Jonathan Dimbleby, veteran broadcaster, on unravelling historical myths, democracy's fragility, and long-form interviewing

Jonathan Dimbleby is a veteran British broadcaster known for his long-form interviews on BBC and ITV, and as host of Radio 4’s Any Questions.In this episode, we discuss his latest book on World War II, the use of a journalistic background in writing history, challenging historical myths, the ‘special relationship’ between the US and Britain, the rise of populism and parallels between current political trends and historical threats to democracy, the critical role of public service broadcasting, the decline of the long-form interview, and why, after an organiser of a meeting of Jews associated with Belsen extended an invitation to Jonathan to speak, “we ended up mutually agreeing that I wouldn't speak at this occasion.”Listen to all our episodes here: https://podfollow.com/beebwatch To support our journalism and receive a weekly blog sign up now for £1.99 per month (NB we only charge for one creation per month): www.patreon.com/BeebWatch/membership Or if you'd rather make a one-off payment (which doesn’t entitle you to the blog) please use our crowdfunding page: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/roger-boltons-beeb-watch-podcast @beebwatch.bsky.socialX @BeebRogerInstagram: rogerboltonsbeebwatchLinkedIn: Roger Bolton's Beeb Watchemail: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.