TV -
you're wrong.

508
00:30:03,566 --> 00:30:07,046
That's one of my favourite moments,
because Ali was a handful -

509
00:30:07,046 --> 00:30:08,646
I know that better than most.

510
00:30:10,406 --> 00:30:12,366
Despite the heated exchange,

511
00:30:12,366 --> 00:30:16,086
the two men remained on
good terms for decades.

512
00:30:16,086 --> 00:30:21,806
When you look at the people David
interviewed, there never has been

513
00:30:21,806 --> 00:30:27,166
and never will be, I suspect,
anybody who will have his span.

514
00:30:27,166 --> 00:30:32,326
In 1968, he had captured the last
personal interview with

515
00:30:32,326 --> 00:30:34,406
Senator Robert F Kennedy.

516
00:30:34,406 --> 00:30:37,526
How would you like to be remembered?

517
00:30:37,526 --> 00:30:41,366
I mean, what would you like the first
line of a history book

518
00:30:41,366 --> 00:30:43,206
about Robert Kennedy to say?

519
00:30:47,686 --> 00:30:49,886
I think something
about the fact that

520
00:30:49,886 --> 00:30:53,206
I made some contribution to, er...

521
00:30:53,206 --> 00:30:56,606
you know, my country or...

522
00:30:56,606 --> 00:30:58,886
or those who are less well off.

523
00:30:58,886 --> 00:31:02,406
I think, again, back to...

524
00:31:02,406 --> 00:31:05,526
what Camus wrote about
the fact that, er...

525
00:31:08,006 --> 00:31:11,606
..perhaps this world is
a world in which children suffer,

526
00:31:11,606 --> 00:31:14,926
but we can lessen
the number of suffering children,

527
00:31:14,926 --> 00:31:18,566
and if you do not do this,
then who will do this?

528
00:31:18,566 --> 00:31:22,406
And I'd like to feel that I'd done
something to lessen that suffering.

529
00:31:25,326 --> 00:31:28,646
Weeks later,
the senator was assassinated.

530
00:31:32,886 --> 00:31:34,566
More than two decades on,

531
00:31:34,566 --> 00:31:37,446
David Frost would ask
the difficult questions

532
00:31:37,446 --> 00:31:41,566
of Kennedy's convicted killer,
Sirhan Sirhan.

533
00:31:44,966 --> 00:31:47,966
Did it not occur to you then,
or very soon after,

534
00:31:47,966 --> 00:31:49,846
that the weak and the disadvantaged

535
00:31:49,846 --> 00:31:54,726
and the helpless were tremendously
wounded by the loss

536
00:31:54,726 --> 00:31:58,486
of Robert Kennedy and they would be
better off if he were still alive?

537
00:31:58,486 --> 00:31:59,686
I agree, sir.

538
00:31:59,686 --> 00:32:04,886
I can't say anything but...
except that I am totally sorry, sir,

539
00:32:04,886 --> 00:32:09,126
and I can feel nothing
but remorse for having caused that,

540
00:32:09,126 --> 00:32:13,006
that tragic death of Robert Kennedy.

541
00:32:13,006 --> 00:32:17,646
And if I could, sir,
bring him back to life, talk to him

542
00:32:17,646 --> 00:32:23,526
and have him, you know,
carry out what he had, you know,

543
00:32:23,526 --> 00:32:27,006
promised to do for the weak
and the disadvantaged,

544
00:32:27,006 --> 00:32:30,446
I would treasure the opportunity
to bring him back to life.

545
00:32:35,526 --> 00:32:40,006
And the sum total of all those
interviews that David has done

546
00:32:40,006 --> 00:32:45,046
are going to be a very, very
important historical archive,

547
00:32:45,046 --> 00:32:47,686
and anybody who wants to understand
the second part

548
00:32:47,686 --> 00:32:51,846
of the 20th century is going to
have to look at those interviews.

549
00:32:55,966 --> 00:33:01,886
As President, I must put
the interests of America first.

550
00:33:01,886 --> 00:33:05,966
Therefore, I shall resign
the presidency,

551
00:33:05,966 --> 00:33:07,806
effective at noon tomorrow.

552
00:33:09,246 --> 00:33:12,286
The securing of that place
in history came after

553
00:33:12,286 --> 00:33:15,846
President Nixon's surprise
resignation in the wake

554
00:33:15,846 --> 00:33:18,606
of the political scandal
known as Watergate.

555
00:33:20,486 --> 00:33:23,646
He had not given an account
to the American people,

556
00:33:23,646 --> 00:33:25,286
he had not been put on trial,

557
00:33:25,286 --> 00:33:30,006
he had not been called before
congressional committees.

558
00:33:30,006 --> 00:33:35,846
He was going to have to answer
a lot of tough questions.

559
00:33:35,846 --> 00:33:38,166
It took more than two years,

560
00:33:38,166 --> 00:33:44,126
but the man who persuaded the
President was David Frost, in 1977.

561
00:33:44,126 --> 00:33:48,726
There has always been a suspicion
that Nixon said "yes" to David,

562
00:33:48,726 --> 00:33:53,086
not just because David offered him
the biggest cheque, $600,000,

563
00:33:53,086 --> 00:33:56,166
which he did, but because he thought

564
00:33:56,166 --> 00:34:00,446
David would be
an easier interviewer.

565
00:34:00,446 --> 00:34:03,486
If you feel that he is stonewalling,

566
00:34:03,486 --> 00:34:09,566
or from what you learned in your
research, lying, what will you do?

567
00:34:11,166 --> 00:34:14,446
I shall say so,
again and again and again.

