Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
Sad news. He was a brilliantly witty and clever man. My regards to his loved ones.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,834
46,282
In a coffee shop.
Yes, he was an iconic figure in broadcasting; I, too, remember watching the Nixon interview - at the time, it was an eye-opening piece of television. In those days, characters such as Nixon simply didn't give interviews - they preferred to cultivate a sort of remote - seemingly elevated - detachment from such mundane things.
 

Shrink

macrumors G3
Feb 26, 2011
8,929
1,727
New England, USA
I, too, saw the Nixon interviews, and they were interesting, if not totally surprising.

Those interviews certainly made his career, and his death is sad.
 

Happybunny

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 9, 2010
1,792
1,389
I really don't understand the accolades he got. Sure, he got him to own up to Watergate, big deal, but he completely failed when it came to all the other much more serious crimes / offenses the Nixon administration committed.

Just like the Beatles changed pop music for ever, David Frost changed the TV interview style, up until that time the interviewer was very soft, no really hard questions.

But I guess you would have had to have seen it happen in real time, to get the full impact of that interview.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,834
46,282
In a coffee shop.
Just like the Beatles changed pop music for ever, David Frost changed the TV interview style, up until that time the interviewer was very soft, no really hard questions.

But I guess you would have had to have seen it happen in real time, to get the full impact of that interview.

Agreed.

But there was more to it than this: Until then, the elite of the country rarely appeared on TV, and never had to justify themselves to an audience of the public (outside of elections); instead, their spokesmen spoke for them, and news media concentrated on their comings and goings and doings rather than having the right to ask questions of them.

Indeed, it was considered quite normal for Presidents and Prime Ministers to be treated with deference and respect (and viewed from a deferential distance) and the idea that they should have to account for themselves and their actions - in public - in front of a television audience questioned by a mere journalist (albeit a well-informed one) was astounding and ground-breaking.
 

Happybunny

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 9, 2010
1,792
1,389
Agreed.

But there was more to it than this: Until then, the elite of the country rarely appeared on TV, and never had to justify themselves to an audience of the public (outside of elections); instead, their spokesmen spoke for them, and news media concentrated on their comings and goings and doings rather than having the right to ask questions of them.

Indeed, it was considered quite normal for Presidents and Prime Ministers to be treated with deference and respect (and viewed from a deferential distance) and the idea that they should have to account for themselves and their actions - in public - in front of a television audience questioned by a mere journalist (albeit a well-informed one) was astounding and ground-breaking.

Thank you very much for formulating the words and the ideas that I was trying to get across with my limited English. You are absolutely spot on, the shock waves that this interview created, is hard to get across to people today.
 

SactoGuy18

macrumors 601
Sep 11, 2006
4,311
1,475
Sacramento, CA USA
For many Americans, the Nixon interview was our our first vivid memory of Sir David Frost. But for many people in the UK old enough to remember, Frost was host of This Was the Week That Was, a show that started the careers of several members of the ground-breaking Monty Python's Flying Circus.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.