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The interview with Diana wasn’t the only one Martin Bashir sneaked his way into. Former Panorama stalwart Tom Mangold tells a great story about the first time he met Bashir in his memoir, Splashed.
Mangold remembers a then-unknown Bashir approaching him meekly in the pub one night, apologising for interrupting his drinking but that he wanted to introduce himself as his brother had died recently and his dying wish had been for Martin to join Panorama. Bashir’s brother had continued, “If you can, I want you to try to emulate everything that Tom Mangold has done. Learn from him, copy him and, like Mangold, you will become a great reporter.”
After saying his piece, Bashir respectfully went to leave but Mangold, touched, asked him to stay for a drink – whereupon he introduced him to a load of his colleagues and made a mental note to do whatever he could to help grant the dying wish of this enterprising young cub’s late brother.
Not long after Bashir left the BBC, Mangold was interviewed by an ITV reporter, Michael Nicholson. The two got talking about Bashir when Nicholson remembered a story about the time they’d first met. Bashir had meekly approached Nicholson in the pub, apologising for interrupting his drinking but wanted to introduce himself as his brother had died recently and…
Apparently he span the same yarn with John Humphrys too. |