568
00:34:15,726 --> 00:34:20,326
They thought he was an irrelevant
entertainment presenter.

569
00:34:20,326 --> 00:34:24,006
And they had obviously never seen
the Savundra interview or

570
00:34:24,006 --> 00:34:26,806
all those sort of hard interviews
that David had done.

571
00:34:26,806 --> 00:34:31,726
I hope the approach he will take will
be the one of a cascade of candour.

572
00:34:31,726 --> 00:34:36,366
A cascade of candour, from Richard
Nixon? Is this what you expect?

573
00:34:36,366 --> 00:34:39,206
No, it was just a phrase that
I thought would appeal to you.

574
00:34:40,926 --> 00:34:45,846
David assumed that he would
find it easy to fund,

575
00:34:45,846 --> 00:34:50,206
and to sell the programme. The
American networks wouldn't buy it.

576
00:34:50,206 --> 00:34:53,246
He, in the end,
did attract some investors.

577
00:34:53,246 --> 00:34:56,166
He had to construct
his own television network

578
00:34:56,166 --> 00:34:59,326
and he had to sell his own
advertising whilst

579
00:34:59,326 --> 00:35:04,526
we were preparing this monumentally
difficult journalistic task.

580
00:35:04,526 --> 00:35:08,086
A lot of us, at the time of
the Nixon interviews, the time

581
00:35:08,086 --> 00:35:11,406
he did them, thought that David
had probably lost the plot

582
00:35:11,406 --> 00:35:12,766
and had his best days.

583
00:35:12,766 --> 00:35:15,526
Because one has to remember how
short most careers in the media,

584
00:35:15,526 --> 00:35:18,046
and especially in television, are.

585
00:35:18,046 --> 00:35:22,286
The Nixon interviews took place
over 30 hours,

586
00:35:22,286 --> 00:35:25,886
with Watergate forming just
four hours of the total time.

587
00:35:32,446 --> 00:35:36,566
Mr President, to try and review
your account of Watergate

588
00:35:36,566 --> 00:35:40,166
in one programme
is a daunting task...

589
00:35:40,166 --> 00:35:42,326
'We focused on those things
where the evidence'

590
00:35:42,326 --> 00:35:45,566
was strong. We ignored those areas,
of which there were many,

591
00:35:45,566 --> 00:35:50,246
where there was suspicion
but no evidence. We made sure we

592
00:35:50,246 --> 00:35:55,446
understood the legal framework -
what would the charge sheet
have said?

593
00:35:55,446 --> 00:36:00,846
And he studied Nixon, he studied
Nixon's physical appearance,

594
00:36:00,846 --> 00:36:05,246
his body language,
the rate he sweated, his hands,

595
00:36:05,246 --> 00:36:10,206
how he moved, how he was dressed,
how he related to those around him.

596
00:36:10,206 --> 00:36:14,486
David studied Nixon
to the nth degree.

597
00:36:14,486 --> 00:36:18,366
Nixon had some of his former
White House staffers.

598
00:36:18,366 --> 00:36:22,166
They prepared him very heavily
for all the earlier interviews.

599
00:36:22,166 --> 00:36:25,366
We assumed, naturally,
they prepared him

600
00:36:25,366 --> 00:36:28,886
heavily for
the Watergate interviews.

601
00:36:28,886 --> 00:36:33,006
It transpired that he had done
no preparation at all.

602
00:36:33,006 --> 00:36:35,206
And you were recollecting
this meeting,

603
00:36:35,206 --> 00:36:39,086
and you said that you said
to Dean and to Haldeman,

604
00:36:39,086 --> 00:36:42,326
"Christ, turn over any cash we got."

605
00:36:42,326 --> 00:36:44,966
That's YOUR recollection
of the meeting,

606
00:36:44,966 --> 00:36:48,526
on April 20th, when you didn't know
you were on television.

607
00:36:48,526 --> 00:36:51,246
Of course I didn't know
I was on television.

608
00:36:51,246 --> 00:36:54,246
On April 20th, it could well have
been my recollection.

609
00:36:54,246 --> 00:36:57,766
And so, when the interview started,
Nixon equivocated,

610
00:36:57,766 --> 00:37:00,886
he wondered,
he talked on and on and on.

611
00:37:00,886 --> 00:37:04,246
..We haven't followed up with what
happened after the meeting.

612
00:37:04,246 --> 00:37:06,846
David simply out-argued him,

613
00:37:06,846 --> 00:37:12,806
both on the facts and he out-argued
him on Nixon's legal interpretation.

614
00:37:12,806 --> 00:37:18,126
Talking about this hush money,
for Hunt, talking about blackmail

615
00:37:18,126 --> 00:37:21,726
and all of that, I would say
that you endorsed or ratified it.

616
00:37:21,726 --> 00:37:24,766
But let's leave that on one side...
I didn't endorse or ratify it.

617
00:37:24,766 --> 00:37:27,406
Why didn't you stop it?

618
00:37:27,406 --> 00:37:31,086
Because at that point,

619
00:37:31,086 --> 00:37:32,686
I had nothing...

620
00:37:34,526 --> 00:37:39,206
..no knowledge of the fact
that it was going to be paid.

621
00:37:39,206 --> 00:37:44,886
He came up with some very old
and unpersuasive thoughts,

622
00:37:44,886 --> 00:37:49,126
and David, quite quickly, had him
on the ropes.

623
00:37:49,126 --> 00:37:51,766
Would you go further than "mistakes",

624
00:37:51,766 --> 00:37:57,686
the word that seems not enough
for people to understand?

