Sir Trevor McDonald – the former news anchor and current presenter of Britain’s Favourite View on ITV1 – talks about being ITN’s first black reporter and insists he will never retire.
Sir Trevor McDon-ald is often referred to as a British institution. Generations grew up with the Trinidad-born presenter reporting the day’s news to them with that instantly recognisable voice of his.
All that came to an end in 2005 when Sir Trevor stepped down as anchor of ITN’s nightly news programme, but the father-of-three has certainly kept busy ever since.
His latest project is something he is passionate about. Britain’s Greatest View sees well-known personalities rev-ealing their favourite landscape the United Kingdom has to offer, championing it in the hope the public will vote it the country’s best view.
The series sees, among others, opera singer Katherine Jenkins exploring the Gower Peninsula, politician Charles Kennedy waxing lyrical about the Isle of Skye, footballer Jamie Redknapp talking enthusiastically about Pier Head in Liverpool, Des Lynam highlighting the wonders of his home patch in the South Downs, and actress Meera Syal sharing her favourite view from Waterloo Bridge in London.
However, none of those make it on to the list of Sir Trevor’s favourite places to visit.
“I love the Lake District, I just think it’s absolutely stunning,” the 67-year-old says. “What I like is the serenity and the emptiness. I don’t like views, forgetting cities for a bit, where you have thousands of people traipsing around.
“For me beauty is the silence and the wonder of it all, and I could occasionally take it without people,” he says with a smile, before quickly adding, “That doesn’t mean I’m anti-people, it means I prefer the views to speak for themselves.”
It’s not just Cumbria that gets the knight’s seal of approval though.
“I’m drawn very much to the views that have the literary connection. I always liked that area around Tintern Abbey because I’m a great Words-worth fan. Those scenes he said appealed to him in a mind’s eye.
“I have a lot of sympathy with that sort of reaction to natural views. I suppose in a curious way it’s something to do with learning Wordsworth as a child when I never lived in this country, and then suddenly discovering the relevance of the landscape to the words.”
Sir Trevor grew up in the West Indies and began his British broadcasting career working for the BBC World Service. In 1973 (“sometime in the last century”, Sir Trevor quips) he moved over to be a reporter on ITN and became the service’s first black journalist. It was a monumental moment in television, although Sir Trevor is modest about the impact it had.
“People ascribe to you later all sorts of things which you hadn’t thought of,” he smiles. “You set out to get a job to pay the bills! That’s what life is. Then you do this thing and people notice it.
“Much later down the line I did notice from comments people had made. I used to get letters saying things like, ‘I never thought my son had a chance to get into television until I saw you’. So in that sense you do become what is described as a trailblazer, but it’s not in the job description!”
His career as a news and diplomatic correspondent certainly sent him to some pretty dangerous places.
“I went to Northern Ireland and Beirut and they all had their moments,” he says. “You survive by luck and judgment and the good grace of your fellow professionals around you who help you.”
However, some of his favourite moments were when he was out in America covering presidential elections.
“I learnt so much about the country, and it’s a country I feel you can never ignore,” he explains. “It’s too powerful, too big, too beautiful, too rich and too influential to ignore.
“But the thing I always remember is when I interviewed Nelson Mandela when he was released from prison, and covering the South African elections some months later.
“He was so wonderfully and conspicuously unbitter about his life. He had such a clear view about what he needed to do if South Africa were to join that international community of democratic nations. When you’ve been imprisoned for 27 years you’d think you’d become ever so slightly warped, but I’ve never met anybody quite like him, so statesmanlike. I have a picture of it at home and I always look at it and wonder, ‘Did I really meet this great man?'”
This year, Sir Trevor has taken a huge step away from his previous career path. In 2006, he guest-presented the BBC’s topical news quiz Have I Got News For You. With his serious, authoritative manner, the result was hilarious – panellist Paul Merton found it difficult to contain himself. That led to him being asked to present News Knight on ITV1, a satirical look at the week’s current affairs.
“I’ve always loved humour, it’s always been part of my life,” Sir Trevor admits. “I’m one of those boring people who can relate almost by heart editions of Hancock’s Half Hour – ‘The Blood Donor’ I know almost word for word. I’m also one of those sad people that watches repeats of Only Fools And Horses.
“If you can’t laugh you’re in dead trouble today, and I think humour is an essential ingredient to any good life. So bearing that in mind, this satire thing came up and it’s nice to do a variety. People love to put you in a little box, close it and lock it, but it’s nice to be able to do a variety of things.”
That variety also includes presenting This Is Your Life, which returned earlier this year to surprise Simon Cowell while he was filming American Idol. However, the show will only air three or four times a year, Sir Trevor explains.
“We felt the weekly programmes didn’t work because they got devalued and diminished, but the idea remains a great idea, which is to find somebody who has done something quite extraordinary and tell people how wonderful they are.
“It’s a feel good thing,” he adds. “People can wallow in this enjoyment and forget the war in Iraq and the troubles in Afghanistan and Darfur, which is rather nice.”
Sir Trevor has himself been a victim of the red book. “It’s very nice hearing people tell all these lies about how wonderful you are. I could do that again,” he laughs.
So it’s a busy year for Britain’s most famous newscaster, and don’t expect him to slow down any time soon.
“I don’t see what’s so great about retirement,” he says matter-of-factly. “What’s great about stopping? To do what? I can find time to play tennis, I can find time to watch cricket, I find time to have lunch and great drinks with friends. I prefer to keep at it.”
Britain’s Favourite View is on Sundays on ITV1. Britain’s Favourite View, foreword by Sir Trevor McDonald, is published by Cassell Illustrated and is available now.
© Press Association
