Young Christopher Hitchens with Ludovic Kennedy (1981) - British Intelligence & James Baldwin

Christopher Hitchens with Ludovic Kennedy. Late night chat show.
Enjoy.

[@user-di8hm2jl2u]

Hitchens was adorable with his baby face, but his sharp cheeky wit never faded with age. Rest easy Hitch.

[@filmsforsmartpeople3587]

Great to see baby-face Hitch, I miss him so much.

[@JohnnyCameo]

Kate Adie interviewing the Earl Spencer “I’m afraid I was very, very drunk”

[@boobob8955]

🤣😂

[@matthewdarcy6859]

I wondered about that, was that slurred speech not due to his stroke a few years before?

[@VladVexlerChat]

@@matthewdarcy6859 must be the stroke

[@tinkeringinthailand8147]

Why not, on such a happy day for him :)

[@shilricvinvela8416]

Clicked on this for the young Hitchens, but the whole thing is a blast.

[@edm2189]

Never thought I’d hear Hitch’s take on Grange Hill!

[@manusha1349]

Omg my Darling Hitch! 😍❤ so YOUNG and beautiful yet so SMART! Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting!

[@pasosdegigante7]

I love how feisty he is. despite the respectful format, he's always setting small traps to engage the other, and he's highly provocative, but his best quality probably was how damn interesting was everything he said

[@sadiqakhan277]

Saw this video just to see such a young Christopher Hitchens .. Looks soo cute and innocent .

[@wiseonwords]

I wouldn't say he looks innocent! LOL!

[@sadiqakhan277]

@@wiseonwords 😄

[@11Kralle]

Harry Enfield must have studied the Earl of Spencer diligently!!!

[@rogerhoke9725]

40, 45 years

[@gazriley624]

was he drunk

[@JackKlumpass]

You mean Paul Whitehouse

[@annabizaro-doo-dah]

@@gazriley624 Yes he was! He admitted it😂

[@nickwyatt9498]

@Roger Hoke: Sheridan - one always finds time for one's National Health work.

[@stormbringer_7774]

Hitchens even young, sounds as wise as old oak!😂🙌🇬🇧

[@Davotheledge]

I'd like to think he was a little wiser than an oak lol

[@johnjosmith42]

Wow. Loved this. Thanks again 👏

[@elizabethanderson2968]

This must be the earliest Hitch clip I've come across ... great work!

[@johnpatrick4185]

Yes, my thoughts exactly.

[@AnkurBorwankar]

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.

[@legalmonkey]

You're very welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@BomChickyBowWow]

That opening bit of the Earl speaking to the journalist was one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. That is THE most English man I’ve ever seen or heard in both voice and demeanor.

[@Guedingen]

The old boy was plastered.

[@jeffstranks1055]

Inbreeding much?

[@Tinker1950]

You're missing the reality - he was pissed as a fart.

[@pauldodds962]

I think he had lunched rather well.

[@michaelcorkery3853]

@@Guedingen He'd had a stroke some years before.

[@jeffteahan2326]

Thanks for uploading this. Please keep them coming!

[@afriedli]

Seems like a promising young man 🙂

[@CasparLanger]

Extraordinary find!

[@kynismos]

Earl of Spencer, Upper Class Twit of the Year.

[@bikelawman]

Was Earl Spencer wandering about outside the palace, absolutely leathered, or is it just me?!

[@dlmsarge8329]

He was drunk as a judge!!

[@lamalama9717]

Surreal hearing Hitch talking about 'Grange Hill'

[@thekidd7]

Absolutely mad lol. I never knew it was in north London. Was a geordie show when I was a kid!

[@gazriley624]

@@thekidd7 are you thinking of Biker Grove?

[@thekidd7]

@@gazriley624 yessssssss. Goodness me, hands up. I must’ve been having a slow day!

[@gamingwithslacker]

This is really cool. Where do you find all these archived interviews / discussions ?

[@AngryBootneck]

Great stuff, looking at this made it obvious to me why we have got so dense and ignorant as a society!

