Sandy Gall, RIP
Sorry to hear that Sandy Gall has died. The former journalist and ITN newsreader had a remarkable career that went slightly under the radar but he was up there with the very best.
Born in 1927, Gall went to Glenalmond, a private school near Perth, then Aberdeen, Bonn and Mainz universities. Speaking fluent French and German, he worked for Reuters for ten years before joining ITN in 1963, subsequently covering wars in Vietnam and the Middle East. He also worked extensively in Europe and Africa.
He was also the first prominent person I ever interviewed. The year was 1979. Mrs Thatcher had just been elected prime minister and Gall was rector of Aberdeen University, having been elected to the honorary post the previous year.
I was in my final year at Aberdeen and I was co-editor of Campus, an independent student newspaper that was launched as a rival to Gaudie, the official student paper.
Campus was inspired by Private Eye (my journalistic heroes at the time being Auberon Waugh and Nigel Dempster, the Daily Mail’s infamous gossip columnist), so it was perhaps surprising that Gall gave us an interview at all, but he was patient, charming and gracious, despite being asked what in hindsight were some rather gauche and impertinent questions.
I was in two minds therefore whether to post the interview here because it’s not my finest hour, but I can’t rewrite history so here it is. (A year later I was one of 50 students interviewed for a place on the BBC news trainee scheme. I can’t remember if I submitted this as part of my application, but I suspect not. Either way, I didn’t get a place!)
I interviewed Gall during Freshers’ Week in October 1979, so began by asking:
What do you remember of your own Freshers’ Week?
Gall: To be honest, I can’t remember much at all. It seems very vague now. It certainly wasn’t so efficiently organised, and there weren’t so many societies.
What were your interests at university? Were you always interested in journalism?
Gall: Funnily enough, I only became interested in my last year. I was never particularly interested in Gaudie. I played a bit of rugby, and I was a member of the athletics team – pole vault, then discus. I enjoyed being a member of the Lairig [climbing] Club, and I went to the [Aberdeen University] Debater sometimes.
So how did you get into journalism?
Gall: Well, I worked for six months at the [Aberdeen] Press & Journal as a sub-editor, and I did a couple of summer courses at Bonn and Mainz which helped get me a job with Reuters working in Berlin, Bonn and Frankfurt. A lot of my work in Berlin was reporting the East German Parliament, and I attended a meeting of the Four Powers. I didn’t really have a special interest in politics, though, because the work was pretty varied.
Were you disappointed at the apathy surrounding your election [as rector]? A 38% turnout wasn’t very good.
Gall: I don’t think it was any worse than previous elections.
Iain Cuthbertson [his predecessor] got 50% when he was elected.
Gall: I think it was much more strongly contested, though. There were more contestants.
Yes, there wasn’t much opposition, was there? How did it differ in your day?
Gall: In my mind it was a very splendid occasion. The Mitchell Hall used to be packed full for the Installation Ceremony and you could hardly hear the rectorial address because of all the football rattles. It was a marvellous atmosphere. I must say, I think it was a bad idea giving everyone the day off and then holding the ceremony on a Friday because students made it into a long weekend and went away. In fact, I’ll suggest having it on a different day next time. A rector can exercise a lot of influence but he can only survive if the students feel it is important. It’s a big commitment but it’s worth doing and I would never regret it.
[Note: The current rector, folk singer Iona Fyfe, was elected last year with just 250 votes. There are currently more than 15,000 students at the university so you do the maths.]
Your rectorial address was about the freedom of the press. You said Britain and America have the most free press in the world. What do you say to those, especially the unions, who complain that the British press is controlled by a few publishing tycoons?
Gall: Well, someone has to own the newspapers and it certainly musn't be the state. Private enterprise is far preferable. Every paper has to have an editorial policy. If the unions published their own paper they'd still have to choose an editor who has some sort of policy. Television, of course, has to remain impartial.
How far do you think do you think a paper should be allowed to delve into someone’s private life?
Gall: If the person concerned is a public figure then his private life must be open, especially if it is relevant to the public, like Profumo or the Duke of Windsor.
Do you respect Nigel Dempster as a journalist?
Gall: No. He gets a lot of his facts wrong. For instance, he wrote about ITN’s Deathwatch team on the Queen in Africa, ‘They’re all out there in Lusaka, Alastair Burnet in his safari suit’. Alastair Burnet had never left London. He doesn’t check his facts. A lot of gossip is inaccurate and malicious.
When he was addressing the first year students [Aberdeen student union leader] Bob Mclean was trying to get everyone to fight government cuts in education. Do you think education should be a special case?
Gall: Of course I'd like to see students getting as much as they can but the country's economic state is bad and departments have to cut back. A special case could be made for lots of departments. You can't make a special case for students, except perhaps the fate of the country relies on the quality of the graduates.
Do you still think a degree is a worthwhile achievement or do you take the view that degrees have been cheapened by the vast numbers of students now at college?
Gall: No, I don't take that view. You still stand a better chance of getting a job with a degree. For instance, ITN only takes a few trainees each year but they're all graduates so it certainly helps to climb the ladder of the media. Anyway, university isn't just about getting a degree, it offers a very broad education.
Why did you sign the petition supporting the National Union of Students’ claim for a 24 per cent rise in [student] grants? Did you know that in Aberdeen the student union had to offer prizes to the person who collected the most signatures?
Gall: Really? Well, it seemed a worthy cause. I was trying to be representative.
Who do you take your advice from - the student union or the ordinary student?
Gall: I take advice from everybody, although a rector has an independent role and must do what he thinks best for students as a whole.
What are you doing at the moment, as you’re not on TV? [ITN was off air at the time owing to a union dispute.]
Gall: Yes, it’s not looking good at the moment. I’m trying to get a visa for Cambodia and Vietnam so I spend a lot of time on the end of a telephone. Of course, I can’t travel without a camera crew so we might ask the unions for special dispensation. It would be a major scoop to get in because very few people have been there.
Do governments put you under pressure?
Gall: Oh yes, but one has to live with that. They all try to pressurise you, but a journalist must stay out of politics. One is trained to give objective and varied views. A journalist must view the situation as objectively as possible. It’s difficult sometimes, but it can be done.
Are you writing another book?
Gall: Yes, I’ve written a book and it’s with the publishers. It’s based on the Far East and Vietnam but the storyline isn’t from personal experience. I don’t think it’s quite right, actually, so I may have to look at it again. They say the second book is the most important, and then the third, and the fourth. After all, you buy Graham Greene because it’s Graham Greene
Below: Sandy Gall holds his most distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George after being presented with it by Queen Elizabeth II during the investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace in 2011.
Alamy Stock Photo, photographer: John Stillwell
