Mcdonald: Pills calmed me in big interviews

SIR TREVOR MCDONALD has said he took pills to calm himself down before high-profile interviews.

The 84-year-old broadcaster made the admission as he revealed he had “sleepless nights” before interviewing the likes of Nelson Mandela and Saddam Hussein.

He said that while the best way to ease his nerves was simply to “prepare assiduously”, there were times where he had to resort to taking tablets.

In an appearance on Desperately Seeking Wisdom, a podcast, the TV host said: “It was fascinating, and terrifying in a way, because the greater the person or the bigger the person in political circles, the better you felt you had to do.

“The only way I knew how to do that was to prepare assiduously. I would have sleepless nights before interviewing Mandela or Hussein: I mean, literally, and I would be on edge.

“If I may confess, at one stage I even got the chemist to give me pills to calm me down.”

Sir Trevor interviewed Hussein for ITN in 1990 – making him the only British reporter to do so – and said the experience was “frightening”.

He said: “The Iraqis are some of the nicest people I know [but] once you mentioned the words Saddam Hussein – the conversation stopped. “Just the mention of his name seemed to cow people. You couldn’t be unaware, however he was dressed and looked, of what this man represented and what he did.

“I was aware of all of that and it contributed to how frightened I was. “Because of that, I did something which I think I should never do again, and I said to him: ‘Mr President… is it a very Arab thing to do to invade a neighbouring nation and rape its people?’

“He was rather taken aback by it.” The Trinidad-born broadcaster, inset, retired from presenting News at Ten in 2008 but has since presented documentaries for ITV.