A Beatle at Donington
One interview that stands out was a chance I got to interview George Harrison. It was in 1978 and I was a massive fan of The Beatle . I was sent by the Sports Editor of Radio Hallam to cover the Gunnar Nielsen Memorial Trophy meeting at Donington Park. I was there for the practice sessions the day before the race. Jackie Stewart was racing and I got to interview him. I used the approach I’ve used over the years when interviewing people from sports I’m less familiar with, to be honest and explain my lack of knowledge and to ask if they can help me out. I played that card with Jackie Stewart and he was tremendous and rattled off some great content. I remember doing similar with the golfer Lee Trevino a few years later and boy could he talk, fourteen minutes for just one answer!
Anyway I arrived in the pits and someone pointed out that George Harrison was at the circuit. I asked one of the event organisers if there was any chance of speaking with George and they said they would see what they could do. Within minutes they returned with the great man himself. I really couldn’t believe it. He was a big motorsport fan and had actually been out on the circuit that day driving Stirling Moss’s old Lotus. We talked motorsport and music as he also had a new album out which had a track on it called Faster, which was dedicated to his love of motorsport. We played the track along with the interview when it went out.
I still have the audio of that interview. I’ve had it transferred over the years from the old reel to reel, onto cassette, then onto CD and now I’ve a digital copy. It was a very special moment.
Alan Biggs @AlanBiggs
Memory added on April 21, 2014
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