625
00:37:59,366 --> 00:38:01,406
What word would you express?

626
00:38:05,326 --> 00:38:08,046
My goodness, that's a...

627
00:38:08,046 --> 00:38:12,966
I think that there are three things,
since you ask me,

628
00:38:12,966 --> 00:38:14,726
I would like to hear you say,

629
00:38:14,726 --> 00:38:17,726
I think the American people
would like to hear you say.

630
00:38:17,726 --> 00:38:23,246
One is, there was probably more...

631
00:38:23,246 --> 00:38:26,086
than mistakes.

632
00:38:26,086 --> 00:38:30,166
There was...wrongdoing.

633
00:38:30,166 --> 00:38:33,846
Whether it was a crime or not, yes,
it may have been a crime, too.

634
00:38:33,846 --> 00:38:37,886
'I realised he was, at that moment,
more vulnerable than he would ever be

635
00:38:37,886 --> 00:38:43,006
'again, and it was an absolutely
emotionally drenching experience.'

636
00:38:43,006 --> 00:38:45,766
Because to get Richard Nixon
to face up to things like that was

637
00:38:45,766 --> 00:38:47,566
more difficult than almost anybody.

638
00:38:47,566 --> 00:38:51,486
And then, when he did, it had all
that greater power, you know,

639
00:38:51,486 --> 00:38:56,246
because it was this man doing it, who
wasn't born to do this sort of thing.

640
00:38:56,246 --> 00:38:58,606
I let the American people down.

641
00:39:00,446 --> 00:39:03,686
And I have to carry that burden
with me for the rest of my life.

642
00:39:04,926 --> 00:39:07,366
My political life is over.

643
00:39:07,366 --> 00:39:10,806
I will never yet,
and never again,

644
00:39:10,806 --> 00:39:14,446
have an opportunity to serve
in any official position.

645
00:39:16,286 --> 00:39:19,526
Maybe I can give a little advice,
from time to time.

646
00:39:22,526 --> 00:39:24,206
And so...

647
00:39:26,566 --> 00:39:30,686
..I can only say that,
in answer to your question,

648
00:39:30,686 --> 00:39:36,446
that while technically,
I did not commit a crime,

649
00:39:36,446 --> 00:39:38,006
an impeachable offence...

650
00:39:39,846 --> 00:39:41,886
These are legalisms.

651
00:39:41,886 --> 00:39:46,406
..as far as the handling
of this matter is concerned,

652
00:39:46,406 --> 00:39:48,766
it was so botched up.

653
00:39:50,286 --> 00:39:52,446
I made so many bad judgements.

654
00:39:53,686 --> 00:39:57,086
The worst ones, mistakes
of the heart, rather than the head,

655
00:39:57,086 --> 00:39:58,246
as I pointed out.

656
00:39:59,966 --> 00:40:02,166
But let me say,

657
00:40:02,166 --> 00:40:04,046
a man in that top judge...

658
00:40:04,046 --> 00:40:10,526
top job, he's got to have a heart...
but his head must always

659
00:40:10,526 --> 00:40:11,766
rule his heart.

660
00:40:16,326 --> 00:40:18,646
So, they were
sensational interviews,

661
00:40:18,646 --> 00:40:21,086
which certainly did
wonders for David's career,

662
00:40:21,086 --> 00:40:23,526
that actually, I think,
humanised Nixon as well.

663
00:40:25,726 --> 00:40:28,406
It was watched by 45 million viewers

664
00:40:28,406 --> 00:40:32,686
and carried on 150 stations.

665
00:40:32,686 --> 00:40:37,646
David later said, "We had won
the greatest gamble of our lives.

666
00:40:37,646 --> 00:40:41,046
"I thought my dad, a great
but poor country preacher,

667
00:40:41,046 --> 00:40:42,606
"must be smiling in heaven."

668
00:40:46,046 --> 00:40:51,646
And it was a truly profound
piece of television history

669
00:40:51,646 --> 00:40:56,286
and historians will be grateful,
I think, to David forever.

670
00:40:56,286 --> 00:40:58,886
I can't think of another
interviewer who could have done

671
00:40:58,886 --> 00:41:03,726
that in that way where, because
he appeared to be empathetic

672
00:41:03,726 --> 00:41:09,206
and sympathetic to the person being
interviewed, he got Richard Nixon

673
00:41:09,206 --> 00:41:14,086
to say things that were obviously
true, by the way.

674
00:41:14,086 --> 00:41:18,166
But had David gone at him
in a sort of heavy way,

675
00:41:18,166 --> 00:41:20,646
I doubt he would ever have said.

676
00:41:20,646 --> 00:41:24,646
A remarkable story. Incredible
courage. Chutzpah, really.

677
00:41:24,646 --> 00:41:29,326
David Frost had risked
more than his reputation.

678
00:41:29,326 --> 00:41:34,246
To fund the project,
he had privately raised $2 million.

679
00:41:34,246 --> 00:41:37,486
He only told me
in the last year he had

680
00:41:37,486 --> 00:41:44,126
sold his shares in LWT in order
to help fund the interviews.

681
00:41:44,126 --> 00:41:46,206
If he had held on to those shares,

682
00:41:46,206 --> 00:41:49,366
they would have been worth
tens of millions of pounds.

683
00:41:49,366 --> 00:41:53,086
Ray Snoddy called me on the day
that the deal was announced -

684
00:41:53,086 --> 00:41:57,766
when LWT was bought by Granada,
in those days -

685
00:41:57,766 --> 00:41:59,246
and he said,

686
00:41:59,246 --> 00:42:03,446
"Do you realise if you hadn't
sold your London Weekend shares,

687
00:42:03,446 --> 00:42:08,726
"you'd be collecting a cheque today
for £37 million?" Imagine that.