[@askl23]

Hitch’s greatest hair day.

[@sararichardson737]

I adore The Hitch but I’m watching this for Ludovic Kennedy .

[@henrysmith883]

‘The Hitch’. Gross. Do you call Peter Hitchens The Hitch too

[@sararichardson737]

@@henrysmith883 it’s called British Irony and is a sign of affection and regard.

[@willhovell9019]

Ludo and Hitch was a great combination. Lord Litchfield sounds like he's had a liquid breakfast. Ludo was influential in the abolition of the death penalty in Britain

[@zekeedwards7904]

If I were a tenth of how articulate and intelligent CH was I would be a happy man

[@alexcampbell3032]

I'd say that you have definitely succeeded.

[@noamfinnegan8663]

Isn't it great to pause and look up a word and realise ever word is specifically spoken. Be happy, Hitch was.

[@IANSPA]

Little did they know, that they were in the presence of greatness.

[@lenkapenka6976]

so true!

[@jeremytarling5164]

Never seen before Hitch is a rare commodity these days!! 👍

[@Waltroon]

I note that Hitchens didn't sound nearly as posh as a young man in England as he did after he moved to America. In Washington by his own admission, people loved the idea that (as they saw it) he was an upper-class Englishman who was also a leftie. This, along with his obvious intelligence, was a big part of his appeal, and he milked it for all it was worth. But always worth listening to.

[@justsaying9483]

Don’t do it, Diana

[@lookimyu]

Crystal clear diction, what a difference 40 years has made, you don't get anything as good as this these days on the TV! What happened?

[@Peakage]

it's conservative, aristocratic, elitist vanity speak. Still get this speak on BBC R4

[@actionflower6706]

@@Peakage So….clear diction and understanding of subjunctive clauses is…..Elitist? And…..Conservative? And……A bad thing? You may be right you know. Teaching the children of miners to read attentively and to speak clearly was one project of the 19th Century trade Union movement. Back when there was this….y’know, this transphobic idea that the Labour Party was there to improve the life chances of people outside elites. But, yeah, okay. It all led to Arthur Scargill so fxxx it. Let’s NOT teach kids on council estates in London to think and speak in long form sentences. Let’s teach them to be unintelligible, nonsensical, self absorbed and hostile. Let’s teach them drill rap. That way they can kill each other before the age of 25. Never live to an age where they start to enjoy a bit of Radio 4 and a mug of cocoa like the rest of us conservative elites.

[@Matthew-ve7uv]

Poor people stopped being censored and were allowed a voice.

[@alanhynd7886]

I mean this is flawed, but at least it's for grown-ups. (Yes, grown-ups have flaws.) Queue responses saying the proles now have a voice and that voice has demanded Love Island and Naked Encounter.

[@system1912]

Reality television happened, moronic shit that keeps the Proles from thinking to much about what's going on around them.

[@jespersorensen4462]

RIP Christopher (great human being)

[@terencehennegan1439]

What a fine orator the man was. Phenomenal intellect.

[@robmoon6442]

I love how he makes GRANGE HILL sound like a dirty word!!

[@simonbarlow2677]

the Earl sounds like he's had a port or two for lunch

[@tom2659]

What a delight - a thoroughly plastered Earl Spencer in better times. 😊

[@longjonwhite]

Ahhh… back when Brit TV still had some clever people… Great reminder, thanks for posting. 👍

[@markbebber2284]

Earl Spencer is what happens when you keep it in the family

[@neil5568]

This is Ludovic Kennedy's show "Did you see" which was a weekly round up of TV programs.

[@wiseonwords]

It was very good!

[@stefanhernold345]

*Christopher Hitchens* - The 5th one being *George Best* , it`s certainly safe to refer to Hitchens as the *6th Beatle* .

[@jeffgray4075]

That old school posh accent (Earl Spencer) often makes the speaker sound like they've suffered a stroke.

[@BanjoLuke1]

He had. Some years earlier. It had almost killed him.

