3April
Falklands Night on BBC Parliament, then. The highlight came at two seconds to 9 o'clock, but you had to be watching it. Three hours earlier, we'd begun a 155-minute sequence of news actualité from 1982.
- The opening 12 minutes of the Early Evening News, 2/4/1982. Featuring a very young Nicholas Witchell, and someone not named on screen. We had to consult the TDA to find it was Michael Sullivan. Who I don't remember at all.
- The full 30 minutes of an unscheduled Newsnight, 3/4/1982, Peter Snow and Donald McCormick discussing the Saturday debate in the Commons, covering the task force's defence against Exocets, and Snowy getting his model navy set out.
- A short report from a man with a full beard on the resignation of Peter Carrington as Foreign Secretary; and Nick Witchell sees the task force sail from Portsmouth, 5/4/1982.
- The opening 17 minutes from Question Muck, with the Labour chairwoman Judith Hart, the SDP's parliamentary leader Doctordavid Owen, the first British minister ever to visit the Falklands Alun Chalfont ... and the transport minister David Howell. We leave the show just after Mrs. Hart's outburst. Note the flamenco guitar version of the theme tune - it's the same tune they use to-day, albeit in a different version. From 8/4/1982.
- A brief clip from the newsroom on the recapture of South Georgia, the source of Mrs. Thatcher's Just rejoice at that news! soundbite. 25/4/1982.
- Another unscheduled Newsnight sees Peter Snow introduces Brian Hanrahan describing the bombing of Port Stanley airfield, Saturday 1/5/1982. Cue the single most famous catchphrase of the war: I counted them out, and I counted them all back in again. - Hanrahan
- Two nights later, Donald McCormick introduces a scheduled Newsnight with news of the sinking of the General Belgrano cruiser. Bank holiday Monday 3/5/1982. Catchphrase: We just don't know yet - Snow.
- The next day, HMS Sheffield was sunk. Newsnight (again) has news. It's the night's only sight of Ian MacDonald, the Ministry of War's perfectly-enunciated spokesman.
- Forward to 7/5/1982, and Newsnight's Peter Snow delivers a rant about Argentine misinformation. If we believe the British - and I've already pointed out that we have good reason to - said the red-tied reporter. The Tories were panicking and criticised Snowy. On 11/5/1982, Newsnight (Linda Alexander, whoever she was) carried reference to the previous night's Panorama, in which Michael Cockerill had canvassed criticism from MPs, then studio presenter Robert Kee put their points to Conservative party chairman Cecil Parkinson. It is a clear shame that we didn't get to see this programme, as it caused a stink in the Commons, and the five-day wonder was lanced when Mr. Kee disowned his programme and subsequently resigned.
- There's a short clip of Newsnight from 22/5/1982, describing the British landing in Falkland Sound. Then a ten-minute section from Newsnight on 29/5/1982 with Snowy, his models, and artist's impressions, describing the battle for Goose Green. It's worth remembering that this (scheduled) edition was primarily discussing the Pope's visit to the UK.
- Then came victory - extracts from the 14/6/1982 evening news, including a telephone report from Brian Hanrahan. Then to the following day's news, where British prime minister Mrs. Margaret Thatcher accepts the thanks of the crowd.
- The future was under discussion on Question Muck the following Thursday, 17/6/1982, featuring Patricia Mann, businesswoman; David Steel, Liberal leader; Tony Benn, Labour; Michael Heseltine, secretary of state for the Environment, Merseyside, and Jungles. (The QM PasB notes don't include the Falklands.)
Other matters arising: Simon Jenkins wrote on 10/5/82: Newsnight
's use of the phrase 'British claims' has been much misquoted and has been more often than not used to set British accuracy against Argentine fabrication. This was confirmed by the clips shown.
Mrs. Thatcher protested the previous week that radio and television (ie the BBC) were treating Britain and Argentina as equals. Mrs. Mary Whitewash said that Panorama was arrogant and disloyal... To spread alarm and despondency was a treasonable offence. Winston Churchill called for the head of George Howard, the chairman of the BBC. Michael Cockerill, who authored the piece on Panorama, said, It seems that what Mrs. Oppenheim was really objecting to was the views of four MPs, two from her own party, which are different from her own.
More recently, Richard Gott recalls his trip to the Falklands, back when the Wilson government was considering engaging the Argentines in discussions about sovereignty. He follows up the point made by Mr. Benn on 1982's Question Muck
about the different treatment of the Chagos islanders. The Indytab has reporters giving their memories of the trip.
More: psychological war - the radio stations and leaflets. We recall Radio Netherlands' Media Network
programme putting together a 25-minute documentary on this topic in 1992; regrettably but rather predictably, the show is not available online.
