READY TO BLAZER COLOURFUL TRAIL ACROSS ASIA As former politician Michael Portillo sets off on another railway adventure, he tells why he’s more than happy to be on this side of the tracks
GEMMA DUNN
MICHAEL PORTILLO is partial to a bold blazer or two.
Those who have seen the politician-turned-broadcaster in action on Great British Railway Journeys will have seen his clashing combos become a series staple – a “standing joke” that has grown with the show.
And the more flamboyant the better, he has said previously: “For it has a couple of advantages as far as TV is concerned: one is you’re bright and joyful at the beginning of a show; and the other is that in a long shot I’ll be the only person dressed in a shiny pink jacket on the bridge, so you can see where I am!”
“It’s funny that you should mention this... I spent part of this morning with my tailor planning new jackets for next year!”
Michael, 66, chuckles.
“Normally I get two or three new ones a year, so there’s not a total turnover – viewers will be able to see old favourites from several years ago no doubt – but the stock is refreshed!”
It’s been 15 years since he left politics behind. Since then, the former minister has transformed himself from a once stressed (his own words) politician to that of a popular presenter, fronting everything from Hidden History Of Britain to documentaries and beyond.
“I don’t look back (at my political career) with any sense of nostalgia,” he insists. “I’ve been lucky because there are vast numbers of former politicians – mountain loads – who I expect would each like to spend his or her second career in television, but not many of us have got to do it!
“So I’ve enjoyed both halves of my career very much indeed.”
The latter half has seen him travel the globe, with Great British Railway Journeys – now on its 11th season – extending its travel documentary format to other territories including America, India, Australia and Canada.
Now Michael is set to embark on another adventure in Great Asian Railway Journeys, taking in the likes of Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia,
Malaysia and Singapore over a 20-episode run that will see him explore everywhere from towering megacities to magnificent mosques.
“I was looking forward to going to Vietnam because being of my generation that remembers the Vietnam
War, it still seems extraordinary that you can go to Vietnam as a tourist,” he muses. “And that when you get there, the Vietnamese people are so generous after a war that was so destructive.”
Beginning in Hong Kong, Michael will investigate how
Britain won the island and Kowloon from China after two shocking drug wars; plus straddle a bamboo pole to learn the traditional Cantonese art of noodle making. Really.
“It was amazing to find a little flat covered in flour dust, where these noodles are being made!” he says. “But even more extraordinary to discover this in Hong Kong, because most people’s impression is that it’s thoroughly modern and maybe even clinical. But Hong Kong was full of surprises!”
“A lot of people, just because of the title, think the programmes are about trains – they’re not!” Michael is keen to point out. “They’re about history and they’re about culture: the train is our vehicle.
“So I say, ‘No, it’s not about being on trains, it’s about getting off trains’.”