688
00:42:10,766 --> 00:42:13,606
Well, I'd rather have done
the Nixon interviews.

689
00:42:17,886 --> 00:42:21,686
Later, it obviously became
the subject of a play and a movie

690
00:42:21,686 --> 00:42:24,366
but very brave of David.
Very, very brave.

691
00:42:26,406 --> 00:42:30,886
Frost Nixon,
the dramatisation thereof,

692
00:42:30,886 --> 00:42:34,806
the play and then the film, it
gave him a whole new lease of life.

693
00:42:34,806 --> 00:42:38,806
Four, three, two and...

694
00:42:39,886 --> 00:42:44,406
Mr President, we were talking about
the period March 21st to April 30th

695
00:42:44,406 --> 00:42:47,646
and the mistakes you made
and so on, and I was wondering...

696
00:42:50,566 --> 00:42:53,846
..would you go further
than "mistakes",

697
00:42:53,846 --> 00:42:57,006
the word that seems not enough
for people to understand?

698
00:42:59,726 --> 00:43:02,326
Well, what word would
you have expressed?

699
00:43:04,206 --> 00:43:08,086
David was proud of his
portrayal on screen and stage.

700
00:43:10,286 --> 00:43:11,926
My goodness.

701
00:43:11,926 --> 00:43:14,566
David had seen it
so many times. He loved it.

702
00:43:14,566 --> 00:43:17,406
So, I was sitting next to David.
He was literally...

703
00:43:17,406 --> 00:43:20,446
He was mumbling the lines as
they were being said by the...

704
00:43:20,446 --> 00:43:22,686
Not just his own lines,
but all of these lines. He was...

705
00:43:22,686 --> 00:43:23,886
HE MUMBLES

706
00:43:23,886 --> 00:43:26,326
And I was saying, "David, shut up!"

707
00:43:26,326 --> 00:43:28,966
The Nixon interviews
made David Frost

708
00:43:28,966 --> 00:43:31,606
one of the most famous
men in the world.

709
00:43:33,646 --> 00:43:38,726
In 1980, using his profile and his
considerable business acumen,

710
00:43:38,726 --> 00:43:41,886
he led the bid to the
Independent Broadcasting Authority

711
00:43:41,886 --> 00:43:45,646
for the first commercial
breakfast television franchise.

712
00:43:45,646 --> 00:43:49,246
They advertised for people
to bid for the franchise

713
00:43:49,246 --> 00:43:52,326
and David Frost walks in with
all the glitz in the world.

714
00:43:53,686 --> 00:43:56,686
And they were, you know,
knocked down by this,

715
00:43:56,686 --> 00:43:59,846
knocked over by this,
and gave him the franchise.

716
00:43:59,846 --> 00:44:03,806
Well, it's the happiest day
of my life I can recall,

717
00:44:03,806 --> 00:44:06,526
professionally, you know,
because this group came together,

718
00:44:06,526 --> 00:44:09,606
excited by the challenge
of breakfast television

719
00:44:09,606 --> 00:44:12,166
and to have the opportunity
of doing it as well, well...

720
00:44:12,166 --> 00:44:14,886
We hope we don't let the side down.

721
00:44:14,886 --> 00:44:17,926
In a race to be top dog, the BBC

722
00:44:17,926 --> 00:44:23,966
and ITV launched their breakfast
shows just weeks apart in 1983.

723
00:44:23,966 --> 00:44:26,966
You're watching the first edition
of BBC television's Breakfast Time,

724
00:44:26,966 --> 00:44:30,166
Britain's first ever regular early
morning television programme.

725
00:44:30,166 --> 00:44:33,566
Good morning. Welcome to Good Morning
Britain for the very first time.

726
00:44:33,566 --> 00:44:36,726
After months, years of preparation,
we have, at last,

727
00:44:36,726 --> 00:44:39,046
what we've always wanted - you.

728
00:44:39,046 --> 00:44:43,126
The BBC format was an accessible
news magazine,

729
00:44:43,126 --> 00:44:45,526
while TV-am's famous five

730
00:44:45,526 --> 00:44:50,406
took an in-depth approach,
described as a "mission to explain".

731
00:44:50,406 --> 00:44:53,406
We do hope that you're going to stay
tuned to us, not just for this

732
00:44:53,406 --> 00:44:56,326
morning's programmes
but every morning.

733
00:44:56,326 --> 00:45:00,486
Within three months, it was clear
TV-am had been trounced,

734
00:45:00,486 --> 00:45:04,166
with ratings as low as 200,000.

735
00:45:04,166 --> 00:45:07,286
And it was a disaster.
I think it was...

736
00:45:07,286 --> 00:45:11,806
It failed because I think too much
thought had gone into the presenters

737
00:45:11,806 --> 00:45:14,406
and not enough thought had
gone into what was in the show.

738
00:45:14,406 --> 00:45:16,206
Commander Philpott. We're going to

739
00:45:16,206 --> 00:45:19,246
bring order to the weather today,
David. Thank you very much indeed.

740
00:45:19,246 --> 00:45:23,926
It went wrong because, maybe,
we lacked the kind of drive

741
00:45:23,926 --> 00:45:26,966
and expertise to stand back from it

742
00:45:26,966 --> 00:45:32,046
and look at it without the famous
five, if you see what I mean.

743
00:45:32,046 --> 00:45:35,326
It was top-heavy. All the publicity
was about us and all that.

