the times | Saturday April 30 2022 39Saturday interviewNews
report was published that the deceit
contributed to his mother’s isolation
and paranoia and Harry said she lost
her life because of the ripple effect of
a culture of exploitation.
“You could argue that there is a
direct link between Bashir and her
death,” Dimbleby says.
It was “a sorry period for the BBC
and the individuals involved” but he
has little affection for Spencer. “Why
did he take such a long time to deliver
these body blows against the BBC?”
he says. He won’t expand on this, but
adds: “Would I like to be in a lifeboat
with him when we’re running out of
food? No, he’s bigger than I am.”
Would he tell royals not to do
interviews with someone like him? “I
would be very, very chary about doing
interviews if I were a senior member
of the royal family.”
“Ridiculous” is how he describes
The Crown, which he no longer
watches because he found much of it
unbelievable, including a scene where
the Queen went to the suburban
home of her husband’s adulterous
private secretary and they talked
about marriage. “I don’t have patience
with that kind of garbage.”
A few years ago he moved from an
organic farm in Devon to a large
Bristol, where he is writing a resonant book about the Nazi invasion of Russia townhouse in the Clifton area ofBristol. He lives here with his second
wife, Jessica, a teacher, and their two
daughters, aged 14 and 12. He has two
grown-up children from his first
marriage, to the journalist Bel
Mooney, and four grandchildren.
We are talking in the study on the
first floor which is adorned with
original cartoons, including one from
Punch of his father, Richard
Dimbleby, the BBC’s correspondent in
the Second World War. In this room,
with views over a bucolic communal
garden, he is writing his fourth book
about that war.T
he most recent book,
Barbarossa: How Hitler Lost
the War, is an account of the
Nazis’ doomed invasion of
Russia that is full of
resonances — unspeakable horrors,
unwilling conscripts, purged generals
— right now. In Ukraine, where
Russian troops were ordered to dig
trenches in radioactive soil, Putin
shows the same disregard for his own
troops as Stalin, the tyrant he
admires. “Putin’s operation is
minuscule by comparison with Stalin’s
battles in the Second World War, but
the attitude is similar.”
Dimbleby, who presented a TV
series and wrote a book about hisby Meghan. He’s not the brightest’
travels in Russia and saw bodies of
Russian soldiers returning from
Afghanistan and its effect on public
opinion, believes that the mounting
death toll in Ukraine could be a
danger to Putin. “The body bags have
the potential to undermine support.”
Britain has been doing the right
things to support Ukraine, says
Dimbleby, but he is a passionate
Remainer, and is convinced we would
have had more clout if we were still in
the EU. “We think Boris Johnson
going to Kyiv is a big deal. And of
course, the president [of Ukraine] is
going to say he is a wonderful friend.
But we aren’t as important as what
the EU decides.”
In Ukraine, though, Johnson
already has a street named after him.
“I hope Boris Johnson is running out
of road rapidly,” Dimbleby says.
What does this former BBC and
ITV broadcaster think of Nadine
Dorries? “She’s the secretary of state
for culture, media and sport. Beyond
that my mouth is wide open in
astonishment.”
Selling off Channel 4 is “bizarre,
unless it’s a kind of dog-whistle policy
to satisfy backbenchers on the right”.
The days are numbered for the
BBC licence fee in its current form
and he suggests it should be linked to
council tax bands, an idea that his
brother, David, has championed.
The veteran television executive
Lord Grade of Yarmouth, 79, who has
been appointed chairman of Ofcom,
the broadcasting regulator, is “a very
capable person. He’s my generation,
so he has to be! He’s older than I am.”
Dimbleby is 77 and plays tennis often.
It is hard to imagine Piers Morgan
being his cup of tea, but he likes his
“chutzpah. He makes me laugh and
he’s brilliant at what he does.”
On the coffee table is a list, written
out by his daughters, of things he
could do once his third book was
written. These range from playing a
game with them, to the slightly brutal:
“Have fun and enjoy life.”
When his older children were
growing up he was constantly
travelling. “I just hope that hasn’t
made me too inadequate as a father.
I’m forgiven a lot by my children.”
Barbarossa: How Hitler Lost the War
by Jonathan Dimbleby is out in
paperback on May 12, published by
Penguin Books, £9.99Jonathan Dimbleby
Curriculum vitae
Born July 31, 1944
Educated Farm management at the
Royal Agricultural College, philosophy
at University College London.
Career Started out at BBC Bristol in
1969 then joined The World at One as
a reporter. Reported for six years on
the ITV current affairs programme
This Week. Won the Richard Dimbleby
award for contribution to factual
television for coverage of Ethiopia’s
famine. From 1995 to 2006 he
presented his own political
programme on ITV and
anchored its election
coverage. Hosted BBC
Radio 4’s Any Questions
until 2019.
Family Son of the BBC war
correspondent Richard
Dimbleby and youngerbrother of the presenter David
Dimbleby. Married to Jessica Ray, with
whom he has two children. Has two
other children from his first marriage
to the journalist Bel Mooney.Quick fire
Boris or Keir? Keir. He is genuinely an
“honourable” member
Journalist or historian? Both
Piers Morgan or Donald Trump?
Piers Morgan
The Crown or Anatomy of A
Scandal? Succession, left
Gossipy lunch or spot of
gardening? Gossipy lunch
Royal biography or the
latest Lee Child? Lee Child
— my lockdown discovery
Instagram or Twitter?
Twitter but less and lessPHILIP HARTLEY