[@jeffgray4075]

@@BanjoLuke1 I see. I suppose that explains his speech, but there are others who sound very similar to him.

[@John-kb7pv]

@@jeffgray4075 a result.of generations of inbreeding

[@BanjoLuke1]

@@John-kb7pv I'm not sure that's fair on his case. There was a great deal about him that was questionable .... Pushing his teenage daughter into a romance with a man in his thirties for social advancement is at best creepy and at worst just horrific. But we all know how that marriage went. Happily, the creepy older groom is now married to his then mistress whom he continued to shag throughout both their marriages. Hurrah for royalty! But as to the late Earl, I don't think consanguinity was the issue. He just had a stroke. As a younger man he distinguished himself in Normandy and seems to have had all Jos faculties until a ripe old age. There is (has been) certainly a "cousins" issue in European royalty and the aristocracy, but I'm not sure it accounts for this man's stroke.

[@jamesbernie9465]

He had had a stroke AND was drunk. I thought he came across quite well considering.

[@Viky.A.V.]

Wow, young Christopher! Cutie, I gotta say (sorry, sorry, of course it's not important! But I have no idea what they were discussing anyway) Thanks for posting.

[@davidwilkie9551]

A side effect of seeing this is the recovery of feelings prevailing then, a renewed of uncertainty and expectations of what warmongering evil means in the climate of nuclear weapons MAD-NESS. "The more things change the more they stay the same", as was said, which means there's nothing to say really..

[@alanhynd7886]

Good God. What has happened to British television since? I mean this is flawed, but at least it's for grown-ups. (Yes, grown-ups have flaws.)

[@mechtainted]

I'm watching this with covid and not quite sure I fully believe I'm listening to Hitchens talk about Grange Hill 😅

[@philiphudgens4726]

Is that Tim Nice But Dim with the camera at the start?

[@DaboooogA]

Back when he was 'British'

[@joerivetti]

Ah someone’s doing the lords work.. sincerest thanks

[@akiblue]

The Earl Spencer was wasted.

[@johnpanter9714]

I miss Hitch.

[@jonathang8263]

Only Hitch could be fascinating and amusing about Grange Hill.

[@forgottentelevisiondrama2750]

I don't see why that should be so. Many attentive viewers of television drama will find things of interest to say about it. And often a good deal more pertinent than Christopher Hitchens here, who - unlike Liz Forgan and Bernard Ashley - isn't really talking about the actual programme itself in this discussion, but instead using Grange Hill as a springboard for his hip take on contemporary North London teenage life.

[@douglasdickerson5184]

💙💙💙

[@dpagain2167]

Earl Spencer the definition of a chinless wonder.

[@swanny2001]

Hitchens looks like Rik Mayall in The Young Ones!! Proper Trotsky...!

[@christopherbrookfield4785]

Did The Earl Spencer really speak quite like that or was he just having a laugh? I always thought he was pissed! 😳

[@exoplanet11]

If you ever want to know what Monte Python was making fun of in their TV show, watch the first few minutes of this video.

[@rup3rt75]

Great to see Hitch as a younger man!

[@joegiotta7580]

The Earl Spenser in the beginning was A) crazily inbred, B) stinking drunk, C) completely unaware of himself. Of course, an acceptable answer may also be all three.

[@masonvegas4336]

BAC

[@CraigStCyrPlus]

A wasp if ever one was seen.

[@Cutieqc]

He’d had a stroke.

[@johnkochen7264]

Mugridge, what a joke he was when debating John Cleese.

[@steveetienne]

Earl Spencer pissed as a newt.

[@andydixon2980]

The late Earl Spencer reminded me of a Harry Enfield character.

[@thespiritofhegel3487]

I have never been so excited since the last time I was watching paint dry.

[@richardboyce4635]

I always presumed that "watching paint dry" was a hypothetical pastime, not something a rational person would do and absolutely not ideal.

[@MorphingReality]

You're a very good egg :)

[@cobracommander8133]

Why is young Mike Stoklosa in the thumbnail.

