Title: John Humphrys Reveals He Was Intoxicated While Broadcasting Nixon’s Resignation

Former BBC broadcaster John Humphrys has admitted that he was under the influence of alcohol while reporting live on President Richard Nixon’s resignation at the start of his career. Speaking to The Times, the 82-year-old recalled staggering back to the newsroom in August 1974 following an extravagant lunch, only to be instructed to deliver the historic breaking news.

Although Humphrys noted that he did not physically fall out of his chair, he acknowledged that his inebriation was "painfully obvious" to viewers. "That was the last time ever," he stated firmly.

Humphrys, who served as the host of Radio 4’s Today programme for three decades before his 2019 retirement, is now sharing these memories in a new podcast titled The Odd Couple. Co-hosted with journalist Matthew Norman, the series explores Humphrys’ early life in Cardiff and his role as the first journalist to witness the aftermath of the Aberfan disaster.

A "Lavish" Lunch Before History-Making News

Humphrys, who joined the BBC in 1966, was stationed in Washington DC when he became one of the first reporters to break the story of Nixon’s resignation. He described the day’s events to The Times, detailing a sequence of heavy drinking that began before he even left the office.

"I had gone for a very, very, very lavish lunch," Humphrys explained. "We used to have this gallon thing of burgundy, so had a couple of glasses of red wine, then go to the restaurant, have a martini or two, then a glass of wine with lunch and brandy afterwards."

Upon returning to the office, his broadcast assistant (or production assistant, as they were known then) questioned his state. "She said: 'Are you sober?' and I said, 'What do you think darling?' or something stupid," he recounted.

Despite his condition, the assistant informed him, "You've got to get on. They've booked a satellite." Humphrys managed to complete the broadcast, though he admitted he "got through it" only "just." The following day, the assistant delivered a stern warning: "London probably won't say anything to you, but they've just said it to me. You can't do it again."

Since that incident, Humphrys claimed he has never repeated the mistake and now "virtually [does not] drink at all."

Childhood Hardship and Early Career

Born in 1943 and raised in Splott, Cardiff, Humphrys opened up about his difficult upbringing in the first episode of his podcast. Despite achieving strong academic results that secured him a place at Cardiff High Grammar School, he faced significant bullying due to his poverty.

"I was the poorest kid in my class," he said. "I was picked on by my classmates for only having one pair of trousers and being told 'your trousers smell bad.' It was not a nice time, not a good time and I hated it."

To survive, the teenager worked three part-time jobs while still in school, including delivering newspapers, working as a chemist messenger, and cultivating an allotment. He left school at age 15 to take a reporting position at the Penarth Times.

"I needed the money, we needed the money," Humphrys said. "It didn't occur to me for a moment that I shouldn't leave school at 15 and start working."

The Horror of Aberfan

At 21, Humphrys began working in television news for Television Wales and The West (TWW). It was in this role that he was sent to cover the Aberfan disaster on October 21, 1966, when a coal tip collapse buried a school, killing 116 children and 28 adults.

"I was the first person to get there," he recalled. He described a scene of profound grief, with hundreds of mothers holding babies while watching their husbands—miners atop the debris—dig for bodies using shovels and picks because heavy machinery could not be used without causing further collapse.

Humphrys vividly remembered the miners' faces, which were still black "except the lines of white at the side of their cheeks, where the tears rolled." With no time to prepare a script, he used a pub phone in the village to broadcast live to TWW, which then relayed the report globally.

"I just described what I was seeing," he said. Reflecting on his decades in journalism, he added, "I've seen quite a few horrible things in my time, but nothing matches that."

Source: BBC News Generated at: 2026-06-02 21:54:12 UTC