‘My hat captured viewers more than my interviews’

Book tells of journalist’s print and TV career

The career climb of a print journalist to the heights of national television is described in detail in a new book, It’s Only Television.

Mike Field, 81, who was born in Ash near Sandwich, is now living in retirement in Wye.

His story, written from the heart, tells how his father’s suicide, when Mike was four years old, cast a shadow over his life as he changed course from print journalism to national radio and television.

Educated at Sir Roger Manwood’s school in Sandwich, Mike started his career as a junior reporter working in Deal, earning £2.50 a week and then Dover before promotion took him to Folkestone.

Mike recalls the days when Dover was never far from the headlines, writing of the arrival of Hungarian refugees to the port.

He also tells of his introduction as a freelance “stringer” to television through Southern Television when they opened a studio in Russell Street, Dover.

As a result of the new studio they were the days when there was a steady flow of national characters to Dover to be interviewed on TV.

Mike proved a success on screen. As he progressed he was head-hunted by BBC and later by commercial radio with his career including sports coverage.

The list of sportsmen (Muhammad Ali, etc) and non-sportsmen (Archbishop Donald Coggan, etc) that Mike interviewed over the years is amazing.

Equally is the list of young journalist trainees he helped on their careers and are now nationally known.

But Mike recalls what a former chairman of the BBC told him: “Mike, whatever you do, old boy, don’t take it (your TV career) seriously.”

He accepts that and bears in mind, despite the important interviews he’s conducted, most viewers only remember him when his hat blew off during a live interview on Southend pier and floated away in the sea.

“It was my hat that captured the viewers interest, not my interviews,” says Mike.

Like all 18 year olds in the 1950s, junior reporter Mike was called up as a conscript and, because of his journalist’s shorthand skills, was sent to Sharjah as secretary to the Commanding Officer of the Trucial Oman Scouts.

■ Copies of It’s Only Television, costing £12.50, are available by contacting Mike on 01233 812423.

Photo courtesy Dover Museum The Southern Television studios in Russell Street, Dover

Mike Field in his early days