The Gift of a Radio: My Childhood and other Train Wrecks

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Justin is a great broadcaster because he sounds like a real human being. This hugely entertaining book helps explain why. John Humphrys There is some reflection at the end of the book but Webb is philosophical and certainly there’s no self-pity. He’s made a success of his life. Whether that’s because of, or in spite of, his upbringing is open to debate. When I saw this book in Waterstones, I thought the blurb looked interesting - apparently he did not have a conventionally privileged or happy childhood.

With thoughtful concision, Webb works out how this “wan” nuclear family came to be. He explains that Gloria Crocombe was born in 1924 and raised in comfort in Walton-on-Thames. Her father was a “big noise in magazines” and a friend of Lord Reith. He employed a cook, a maid and a driver to take the family for picnics on the Sussex Downs and wait in the car while they ate.

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Webb admits that as a young child he wished Charles dead because he was aware that life without him would be so much easier. Yet when Charles does eventually die years later, Webb records it matter-of-factly and gives nothing away about how he felt. Was it a relief after all of those years, did he grieve for him at all? He doesn’t tell us. I’ve always liked Webb on the radio. But I like him much more after reading this book. He offers precisely the kind of brisk honesty and considered analysis he expects from his interviewees. Our politicians should all read it, and step up their game. So, when I heard he’d written an autobiography I thought it would be interesting to find out more about him. And it was. Justin Webb's memoir is unique: for its style, acute observation, and the combination of being unflinching and written with love. Mishal Husain Things got no better when he went to Sidcot, a private Quaker boarding school, which sounds even more grim than his home life. Bullying and violence were rife with disinterested teachers unconcerned about the violence or indeed imparting knowledge. Justin Webb continued to conceal all feelings and ended up growing his hair, drinking a lot, and listening to the likes of Free and Led Zep. Towards the end of his time there he was thrown a lifeline and got himself together.

Strangely, despite Webb following in Woods’ journalistic footsteps at the BBC, he never sought out his father and never met him. Reading this autobiography was like taking a brisk walk in a favourite cardigan. So interesting to reflect on the attitudes towards and about mental illness in the 60s and 70s, which in conjunction with post war cultural values, created the fabric that clothed my childhood and adolescence too. It's the go-to Christmas present for the person who already has everything. A gift that promises to tell you who you really are and how you're connected to the world. I’ve no recollection of him again until a few years ago when I started listening to Radio 4’s Today programme. He is one of the regular presenters and an elder statesman now John Humphreys has retired, waking me and millions of others with the day’s news. Justin Webb's vivid childhood memoir reads like a collection of scenes from cherished sitcoms of his youth. A life spent under the spell of eccentric "ineffably snobbish" mother Gloria and "stark staring mad" stepfather Charles is part Keeping Up Appearances and part Reggie Perrin. Webb writes about it all with wit and fondness but beneath the surface lurks a great deal of heartbreak ... Webb has always seemed unflappable on the airwaves. These entertaining soul-searching memoirs help to explain his ability to keep calm and carry on. Allan Hunter, Daily ExpressIt's incredible how Justin Webb managed to create a childhood memoir out of this uber-weirdness that is generally light and compelling. I had him boxed off as posh and privileged because he has what was once the only kind of accent we heard on the BBC. (Nowadays, thankfully, they let in people with regional accents, although they’re still in the minority). Webb grew up in Bath, went to boarding school, and his maternal grandad was Leonard Crocombe, a distinguished journalist chosen by Lord Reith to be the first editor of the Radio Times. So far, so upper middle class. I first became aware of BBC journalist Justin Webb when he was working as a breakfast news presenter in the late ‘90s. It was one of those sweltering summer days we get occasionally and he suddenly complained that it was “stinking hot” in the studio. A pretty innocuous remark but it singled him out among the many posh and impassive presenters delivering the news at that time. An off-the-cuff remark to the viewers about working conditions – how daring! It made me smile. Out of pure nosiness, I really wanted the story to continue a little... How did his mother, who lived only for him for so long, react to his having relationships and marrying? Was she a different grandmother from the mother she'd been? I imagine her as the mother in law from hell, but who knows?

The content is interesting, and it is very readable. However, I was surprised at the ragged quality of the narration, and the generally mediocre quality of the writing. I had assumed that an experienced journalist would be good at these things. There's one point (for example) where he is relating the story of how he entered a writing competition at school. It then jumps to prize ceremony and the audience reaction, without actually telling us that he won! It's surprising that the editor didn't spot this. Across six episodes, Jenny Kleeman meets the men and women whose lives changed forever after they opened a box that contained a DNA test. Exposing scandals, upending identities, solving mysteries and delivering life-changing news - Jenny investigates what happens when genealogy, technology and identity collide. Justin Webb is a survivor and it's incredible how he went on to thrive in journalism and broadcasting.She also turned to the Quakers and decided to send her son to Sidcot School, a boarding school run by them about 40 minutes from the Webb family home. The conditions were harsh (no hot water) and Webb says several times that the staff didn’t much care about actually educating their pupils. For instance, he was allowed to give up science.

In all then, it wasn’t so much a deprived childhood as a lonely and odd one. Webb took his cherished radio to boarding school as a comfort, little knowing that one day his own voice would be listened to by millions, maybe some of them taking comfort from their radio too. No wonder growing up in such an atmosphere gives Justin Webb a very depressed view of the decade in which he grew up – the 70’s. There are paragraphs on what he perceives to be the dismal state of Britain during that time – industrial strife, the three days week, the oil crisis etc.. There is nothing of the TV programmes, the music, the culture, the arrival of foreign holidays, the growing consumerism and affluence that children of his age were enjoying and realising that they’d really never had it so good. There are no family photos in the book, the only one is on the front cover, a shot of Webb as a young boy looking slightly confused. He explains in the book that this expression is because he wasn’t used to having his photo taken and was wondering why it was happening. Webb was aware growing up that he didn’t have a male role model he could look up to, turning instead to watching the Bath rugby team to try to discover what it was to be a man. Webb has three children of his own but doesn’t tell us about his relationship with them. Does he think he’s a good father himself? Perhaps he feels unable to judge and doesn’t like to presume. “Plenty of dry humour”He may have one of the bestknown voices in Britain as the longest-serving presenter of Radio 4's Today programme, but it turns out he is a wonderful writer, too. Moving and frank ... A story of a childhood defined by loneliness, the absence of a father and the grim experience of a Quaker boarding school. It is also one of the most perceptive accounts of Britain in the 1970s.'- Misha Glenny This is not a misery memoir, but some painful introspection feeds [Justin Webb's] frank and lightly handled accounts of damage. It makes for engrossing reading. Norma Clarke, TLS