The version I watched carried a useful retrospective view by John Freeman in old age, revealing that Waugh had planned a number of interventions to wrong-foot him in the course of the duologue. It was probably this that made Freeman appear quite nervous as the interviewer, often falling back on "How old were you when you first did... (this or that)", effectively talking in numbers.
Yet the overwhelming reaction is one of surprise at Waugh's genial manner and polite, helpful way of answering. When asked what is his biggest character failing, he promptly answers "Irritability", which is indeed how most of us perceive him. Yet he displays none of it here. Equally surprising is the degree of cognitive alertness in a man who had survived a serious mental breakdown.
Freeman devotes much of the interview to religious debate, of a sort that would not interest most of today's viewers, while never touching on his marriages and family or his military service. Towards the end, he refers to a recent journalistic jousting-match in which J. B. Priestley accused Waugh of being a poseur, because (supposedly) a country gentleman cannot also be a good writer. Waugh ends by dismissing this altogether. "Ask Priestley" he appears to mumble, barely audibly, before the programme ends on a pleasing touch of Berlioz.
Yet the overwhelming reaction is one of surprise at Waugh's genial manner and polite, helpful way of answering. When asked what is his biggest character failing, he promptly answers "Irritability", which is indeed how most of us perceive him. Yet he displays none of it here. Equally surprising is the degree of cognitive alertness in a man who had survived a serious mental breakdown.
Freeman devotes much of the interview to religious debate, of a sort that would not interest most of today's viewers, while never touching on his marriages and family or his military service. Towards the end, he refers to a recent journalistic jousting-match in which J. B. Priestley accused Waugh of being a poseur, because (supposedly) a country gentleman cannot also be a good writer. Waugh ends by dismissing this altogether. "Ask Priestley" he appears to mumble, barely audibly, before the programme ends on a pleasing touch of Berlioz.