744
00:45:35,326 --> 00:45:38,366
And in the end, you know, it's about
the programmes you make, basically.

745
00:45:38,366 --> 00:45:40,966
The people who front them
are important but it's

746
00:45:40,966 --> 00:45:43,726
the content of the programmes,
and maybe we didn't get that right.

747
00:45:43,726 --> 00:45:45,646
We certainly didn't get
something right.

748
00:45:45,646 --> 00:45:49,806
TV-am was an incredibly
gruelling experience.

749
00:45:49,806 --> 00:45:55,406
And everyone who was
involved with it

750
00:45:55,406 --> 00:45:58,886
still bears the scars to a certain
extent. Some more than others.

751
00:45:58,886 --> 00:46:03,566
I remember one moment we were
standing outside our offices.

752
00:46:03,566 --> 00:46:06,366
I had an office next to David
in the third floor of this building.

753
00:46:06,366 --> 00:46:07,606
There was a canal beneath us

754
00:46:07,606 --> 00:46:09,806
and I was standing there
looking out the window.

755
00:46:09,806 --> 00:46:12,086
I turned round and David was
looking at me and he said,

756
00:46:12,086 --> 00:46:13,686
"Who jumps first?"

757
00:46:13,686 --> 00:46:16,926
I think if we'd have gone together
it'd have been about right.

758
00:46:16,926 --> 00:46:21,646
It was a salutary lesson and
I think it shook up David more than

759
00:46:21,646 --> 00:46:24,006
anybody else
because it was his baby.

760
00:46:24,006 --> 00:46:29,966
Greg Dyke was brought in to
turn around the fortunes of TV-am.

761
00:46:29,966 --> 00:46:32,486
The new management at
TV-am have confirmed that

762
00:46:32,486 --> 00:46:36,046
David Frost will not be continuing
as one of the main presenters.

763
00:46:36,046 --> 00:46:39,126
It is one of a series
of changes announced today

764
00:46:39,126 --> 00:46:41,246
in an effort to improve
poor viewing figures.

765
00:46:41,246 --> 00:46:44,966
When I told David that, actually,
we didn't want him to present

766
00:46:44,966 --> 00:46:47,966
the show five days a week any more,

767
00:46:47,966 --> 00:46:50,886
he just said, "That's fine.

768
00:46:50,886 --> 00:46:53,566
"I'll be able to lay in bed."

769
00:46:53,566 --> 00:46:55,966
Rather than lying in bed,

770
00:46:55,966 --> 00:47:00,446
David was moved to a new role
as host of Frost On Sunday.

771
00:47:00,446 --> 00:47:04,526
The winning formula
saw David doing what he did best.

772
00:47:04,526 --> 00:47:08,766
Prime Minister, you said that in '83,
and the ministers knew
in November '82.

773
00:47:08,766 --> 00:47:11,966
Do you think, Mr Frost...? That was
incorrect, what you said, wasn't it?

774
00:47:11,966 --> 00:47:16,286
Do you think, Mr Frost,
that I spend my days prowling round

775
00:47:16,286 --> 00:47:20,086
the pigeonholes of
the Ministry of Defence to

776
00:47:20,086 --> 00:47:24,526
look at the chart
of each and every ship?

777
00:47:24,526 --> 00:47:26,606
If you do, you must be bonkers.

778
00:47:29,126 --> 00:47:33,926
Frost On Sunday ran until 1992,
when TV-am ended.

779
00:47:36,166 --> 00:47:38,886
Out of it came
an unlikely success story.

780
00:47:42,086 --> 00:47:46,006
One of the most extraordinary
things about David

781
00:47:46,006 --> 00:47:50,806
was his mastery of
all genres of television.

782
00:47:50,806 --> 00:47:55,486
You know, he was someone who refused
to be put in a particular box.

783
00:47:55,486 --> 00:47:58,526
As always, we've borrowed the keys
to two fascinating homes,

784
00:47:58,526 --> 00:48:01,846
belonging to two well-known
personalities, and with the help

785
00:48:01,846 --> 00:48:05,206
of Loyd Grossman,
we'll be taking a privileged peep

786
00:48:05,206 --> 00:48:07,086
behind closed doors.

787
00:48:07,086 --> 00:48:11,526
One thing that carried on through
TV-am and was always successful,

788
00:48:11,526 --> 00:48:14,766
through all the vicissitudes,
was Through The Keyhole.

789
00:48:14,766 --> 00:48:18,606
As we go through...the keyhole.

790
00:48:18,606 --> 00:48:20,286
Through The Keyhole, he always

791
00:48:20,286 --> 00:48:23,846
described it as his hobby. You know,
interviewing prime ministers

792
00:48:23,846 --> 00:48:27,086
and presidents was his main job and
this was just something he adored.

793
00:48:27,086 --> 00:48:32,446
He loved it. It was another
way to find out about people.

794
00:48:32,446 --> 00:48:35,246
And, you know, it was
great fun to go and watch it.

795
00:48:35,246 --> 00:48:40,126
In 1993, David Frost moved
to the BBC.

796
00:48:40,126 --> 00:48:41,486
Hello, good morning

797
00:48:41,486 --> 00:48:45,446
and welcome to the first
edition of Breakfast With Frost.

798
00:48:45,446 --> 00:48:50,646
Breakfast With Frost ran every
Sunday for over 500 editions,

799
00:48:50,646 --> 00:48:53,766
famous for pulling in
the big hitters with some

800
00:48:53,766 --> 00:48:57,446
help from David's little black book.

