Melvyn Bragg discusses mental health for healthtalk.org in 2015

Melvyn Bragg has opened up about saying goodbye to The South Bank Show after more than four decades.

The broadcaster and author said his involvement in the programme had been a “fantastic privilege”, but that he’s 84 next year and “can do without it now”.

Speaking to this week’s Radio Times, the Labour life peer says he and Sky Arts agreed the move together.

The Carlisle-born presenter, also known for BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time, describes himself as having lost the energy that he once had, calling it “retribution” for having such a full life.

READ MORE A Place in the Sun’s Jonnie Irwin forced to undergo cancer check-up in car park

He recalls a particularly rough two and a half years in which he experienced “some very bad cancers” and “something like pneumonia”, leaving him feeling “massively weaker”.

Bragg wasn’t one to go public with his health troubles, admitting it inevitably became public news only when he couldn’t attend events and do activities.

He is confident now though that things are better, and there will be, in his mind at least, one last South Bank Show hurrah: a two day spree of Sky Arts programming which will include interviews between Bragg and David Hockney, as well as a documentary following the latter’s career.

Don’t miss…
NCIS LA star Eric Christian Olsen gives fans glimpse of adorable eldest child[INSIGHT]
Heidi Klum’s lookalike daughter Leni looks sensational in string bikini on yacht[PICTURES]
Strictly’s Angela Scanlon admits she’s ‘terrified’ of live TV ahead of launch[LATEST]

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Sky Arts haven’t labelled the upcoming programmes officially as The South Bank Show, but Bragg certainly feels it is essentially a South Bank farewell.

The televised interviews cut a “very intense portrait” according to Bragg, “focusing on [Hockney’s] expressions and the way he moves and thinks… we got the underlying man there”.

While Bragg might be calling it a day on TV, he is not done with radio yet; and this autumn will see the 1000th episode of In Our Time.

Bragg detailed the secret formula behind the show’s success: getting academics on who teach in front of students, so they have good public speaking skills.

In Our Time isn’t Bragg’s only Radio 4 outing coming up. This Cultural Life on Saturday will feature the presenter as he spills all about his days growing up in working class Cumbria and his unlikely journey to studying at Oxford.

Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times – out now

Source: Read Full Article