Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1980-1988 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
2 files, paper
[originally in 1 grey box file and now rehoused in 2 archival files]
Context area
Name of creator
Archival history
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Originally in a box file containing:
(1) A file covering his time as BBC Political Editor, file dates: 22 August 1980 – 20 October 1981
It includes:
(i) letters about internal politics between different sections of BBC News
(ii) a letter of resignation over the fact that he had authorised a story predicting that James Callaghan would step down as leader of the Labour Party but that he would not be doing so, 15 Oct 1980
(iii) feedback on reports on the 9 o’clock News and ‘Yesterday in Parliament’
(iv) fan mail asking for signed photos and also letters complaining about some aspect of his reporting such as referring to the leaders of the SDP as ‘the gang of three’
(v) letters informing his manager about the upcoming publishing date for his novel ‘Moscow Requiem’
(vi) a handwritten article for the Spectator called ‘The Myth of Innocence’
(2) BBC Appointments Diary 1983
(3) address book of contacts arranged under country headings
(4) organisational chart for BBC News
(5) Mulberry Planner:
(i) handwritten notes from March 1988 to 31 August 1988
(ii) diary entries from 11 April 1988 to 24 April 1988 [rest of the pages are blank]