Young Christopher Hitchens, Peter York, Michael Billington - Did You See (1980)

Another one for you all. Enjoy.
Ludovic Kennedy in discussion over The Merchant of Venice, Everyman on Nicaragua and Toyah Willcox documentary.

[@benlowry9357]

Gosh Hitchens is very nervous at the start! He was probably very new to broadcasting. How endearing that a man who was later so supremely confident could in fact have once been so uncertain

[@opiumcouk]

I'd say he seems more hungover than nervous.

[@hayleyanna2625]

​@@opiumcoukHehe! This could be true.😊

[@hayleyanna2625]

But what an extraordinary orator he became. Still, as nervous as he clearly seems to be, he is still on form and made excellent points. Superb public speaker, wit and writer.😊

[@qwer123211]

Hitchens is badly missed in these trying times. RIP

[@charlesedwards4160]

oh yes, so missed we can hardly speak, lol (not). Good ol' Hitch getting the answers now he always wanted to hear, :) lol...

[@qwer123211]

@@charlesedwards4160 "lol" at your response.

[@charlesedwards4160]

@@qwer123211 You're welcome, anytime. Any excuse to have a good go at the ol' heretic Hitch is never a wasted opportunity, lol :)

[@qwer123211]

@@charlesedwards4160 I suspect he was over your head to begin with.

[@charlesedwards4160]

@@qwer123211 Yes, completely over my head thank god !! :)

[@malcolmfew4162]

When the BBC fulfilled one of it's remits to inform, educate and entertain

[@christopherbrookfield4785]

Ludovic Kenedy really knew how to rock the box. A real broadcasting legend. 🌟

[@rstevens7711]

First of all, we have to say (once again) that Liam is becoming a hero for our times. It was said not so long again that when Mrs Kardashian threatened to reveal her backside on the internet the whole web would explode. Well, we now have our modern equivalent. Once word gets out that Liam is about to upload another Christopher Hitchens clip there is a bat signal shone in the sky and we all do our best to get home to watch it. Well done again, Liam. As for the programme itself... dear young viewers, this is from a time when we were treated like adults. A time when presenters sat in the chairs. At time when speakers were asked sensible questions. A time when we didn't need 1001 CGI gimmicks to show us maps, graphs, charts, holograms or any of the other gimmickswe apparently need to follow a story. There were some terrible things going on in 1980, but christ, at least we weren't treated like children by television makers.

[@legalmonkey]

Hi Stevens. Thank you for the nice comments. And I couldn't agree more with you. The general tone of conversation and analysis was so much more cerebral and well mannered than today. TV discussions were geared at educating you and elevating the discourse. Today, it feels TV studios are focused on entertainment more than anything else. Thanks once again.

[@MrMoeqt]

couldn't agree more with both of you - thank you Liam

[@thecanberean]

Spot on. Nicely said.

[@MattSingh1]

*This was already available here on KZbin, it's not new at all.*

[@fergusdawson]

Hitchens looking fresh and young!

[@univibe23]

OMG this program is so damn good!!! Love the cheesy late 70's early 80's!!!

[@1984isnotamanual]

lol that wasn’t cheesy that was normal life apparently

[@versionary]

Great find. Billington is still going strong and Hitchens much missed. The featherweight York, erm…

[@wiseonwords]

In this programme, I found Hitchens' judgements far more astute and refined than those of Billington the theatre reviewer. York wasn't very impressive, but his comments about the then 22-year-old Toyah Wilcox were pretty accurate. (Interestingly, Toyah Wilcox is a far more attractive performer and compelling personality now, as a 70-year-old).

[@versionary]

@@wiseonwords Hitchens certainly had the best handle on everything. As for Toyah - punk was truly over by 1980, and she just represented the commercial side of new wave. York couldn't even get this right, and he was almost certainly brought on to talk about her.

[@druidus]

5:45 Hitchens says Shylock is very well performed by Garnett! Bleedin' marvellous, innit? 😄

[@ianevans6909]

Yes, I wondered if he was doing it knowingly, but it was not mentioned by anyone else and simply glossed over.

[@druidus]

@@ianevans6909 I can't imagine it was deliberate. I think it was a slip caused by the fact that Warren Mitchell was so closely associated with the role of Alf Garnett.

[@punypixel2795]

Would love to know where you're finding these Hitchens videos, though I realise to answer that may be complicated...

[@DavidTa2]

I could listen to him, for a lifetime.

[@orvarino]

Hitchens can engage in, and will enhance any discussion. As of today it's obvious the not every discussion can survive and deliver without a Hitchens. There are splendid young contrarians in the field of atheism (as Harris), current affairs and politics and even individuals who can challange icons like the Mother Theresa/Clinton's of today. But there is no one with the range, currage and language to It all in the same discussion or book. Hitchens might be our last Omni genius a when we shifted our political needle to individuals like Grevais, Lex Friedman and Elon Musk.