801
00:48:57,446 --> 00:49:00,006
We were in my grubby little
office in TV Centre

802
00:49:00,006 --> 00:49:02,126
and he dipped into his huge bag,

803
00:49:02,126 --> 00:49:05,326
overflowing with different
notes and newspapers

804
00:49:05,326 --> 00:49:08,286
and bits and pieces, pulled
out his black book and said,

805
00:49:08,286 --> 00:49:11,686
"Well, I've got a number here,"
punched in a number,

806
00:49:11,686 --> 00:49:15,246
and ten minutes later,
my presenter was speaking to

807
00:49:15,246 --> 00:49:18,606
the President of the United States
and chatting away -

808
00:49:18,606 --> 00:49:23,006
"Hello, George." "Yes, David here."
And I thought, "Wow."

809
00:49:24,206 --> 00:49:30,126
In a 1998 episode, he secured
not one but two world leaders.

810
00:49:31,126 --> 00:49:32,766
Mr Prime Minister, Mr President,

811
00:49:32,766 --> 00:49:35,406
it is a great joy to
be talking and let's...

812
00:49:35,406 --> 00:49:38,046
It was all about the Northern
Ireland peace process, which was

813
00:49:38,046 --> 00:49:42,086
at an absolutely critical stage and
the interview was very important.

814
00:49:42,086 --> 00:49:44,526
David, I think, is the only person

815
00:49:44,526 --> 00:49:47,126
that could have got
the two of us together

816
00:49:47,126 --> 00:49:50,286
and the only person, I think,
interviewer, that Bill Clinton would

817
00:49:50,286 --> 00:49:55,526
have said, "Yeah, OK, I'm going
to do this somewhat unusual

818
00:49:55,526 --> 00:49:58,446
"and British Prime Minister
actually interviewed together."

819
00:49:58,446 --> 00:50:00,806
I think being
interviewed by David was

820
00:50:00,806 --> 00:50:04,046
rather like relaxing in a warm bath
but being conscious there is

821
00:50:04,046 --> 00:50:07,486
a cold shower overhead that
could be turned on at any moment.

822
00:50:07,486 --> 00:50:10,406
It's for him and her to
make sure that they get

823
00:50:10,406 --> 00:50:12,806
the sort of service that
they deserve from the taxes

824
00:50:12,806 --> 00:50:15,806
we compulsorily take from them
to pay for public services.

825
00:50:15,806 --> 00:50:18,846
Do you think some of the criticism
of you in the Tory press has been

826
00:50:18,846 --> 00:50:22,006
class-based? I have no idea and if
I spent my time worrying about that

827
00:50:22,006 --> 00:50:24,166
I'd be a very miserable man indeed.

828
00:50:24,166 --> 00:50:27,806
He was an interviewer
to be respectful of

829
00:50:27,806 --> 00:50:32,086
and to be very nervous of
when you went into the interview

830
00:50:32,086 --> 00:50:34,926
because, although it would
be asked in a very nice way,

831
00:50:34,926 --> 00:50:38,766
the question would be
pretty much on the raw nerve.

832
00:50:38,766 --> 00:50:43,646
Do you find President Bush
an easy, a good person to work with?

833
00:50:43,646 --> 00:50:46,686
Do you like him?
Do you find him easy to work with?

834
00:50:46,686 --> 00:50:49,766
I find him incredibly easy to
work with and I think it's a pity

835
00:50:49,766 --> 00:50:53,646
that there is such a parody of
him in parts of the media here.

836
00:50:53,646 --> 00:50:55,246
Do you pray together?

837
00:50:56,206 --> 00:50:58,566
Pray together? How do you mean?

838
00:50:58,566 --> 00:51:02,566
Do you say prayers together for
peace? You and the president?

839
00:51:02,566 --> 00:51:05,526
We don't say prayers together,
no, but I'm sure he, in his way,

840
00:51:05,526 --> 00:51:07,806
hopes for peace
and I hope for peace, too.

841
00:51:07,806 --> 00:51:10,526
I was literally
so surprised by that question...

842
00:51:10,526 --> 00:51:11,886
I mean, I hadn't, by the way.

843
00:51:11,886 --> 00:51:16,126
I was so surprised by the
question that everyone assumed

844
00:51:16,126 --> 00:51:20,406
afterwards that, really, I had,
but hadn't admitted to it.

845
00:51:20,406 --> 00:51:22,446
Even now, today, I get asked,

846
00:51:22,446 --> 00:51:25,886
"Did you kneel and pray with
George Bush?" And so on.

847
00:51:25,886 --> 00:51:31,366
It was just an example of... Only
David would ask such a left-field,

848
00:51:31,366 --> 00:51:33,406
frankly, odd question such as that.

849
00:51:33,406 --> 00:51:35,646
He was prepared to try
any technique, really,

850
00:51:35,646 --> 00:51:38,566
to get under somebody's skin
and into their soul, almost.

851
00:51:38,566 --> 00:51:41,246
And you would get the feeling
that I would imagine...

852
00:51:41,246 --> 00:51:44,646
I'm not a Catholic but, if you are
a Catholic, you go to confession

853
00:51:44,646 --> 00:51:48,046
and you speak to the priest
and he's not going to tell anyone.

854
00:51:48,046 --> 00:51:49,566
That's what you do with David.

855
00:51:49,566 --> 00:51:53,046
You always thought,
"Well, he won't tell anyone this."

856
00:51:53,046 --> 00:51:54,526
Did you love her?

857
00:51:56,246 --> 00:51:57,406
No.

858
00:51:58,606 --> 00:52:02,046
I don't think that's what that
was about on either side.

