I was in Birmingham yesterday making final arrangements for our forthcoming events at the Conservative party conference.
It was wet and rather miserable.
While I was there I had to do a couple of radio interviews on the subject of smoking being “eradicated” in England by 2030.
One was with Matthew Wright, former presenter of The Wright Stuff on Channel 5.
I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this before but many years ago, when Jonathan Ross left his BBC One chat show following the Russell Brand debacle, I wrote to the BBC suggesting that Wright be given the job.
In hindsight it seems a bizarre and rather futile thing to do (I’ve never done anything like it before or since) but I’d been on The Wright Stuff and had watched the programme several times.
Wright seemed a genuinely decent guy who listened to and had empathy for his guests but wasn’t afraid to challenge them. He also struck me as pretty fair in the way he addressed topical issues.
He was also very entertaining with a good sense of humour.
I don't know if he was even considered as a replacement for Ross because Graham Norton was promoted from Monday to the Friday night slot (you can't argue with that) and Wright stayed where he was.
In June, after 18 years, he finally left Channel 5 and I was interested to see what he would do next.
The answer was TalkRADIO and yesterday I found myself speaking to him on my mobile phone while standing in a quiet but rather damp corner of Brindleyplace, close to the International Conference Centre.
As ever he was challenging but conversational in a way that very few presenters can master. (If I was controller of Radio 2 I’d have snapped him up as Chris Evans’ replacement but I suspect he’ll be much happier in a less restrictive environment.)
However, the reason for this post is that, having concluded the interview by asking me, “How do you sleep at night?”, one of my favourite presenters paid me a small compliment that, literally, left me speechless.
You can listen to it here.
PS. He later tweeted:
Good job well done sir!
— Matthew Wright (@Matthew_Wright) September 20, 2018
Update: TalkRADIO has since tweeted:
Some 120,000 people every year die from smoking-related diseases. How does pro-smoking campaigner Simon Clark sleep at night?@Matthew_Wright | @TVKev | @SimonClark_ | https://t.co/sv3MZU4sCC pic.twitter.com/DW1ZgEgDug
— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) September 21, 2018
Update: I may have been a bit hasty with my praise (see Matthew's additional tweet below)! To be fair, he kept his views in check during the interview which wasn't aggressive. He simply played devil's advocate, which I would expect any good broadcaster to do, and I had ample time to respond. Can't ask for more than that.
I wasted 30 years of my life with this nonsense and may yet pay an even higher price: damn you for conning peeps into thinking slavish drug addiction equates to pleasure.
— Matthew Wright (@Matthew_Wright) September 21, 2018