Veteran BBC and ITN News journalist, Richard Lindley, made a memorable visit to the History and Politics Society on 18 November to talk about his experience as a war reporter. Standing benignly against the screen images of war, it seemed hard to believe that the young Richard, like all war reporters, had been so close to the violence. And today, though we’re more immune to images of wars, as he pointed out, when you zoom in on a blood-stained identity card, it’s very real.

It’s a dangerous job. He described how unnerving it was to land in Biafra in an old Lancaster bomber on a road lit by hurricane lamps, and to see by daylight the following morning the crashed planes that hadn’t made it. He went to lots of wars for BBC’s ‘Panorama’. We saw film-footage of his war reports from Biafra and Vietnam, hedge-hopping on helicopters, an extraordinary way to get about. We heard how the process of war journalism has changed. Asked if he thought that reporting the war in Vietnam helped to bring about the American defeat, he concluded that it was a good thing that people knew what was going on, particularly since the official line was so far wrong that press briefings became known as the 5 o’clock Follies. Amelia wanted to know how you report a war from one side fairly. ‘You can’t,’ he said simply, ‘You have to report what you see.’

Richard’s words made a significant impact on the packed audience. Despite the horror of war, all journalists want to be war reporters, because they can guarantee front page stories.  As Richard said, ‘If it bleeds, it leads.’ Another gem Richard shared with us was what Vietnam and Bing Crosby had in common. None of us knew, but the secret signal for all American troops to get out of the country in April 1975 was if they heard Bing Crosby singing ‘I’m dreaming of a white Christmas’ on the radio. Thanks to Head of History and Politics, Mrs Corrine Barton, for arranging the visit.