[@iansmith9125]

Fantastic, thanks so much for this

[@davidwilkie9551]

Fills in some memory blanks we were not always permitted to know or understand at that time..

[@21ipanemagirl]

I love it when he smirks into a small smile. he looks charming that way!!!,,,but his hair was always a negative distraction for me Not when he was really young but in later yrs.. it was always messy.

[@JackKlumpass]

The Gamekeeper was surely the inspiration for Ted in Fast Show lol

[@oldtimer7635]

My thought exactly. : )

[@dennisbenn2065]

thanks for the great content on your channel. did you record this stuff yourself on vhs or come across it other places?

[@AnkurBorwankar]

Once again, Liam and my fellow primates, we meet under delightful circumstances. I've said this on Liam's other videos, and I'll say it again here: I cannot thank you enough for sourcing and uploading this. To anyone reading: please do not post this link in public fora anywhere. That will only risk attracting content copyright strikes. If you want to share it, please only do so in private messages with discreet people you personally know and trust.

[@JimMorrisonsboots]

Lets be honest Toyah was never going to turn suburbia inside out

[@ankitkumarvishwakarma8436]

pls add subtitles

[@ttacking_you]

Peter York . Wow. Every passing word daring NAY begging/pleading with you _"pleeeeeease, puuuuuuunnnnch me in the faaaaaaccce, I emplloooooooooore yew"_ I swear to God I've never wanted to inflict damage on a sound wave before.

[@sacredsoma]

strange found him the most honest and unafraid to voice his opinions

[@ttacking_you]

@@sacredsoma it's not the content I have an issue with it it's the delivery

[@ttacking_you]

I swear to God it's as if the contempt in his voice has contempt in its voice

[@sacredsoma]

@@ttacking_you hihiihi well that's hard to argue against , are these tones traceable to specific grammar schools

[@ttacking_you]

@@sacredsoma yeah that was a choice little one-liner I'm proud of that one

[@11Kralle]

Hitchens on punk - spot on!

[@paulyb7267]

Can you upload BBC QUESTION TIME from 25th February 1999?

[@forgottentelevisiondrama2750]

Tx: 20 December 1980.

[@walterpay341]

Hitchens awkward stage?

[@jeffh2166]

Wow, they all got the middle-class yawn fest that was Toyah right!

[@Widmerpool99]

Peter York seems to bask in his own ignorance.

[@mediolanumhibernicus3353]

If peter york is still on the go, he must cringe with embarrassment at this performance, almost a parody of of the eton Tory stereotype. Truly embarrassing.

[@Miroberta1234]

Completely agree

[@h.a.b.arguille1896]

Peter York. Never heard of the guy before watching this clip, and wish it had remained so. What a glib little irritant.

[@JackKlumpass]

But spot on about Toyah

[@owood2288]

It’s all an act! I saw him lecture a month ago and he was extremely cuddly. Spent most of the hour complaining about Rupert Murdock, and other non-doms, and then finished off with an impassioned defence of the BBC. A misunderstood man and an excellent writer to boot.

[@angelenoof206]

The token conservative is more punk than Hitchens sad face emoji

[@ryanthompson7623]

Poor takes. The whole point of the play is that the moral failings of the venetian christians are but a thin pretense for shylock to justify his own reprehensible behavior. It is weapons grade modern day cope to say that the proper interpretation and/or rendering of the play is to see him in a sympathetic light and it legitimizes the misbehavior of a certain ethnosectarian group whereby any discussion of said behavior always concludes by bringing the discussion back to the shortcomings and predjudices of others, so that to dissaprove of what this afforementioned group may do must ipso facto be pathological.

[@Roshandoug]

Billington is well respected as one of our finest theatre critics whilst Hitchens is deeply refreshing in his knowledge of American foreign politics esp its relations with Central America... But who on earth is York??!! And what on earth is he doing here, on a national platform - a guy who doesn't know anything about Nicaragua (and is proud to declare he doesn't care about) and hasn't even read an O'Level English text (again he seems pretty proud of his ignorance)?!?!?

[@blackmichael75]

Just a horrible sort of yuppie fashion guy who wrote the Sloane Ranger handbook and never got over the eighties.

[@BradAce]

Is 31 years old Young? There must be earlier videos of Hitchens, also bravo at finding these amazing time pieces!

[@karae807]

31 is young in comparison to his age in most other videos where he is in his 50s/60s.

[@tw9535]

For a person, yes. For a dog or cat or horse maybe not so much.

[@teviottilehurst]

31 is young. I guess it's more difficult to consider people as young when they reach say 42.