Following the obituary of Cliff Michelmore, John Humphrys of BBC Radio’s Today programme wrote an appreciation of the pioneering TV broadcaster. It mentioned that Michelmore refused to chair a debate with a studio audience, dismissing it as “a third-rate Palladium show”.
In the mid-1970s at Southern Television we decided to present a local TV equivalent of BBC Radio 4’s long-running Any Questions (some time before BBC Television got round to launching Question Time), but with the added factor of bringing in reactions as well as questions from the audience. With some temerity we approached Cliff to chair it. He not only accepted, but enthusiastically grasped the challenge of the audience participation. His professionalism and skill made my job as executive producer an enjoyable experience.
