Book Review: An Improbable Life by Trevor McDonald
I love Trevor McDonald. I love his journalism and watch all of his documentaries; he has a unique way of speaking to people that brings out the most in them, and is never aggressive or rude to those he interviews. I wanted to read his autobiography, An Improbable Life, as soon as it was released, and finally got around to it during lockdown!
Born in 1939 in Trinidad in the West Indies, Trevor's childhood was very much typical of idyllic island life. The oldest of four children, he wanted to become a broadcast journalist from an early age and as a young adult, got a job on Radio Trinidad covering everything from local news to sport. Eventually moving to London, he started work at the BBC before moving to (then) ITN and becoming their first sole news anchor on News at Ten. His career has taken him all over the world reporting on the Northern Ireland Troubles, racial segregation in South Africa, and meeting prisoners on Death Row in Indiana. He's interviewed major political figures of the time including George W Bush and Saddam Hussein.
This was a really good read, and I enjoyed finding out more about Trevor's background and how he came to be such a prominent figure in broadcast journalism and in the national consciousness. It's always been important for us to be diverse in the books we choose to read, but with this at the forefront of people's minds right now more than it perhaps has been in the past, I would recommend this. Reading a book from the perspective of someone whose life experience has been almost the complete opposite of yours broadens your own outlook; as an older person, Trevor has witnessed and been subjected to racism in various forms throughout his life and career, and his take on how attitudes towards race have changed throughout his lifetime are interesting to read.
From refusing a job on a new BBC channel because it was made clear that he was only being asked because the channel had been told they needed to be more racially diverse, to being the reason that he and his colleagues couldn't eat in a specific restaurant in South Africa, Trevor's career has been impacted by the colour of his skin. He discusses the education he received in Trinidad, the island's reverence for 'the mother country' and the awe and pride a native of the island would feel if a member of their family moved to London to study or work. As he said, it didn't matter what that relative was doing there; just the fact that they were in London was enough to impress anyone. West Indian soldiers joined the British Army to fight for Britain in WWII, and yet during the recent Windrush scandal, those same people who had made England their home for often over 50 years were deemed non-citizens and saw their lives overturned.
It would've been nice to read a little more about Trevor's life outside journalism, but overall this was a fascinating book.
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