[@mikemorgan7893]

The program was called Did You See

[@curiousworldview]

he's 32 years old here

[@meanswell1473]

Holy shit he was handsome as fuck until the booze and cigarettes really kicked in

[@augusthome9860]

He looks younger here. I love his hairstyle. It’s a treat to see him in his younger days. ❤

[@fredmercury1314]

18:05 What Chris forgets, as Londoners always do, is that 99% of the rest of the country is not London.

[@daniellamcgee4251]

Grange Hill was filmed at a school in North London. Their accents etc. are about North London youth culture. Hitchens is not forgetting the rest of England, rather, he is aware of the context of the programme and is commenting on a lack of realism for that locality.

[@chriss740]

The lady was interesting; whatever became of her? I left UK in the 80s so maybe just don't realize who she is. Very well spoken.

[@forgottentelevisiondrama2750]

Tx: 28 February 1981

[@treich1234]

Anything remotely germane to this title doesn't begin until 20:35

[@orvarino]

So "refreshing" to the see a day drunk John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, on the pavement of the peseants. Well of his speach to judge it might be more truley that it might be barbiturates (Quaalude?), after all it's 1981 - with that said the newer of benzos could be the weapon of choose.

[@seamusandpat]

And now we the son of a KGB Colonel (Retired may be .. ) in the House of Lords.

[@fredmercury1314]

Wow... It's "Tim Nice But Dim" in real life...

[@scottyk200]

Grange Hill was the X Men brought to North London.

[@rugbydad7130]

I would say that the majority of school principals these days are not nearly as thoughtful and bright as Bernard is here.

[@hughjarrse]

Was Earl Spencer leathered?

[@kambrose1549]

Erudition not jocular soundbites how far we've fallen!

[@oldishandwoke-ish1181]

Was Earl Spencer drunk? He sounded it.

[@hansabass]

But after al this very interesting stuff, I still remain with a very nagging question which is the uncertainty if her hair is real, or a helmet...? 😀 ;-)

[@jefftheriault3914]

Spencer did sound rather plugged, didn't he?

[@walrtbstudios5430]

Back when tv was good… sigh.

[@user-eh3ou7oq4w]

A 32 Year old Hitchens.

[@candyquahogmarshmallow8257]

"very proud and very happy" calm down mate you nearly groped her

[@legalmonkey]

Yes, he was clearly drunk :/

[@AnkurBorwankar]

Do you have a timestamp?

[@jonny55091]

He was nervous as hell

[@oldtimer7635]

The Earl Spencer seemed to be drunk as a skunk.

[@drandrewclarke]

this is why I am a republican. not the American bigot type, the British "why should these in bred cretins rule over?" us type

[@MrMurph73]

Hitch is completely wrong about Grange Hill here

[@elgar104]

Love how wrong the opening remarks turned out to be.

[@OldSaul]

Wankered, but had enough wits to call the interview short. Glass raised Earl.

[@JohnTelford1]

Did You See...?

[@rstevens7711]

@ John Telford Yes, I'm fairly sure it was John.

[@danielhendrix8397]

9:33 hitchens

[@weavethehawk]

Spencer appears to be absolutely pissed.................as a newt.

[@stephenspreckley8219]

The earl sounds like he's pissed as a parrot!

[@vamseemk]

Looks like Barron Trump

[@chrisBaxter-ly8or]

Earl Spencer - drunk as a skunk

[@jimgselder]

Clearly pished..

[@georgeparkin4420]

God this is boring.

[@harryantino]

25:17 Makes you think of the BLM leaders preaching from their millionaire Mansions in Montecito, California. Just goes to show plus ca change.

[@MattSingh1]

*Triggered gammon spotted.*

[@richardbranton7396]

No it doesn't,name these "leaders" with millions living in mansions.

[@wiseonwords]

@harryantino - No, not quite the same! Baldwin more than paid his dues. And, unlike BLM leaders, he was a man of integrity.