Give Me Ten Seconds [Paperback]

‘An all-time rip-roaring read’

‘This intriguing autobiography covers the author's broadcasting life and snapshots from an extraordinary family history…Sergeant is neither self-deprecating nor boastful …'

‘Entertaining … Sergeant wins the political editors’ race by a canter’

‘Excellent’

‘Witty and well crafted’

The bestselling autobiography of one of our best-loved broadcasters, now available in paperback.

John Sergeant's acclaimed memoir takes us from his somewhat eccentric childhood to his thirty years' service with the BBC. Memorably handbagged by Margaret Thatcher on the steps of the Paris Embassy as she lost the leadership contest, and the man to whom Ron Davis confessed his midnight perambulations on Clapham Common, Sergeant has been the man on the spot in most of the major news stories of the last twenty years. His mordant wit, keen sense of the absurd and acute powers of analysis pervade the book and his understanding of the labyrinthine workings of Westmister - and of the corridors of Broadcasting House - is second to none.

Today, he is the Political Editor of ITN but for thirty years, John Sergeant worked for the BBC, latterly as Chief Political Correspondent. Give Me Ten Seconds is his riveting, frequently hilarious and often touching autobiography. In it, he takes us from his rather curious childhood to his early years as a reporter on the Liverpool Post, and thence to the BBC. Memorably handbagged by Mrs Thatcher on the steps of the Paris Embassy following her failure to retain the leadership of the Conservative Party, Sergeant has been the man on the spot in most of the major news stories of the last twenty years. His mordant wit, keen sense of the absurd and acute powers of analysis pervade the book. He has a wealth of funny anecdotes featuring the key political figures of our time and his understanding of the labyrinthine workings of Westminster – and Broadcasting House – is second to none.

John Sergeant was, until 2002 political editor of ITN in 2000, after being chief political correspondent of the BBC for the previous 12 years. He joined the Corporation as a reporter on radio news in 1970. He was a special correspondent in many parts of the world, reporting from more than 25 countries. Among the conflicts he covered were the closing stages of the Vietnam War, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, and the guerilla war in Rhodesia. For the past twenty years he has specialised in political reporting from Westminster, and he has, at times, presented a wide variety of news programmes on R4, including Today and The World at One. He has also been a guest on many light entertainment shows, including Have I Got News for You, Room 101, and the News Quiz on Radio 4. He lives in Ealing and has two grown-up sons. He is the author of two books, Give Me Ten Seconds, which was a top ten bestseller, and Maggie: Her Fatal Legacy.

On a visit to Moscow with Mrs Thatcher:

‘As we gathered at Heathrow on Saturday, 28 March 1987, for the flight on an RAF VC-10 to Moscow there was still very much a cold war atmosphere between the two countries. It was the first visit by a British prime minister to the Soviet Union for more than twelve years and the Russians even thought it might be cancelled at the last minute after what they regarded as a hard-line speech by Mrs Thatcher the week before. She was not at all anxious to lose the Iron Lady sobriquet, which the Russians had bestowed on her before Mr Gorbachev came to power, and relished the idea that one of her roles was to put ‘backbone’ into the American president, when it came to dealing with the Soviet Union. She was also totally committed to the retention of nuclear weapons. But she was also highly intrigued by the reformer Mikhail Gorbachev and made much of the fact that after their first meeting, some years before, she had announced that he was a man she could do business with. For weeks she had been preparing for this visit, being briefed by the most senior advisers on the Soviet Union.

The group of about twenty journalists were installed in the back of the plane. Conditions were fairly cramped, but we knew that RAF hospitality was of a high standard and soon after take-off we were assured by Bernard Ingham that we could look forward to our dinner undisturbed. Proper crockery plates, not the usual airline plastic, were laid out and the main course arrived. At this moment, right behind me, Mrs Thatcher appeared. I was taken by surprise and without thinking stood up. Plates, glasses and food shot on to the floor. ‘Oh, that’s all right,’ she cooed in her most motherly manner. ‘You stay where you are.’ She then proceeded to clear up the mess, before stewards rushed to her aid. As I looked down on the prime minister I thought to myself, ‘This really isn’t my day.’ But I think Mrs Thatcher rather enjoyed the incident. She liked to give the impression that we were all incompetent men and only she could sort us out. As she rose from the floor I managed to push a microphone under her chin and, somewhat to her surprise, launched into a long radio interview about the Soviet Union. My colleagues in the lobby were kind enough not to interrupt; and the interview only ended when she rather delicately put her hand over the microphone. But by then I had had Mrs Thatcher at her best, fluent and interesting, unloading herself of all that detailed briefing, but doing so in a way that was easily understood. It was the best interview she ever gave me.

Later in the flight there was a bizarre incident when Mrs Thatcher once again came to the back of the plane. In tow was the foreign secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, literally so. She pulled him down the gangway between the seats, her hand gripping his casual sweater. ‘Look at Geoffrey’s new jumper,’ she told us with almost schoolgirl delight. Sir Geoffrey gave no impression of being disconcerted, but in a few years’ time he would get his own back for this and other humiliations. For many people it was his resignation speech in the House of Commons which led to her downfall.