859
00:52:02,046 --> 00:52:04,486
But I liked her very much.

860
00:52:04,486 --> 00:52:06,766
Ladies and gentlemen, David Frost.

861
00:52:06,766 --> 00:52:09,766
But what happened
when the tables were turned?

862
00:52:09,766 --> 00:52:13,966
David Frost, the man who rarely
talked about his personal life

863
00:52:13,966 --> 00:52:17,126
and never about his politics.

864
00:52:17,126 --> 00:52:20,486
What are the areas that you
care not to be asked about?

865
00:52:20,486 --> 00:52:22,606
LAUGHTER

866
00:52:22,606 --> 00:52:25,206
Very good question.
Isn't that a good question?

867
00:52:25,206 --> 00:52:26,846
Could I just make a note of that?

868
00:52:26,846 --> 00:52:28,446
LAUGHTER

869
00:52:28,446 --> 00:52:30,926
Well, he didn't like
being interviewed, David.

870
00:52:30,926 --> 00:52:34,486
I knew David for around 40 years
and I knew him very well -

871
00:52:34,486 --> 00:52:37,006
I was best man at his wedding
and all that stuff.

872
00:52:37,006 --> 00:52:40,206
I never really knew an awful
lot about the young Frost

873
00:52:40,206 --> 00:52:42,086
and all that sort of thing.

874
00:52:42,086 --> 00:52:45,046
It wasn't that he had anything to
hide, it was simply that he believed

875
00:52:45,046 --> 00:52:47,966
other people were more interesting
than he was in that area.

876
00:52:47,966 --> 00:52:53,126
Well, I think it's very fortunate for
me that I am a genuine independent.

877
00:52:53,126 --> 00:52:58,326
I mean, I have never bought a party
ticket in this country or been

878
00:52:58,326 --> 00:53:01,566
able to buy, 100%, a party ticket,
or in America.

879
00:53:01,566 --> 00:53:03,606
You've voted, of course?

880
00:53:03,606 --> 00:53:05,846
No, I have never voted.
You've never voted.

881
00:53:05,846 --> 00:53:09,006
It meant people with wholly
different opinions could

882
00:53:09,006 --> 00:53:13,806
appear on his programme and expect
to be given a fair interview

883
00:53:13,806 --> 00:53:16,606
that wasn't tilted
in any one direction.

884
00:53:16,606 --> 00:53:19,046
This is the essential
thing about David - he wasn't out to

885
00:53:19,046 --> 00:53:24,126
prove any particular political
point in an interview.

886
00:53:24,126 --> 00:53:28,566
He was there to draw out from
the person being interviewed

887
00:53:28,566 --> 00:53:30,126
what they really thought.

888
00:53:30,126 --> 00:53:33,486
This private man was married twice.

889
00:53:33,486 --> 00:53:38,966
In 1981, he wed Lynne Frederick,
who was the widow of Peter Sellers.

890
00:53:38,966 --> 00:53:41,406
The couple divorced
the following year.

891
00:53:43,806 --> 00:53:46,726
A year later, he married
the love of his life -

892
00:53:46,726 --> 00:53:48,686
Lady Carina Fitzalan Howard,

893
00:53:48,686 --> 00:53:51,206
the daughter of
the 17th Duke of Norfolk.

894
00:53:54,286 --> 00:53:57,846
At the age of 43,
he'd found great happiness.

895
00:54:00,726 --> 00:54:04,966
The couple's three sons
were born within five years.

896
00:54:04,966 --> 00:54:06,766
It made for a joyful family life.

897
00:54:09,766 --> 00:54:14,806
In terms of a team,
in raising us, you know,

898
00:54:14,806 --> 00:54:16,526
they had everything covered.

899
00:54:16,526 --> 00:54:19,446
He wouldn't have had
the career he had

900
00:54:19,446 --> 00:54:22,486
or been the amazing father
he was to us

901
00:54:22,486 --> 00:54:25,966
without her love
and support along the way.

902
00:54:25,966 --> 00:54:29,366
As a father, he couldn't have been
any more supportive or enthusiastic.

903
00:54:29,366 --> 00:54:32,606
There was never a bad word
said about any of us by him.

904
00:54:32,606 --> 00:54:35,846
We used to joke that he just
couldn't favouritise any one of us

905
00:54:35,846 --> 00:54:37,846
on any single topic,
even whether it was,

906
00:54:37,846 --> 00:54:40,686
"Who's the best at being
called George?" or something.

907
00:54:40,686 --> 00:54:42,486
He still couldn't, you know.

908
00:54:44,566 --> 00:54:47,446
You just got that feeling which
you've always got about him,

909
00:54:47,446 --> 00:54:51,646
of sort of love and affection in
the family and that's, in the end,

910
00:54:51,646 --> 00:54:52,686
what David was about.

911
00:54:52,686 --> 00:54:55,926
He was about a lot of things
but he was about his boys.

912
00:54:59,446 --> 00:55:04,246
In 2006, he began yet another strand
of his career,

913
00:55:04,246 --> 00:55:07,526
with a new show
on al-Jazeera English,

914
00:55:07,526 --> 00:55:10,166
where he was to end his
days as a broadcaster.

915
00:55:12,206 --> 00:55:15,206
Hello. Welcome to
Frost Over The World,

916
00:55:15,206 --> 00:55:17,686
a new programme for a new station.

917
00:55:17,686 --> 00:55:20,126
Well, I thought it was
an interesting move, actually,

918
00:55:20,126 --> 00:55:24,526
because, you know, there was a big
TV revolution going on there, again.

