For sore eyes
Richard Ingrams
rr he BBC, we learn, is now trying to on
I someone to replace Parky when he finally leaves at the end of the season to join Peter Jay's Breakfast TV. One leading candidate, after his brilliant debut on Fri- day Night, Saturday Morning (BBC2) f1111.5' be the editor of the Spectator, Alexander Chancellor. Chancellor, I feel sure, Was hoping that by 11.55 p.m. last FridaY , would be safely tucked up in bed, but if s° he would have reckoned without my over- riding sense of duty. Apart from anything else it is not every day that my colleague Jeffrey Bernard appears on late-night television and, given his reputation fei`., becoming tired and emotional during the night watches, I felt a burning curiosity to see if he would manage to stay the course; In the event I thought he manage'
remarkably well, though I noticed that after he had done his bit he was not subsequently visible as the camera panned round the line of guests. No doubt he had slipped away to have a bit of a lie down.
It was, however, the Editor who shone. I keep saying how nice it is to see different faces on the screen, but Chancellor was all the more welcome for his disrespectful line 0. f questioning. Not for him the Parky line in soft soap. How did Bernard manage for money, he wanted to know. Did he steal it? And why did he write so endlessly about blrnself — why did he want everyone to know he was 'this disgusting type of per- son'? As for Taki, he was accused of being a Cypriot waiter and a friend of murderers while Harriet Waugh was introduced as someone who doesn't appear to have done very much', Chancellor adding for good measure, `I know that you were once sack- ed by my brother as a secretary.' In the cir- cumstances I felt quite relieved that I hadn't been asked on to give an account of myself. Personal disclaimer: I realise that many People will think that the above comments are made in a spirit of insincerity in an at- tempt to ingratiate myself with the Editor. Nothing could be further from the truth. I don't like doing this job particularly, especially when it forces me to stay up till I a.m. and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be sacked. I made a real effort to enjoy Sir William Walton's violin concerto broadcast , on BBC2 from the Festival Hall on Monday. The occasion was the composer's 80th birthday, in honour of which the BBC has been pulling out all the stops and blasting us with Walton round the clock. Once again, however, ITV has beaten them to the Post with the long and thorough biography Tony Palmer which was put out last Easter on the South Bank Show. All that the BBC could think of was to send Russell 'arty off to the Walton villa in Ischia to do an interview. If one had retreated to a sun- drenched paradise with a lovely wife, to spend one's old age in comfort and seclu- sion, the arrival of Mr Harty to wish one a Happy 80th birthday might come as a nasty shock. Perhaps the BBC thought that as a fellow Northerner Harty was the man to go Out to Ischia, but then everyone keeps say- ing that all his life Walton has been trying to escape from his grim memories of life in Oldham, which Harty may only have helped to revive. In addition to the Harty interview we w. ere given a little potted biography in the Interval of Monday's concert by Gillian Widdicombe the well-known Festival Hall groupie, which went over the same ground as the Palmer film. There followed a per- f bird-like of Belshazzar's Feast with the third-like Andre Previn bopping about on the Podium, which was greeted with tumultuous applause by the Festival Hall Sir William, sitting in the Royal 6'°x next to Princess Alexandra, seemed greatly moved by the whole thing and :,"owledged the applause with tears in his eyes. But my own remained obstinately dry.
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