I was polite to the ex-Vogue boss

IT was one of his most controversial interviews of the year, with his ‘mansplaining’ of women’s fashion provoking a backlash.

But John Humphrys stands by his ‘aggressive’ interview with former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman in August.

He was criticised for grilling his Today programme guest about there being no ‘reasonably cosy, comfortably shaped women’ on the cover of the magazine. He also suggested the focus on ‘skinny’ models promotes anorexia in young girls. Yet Humphrys, 74, has defended his approach, telling Radio Times that magazines such as Vogue push the idea that ‘in order to look nice you’ve got to be stick-thin’.

He said: ‘I’ve always thought it an absurd proposition and damaging to an awful lot of young girls who are susceptible to that sort of pressure. So I was, according to some people, too aggressive with her. I thought I was actually rather polite…’