Overview

Wry and unflinching, one of the best-known names in British broadcasting reflects on his life and changing attitudes against the context of a world that is dramatically different from the one in which he began his reporting career. Brought face to face with the author of his obituary and his own inevitable mortality, Edward Stourton is prompted to reflect on the life he has led and the events that have shaped him. Ed was born into a life of privilege- the son of expat parents in colonial Nigeria, he was sent back to Britain to be educated by Benedictine monks at Ampleforth, at the time when, it was latter revealed, the school and monastery were the setting for serial abuse cases. He then went up to Cambridge, where his life as an undergraduate gave him access to a network of future ministers, judges and newspaper editors. As a young journalist he reported first from party conferences and picket lines and then from war zones, witnessing the events making international headlines, from Haiti to Hong Kong, before returning home to join the infighting on BBC Radio 4's Today. During this time, the Empire has given way to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, men-only clubs have been replaced by Me Too, and instead of a choice selection of voices on a handful of radio and television channels, we have millions of voices on YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok. The world has changed, and so has Ed. In Confessions, he describes this remarkable journey with candour, humour and the insight that only forty years' experience of writing and reporting can provide.

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9781804991855

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Reviews

The quiet confessions of a Radio 4 gent ... You can't help hearing the familiar tones of the author speaking the words ... Entertaining ... nicely self-mocking ... I'm glad to have his civilised and ever-optimistic voice in my ear. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * The Times * A searingly honest insight into the life of one of our great journalists. Hugely entertaining too. -- John Humphrys A model of its kind. Calmly, bravely written, infused by his Catholic upbringing, and intriguingly haunted by the posh question ... filled with qualities that are the marks of a good life: candour and courage, deployed with generosity and modesty, all of them here in spades. -- Adam Nicolson A wonderful, poignant memoir - fluent, compelling and full of adventure. -- Cristina Odone A clear-eyed and compelling account of a life, told with honesty and much wry humour. -- Luke Jennings A book brimming with surprises and insight. I have known Edward Stourton for fifty years, but there have been adventures in his life of which I knew nothing whatever until I read this fascinating memoir. He has led a Life in Full - and has the brainpower to analyse it all with wit and perspective. -- Nicholas Coleridge Fascinating. Much more than a series of swashbuckling journalistic yarns, Confessions also describes the ""awokening"", as Stourton puts it, of someone born to privilege who has come increasingly to question the assumptions of his caste. He retains a kind of shaken, chastened faith, and a moral passion which he has, on the right occasions, allowed to break through the mask of journalistic impartiality. -- Harry Eyres A stonkingly good read - wise, informative and very funny. -- Andrew Mitchell, MP One of our most thoughtful and well-travelled journalists, Stourton manages both to educate and entertain with the inside track on a reporting career in the world's hotspots, and also to dig deeper to examine the role of memory in shaping our life stories. -- Peter Stanford Ed Stourton's book is not only a gripping personal saga of the professional life of one of our top broadcasters, it is a valuable social document of an era of rapid media transformation. Brilliantly written, witty, searingly honest, his many fans will be delighted. A must read for every aspiring journalist. -- John Cornwell

The quiet confessions of a Radio 4 gent ... You can't help hearing the familiar tones of the author speaking the words ... Entertaining ... nicely self-mocking ... I'm glad to have his civilised and ever-optimistic voice in my ear. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * The Times * A searingly honest insight into the life of one of our great journalists. Hugely entertaining too. -- John Humphrys A model of its kind. Calmly, bravely written, infused by his Catholic upbringing, and intriguingly haunted by the posh question ... filled with qualities that are the marks of a good life: candour and courage, deployed with generosity and modesty, all of them here in spades. -- Adam Nicolson A wonderful, poignant memoir - fluent, compelling and full of adventure. -- Cristina Odone A clear-eyed and compelling account of a life, told with honesty and much wry humour. -- Luke Jennings

Author Information

Edward Stourton has worked in broadcasting for over forty years, and regularly presents BBC Radio Four programmes such as The World at One, The World This Weekend and Sunday. He has been a foreign correspondent for Channel Four, ITN and the BBC, and for ten years he was one of the main presenters of the Today programme.

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