919
00:55:24,526 --> 00:55:28,366
So this was like revolution
number four for David Frost.

920
00:55:28,366 --> 00:55:33,446
Al-Jazeera has been quite
an extraordinary success story

921
00:55:33,446 --> 00:55:35,726
and I think to go and
anchor one of its shows

922
00:55:35,726 --> 00:55:38,206
was kind of quite a smart move.

923
00:55:38,206 --> 00:55:40,046
As he entered his 70s,

924
00:55:40,046 --> 00:55:43,366
it might have been time to
contemplate a quieter life.

925
00:55:43,366 --> 00:55:46,286
Could we tempt you to play
us out with a bit of music?

926
00:55:46,286 --> 00:55:49,566
I think so, David. Oh, thank God.
Praise the Lord.

927
00:55:49,566 --> 00:55:52,006
HE PLAYS "Lady Madonna"
by the Beatles

928
00:55:55,846 --> 00:56:02,766
At our regular lunches, I would,
as friends do, chastise him

929
00:56:02,766 --> 00:56:07,726
and say, "David, you're going
to have to think about

930
00:56:07,726 --> 00:56:13,686
"drawing a discreet and gentle
end to your broadcasting career

931
00:56:13,686 --> 00:56:16,966
"and leading your life in
a different way." "No, no, no, no."

932
00:56:19,846 --> 00:56:22,246
None of us want to give up
and one of the things I said

933
00:56:22,246 --> 00:56:24,206
to David recently -
"Are you going to give up?"

934
00:56:24,206 --> 00:56:25,806
He said, "No. Are you?" "No."

935
00:56:29,566 --> 00:56:31,326
He was never going to retire.

936
00:56:31,326 --> 00:56:34,446
As long as there was work to
be done, television cameras

937
00:56:34,446 --> 00:56:37,286
to appear in front of,
he'd have been there.

938
00:56:39,646 --> 00:56:43,246
Show me where there is
a programme and I'll be there.

939
00:56:46,446 --> 00:56:48,686
On August the 31st 2013,

940
00:56:48,686 --> 00:56:52,526
Sir David Frost
died of a heart attack

941
00:56:52,526 --> 00:56:56,806
on board the Queen Elizabeth,
where he was due to give a speech.

942
00:56:56,806 --> 00:56:58,006
He was 74.

943
00:57:01,646 --> 00:57:05,166
Sadly, I was on
the Solent with my son,

944
00:57:05,166 --> 00:57:09,326
going back to our place in
the Isle of Wight in a boat,

945
00:57:09,326 --> 00:57:13,846
and we passed a huge ship,
which was the Queen Elizabeth.

946
00:57:13,846 --> 00:57:15,686
At the time, I didn't know.

947
00:57:15,686 --> 00:57:18,006
Obviously, we were just
passing in a little boat

948
00:57:18,006 --> 00:57:20,166
and this monstrous great
ship was there,

949
00:57:20,166 --> 00:57:25,006
at the moment that he was
clearly breathing his last,

950
00:57:25,006 --> 00:57:28,126
which was... Afterwards,
it became very poignant.

951
00:57:31,526 --> 00:57:33,966
I find it difficult to
imagine he is dead, you know.

952
00:57:33,966 --> 00:57:35,406
That's the strange thing.

953
00:57:35,406 --> 00:57:37,926
I'm sitting here talking
about my friend who's dead

954
00:57:37,926 --> 00:57:40,646
and I know he's dead
but I can't believe he's dead.

955
00:57:40,646 --> 00:57:43,846
It's very odd. It's...

956
00:57:45,766 --> 00:57:49,606
Somebody said of
Dame Edith Evans when she died,

957
00:57:49,606 --> 00:57:53,006
"She can't have died,
she's not the type."

958
00:57:53,006 --> 00:57:55,966
I feel the same about David.
It's odd.

959
00:57:58,526 --> 00:58:03,566
I was actually due,
the week after he died,

960
00:58:03,566 --> 00:58:07,486
to go and have lunch with him
on Sunday in his new house.

961
00:58:09,526 --> 00:58:11,366
And I was looking forward to that,

962
00:58:11,366 --> 00:58:14,846
when suddenly I turned
the television on and he was gone.

963
00:58:14,846 --> 00:58:17,846
And I went to his funeral instead -
instead of lunch.

964
00:58:20,886 --> 00:58:25,046
Sir David Frost -
a giant of broadcasting

965
00:58:25,046 --> 00:58:26,766
and, above all,

966
00:58:26,766 --> 00:58:30,446
a man who loved life
and was loved by many.

967
00:58:32,486 --> 00:58:34,726
He gave everything
he had every day, you know,

968
00:58:34,726 --> 00:58:39,126
to making the most of his time and
I think he'd be delighted with that.

969
00:58:41,246 --> 00:58:44,406
I think he was on one of
the daily chat shows

970
00:58:44,406 --> 00:58:47,806
a couple of years ago and
rather than, "Sir David Frost,"

971
00:58:47,806 --> 00:58:50,206
and underneath saying,
you know, "broadcaster,"

972
00:58:50,206 --> 00:58:53,606
or, "journalist," or whatever,
it just said the word "legend".

973
00:58:55,846 --> 00:58:59,086
There's a massive hole now, for us.

974
00:58:59,086 --> 00:59:03,646
But the fact that there is a hole
and that we miss him, you know,

975
00:59:03,646 --> 00:59:05,806
highlights what an amazing 28 years

976
00:59:05,806 --> 00:59:08,206
we were able to have
with him before that.

977
00:59:33,246 --> 00:59:35,846
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