Phillip Knightley interviewed by Diana Ritch [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 501027
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Knightley, Phillip, 1929-2016, interviewee
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item.
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 1990 Jan. 17
- 8 sound tape reels (ca. 4 hr. 8 min.) : analog, 3 3/4 ips, 2 track, stereo. ; 5 in.
- Summary:
-
Knightley speaks of his family background and his early education in Sydney, how he wanted a career in journalism and did not want to go to university, first job as a copy boy with the Daily Telegraph, his stint as an island trader in Fiji, linesman and wharfie in New Zealand, how he got a cadetship with the Melbourne Herald by his contact with Sir Keith Murdoch, around 23 he got a job on the Sydney Daily Mirror under Charles Buttrose, compiling files on left wing academics and politicians, his big break around Jan. 1954 when he was sent to Fiji to cover the Royal Visit and this gave him many contacts among British journalists, his tour with Dr Evatt on the 1954 election campaign, left Australia in Nov. 1954 for a job as a London-based journalist in what became News Limited rewriting British news for Australian newspapers, his travels in Europe, after 6 years he returned to Australia after a brief time in India, how he won the lottery using astrology, how he met his future wife in London, how he came to work with Murray Sayle in investigative reporting for the Sunday Times from 1965 such as reporting on Chichester sailing round the Horn, his view of Sir Dennis Hamilton and his impact on British journalism, the golden era of journalism of the 1960s & 1970s, the investigative new team members he worked with mostly Australians who were not intimidated by the gentry, Harold Evans as the editor of the Sunday Times, how James Evans as legal manager got them access to vital documents.
Knightley discusses how he researched his own book about war correspondents which gives a unique view of twentieth century civilisation, how he became involved with David Leitch and Bruce Page in 1967 in the investigation of Kim Philby, a journalist who in Jan. 1963 defected to the Soviet Union, how in 1968 this investigation included Guy Burgess and Donald MacLean and uncovered their work for British Intelligence and the discovery that Philby had been a double agent working for the KGB since his university years resulting in a book published in 1968, how he continued a correspondence with Philby for the next 20 years, how he finally managed to meet Philby in Moscow in Jan. 1988 just a few months before his death, his final book on Philby published in 1989, his attempt to write a book piecing together the bureaucracy of the Intelligence world based on interviews with former Heads of British Intelligence and those involved with the CIA.
- Notes:
-
- Recorded on Jan. 17, 1990.
- Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-202168604
- Related Material:
- Papers of Phillip Knightley; Located at; National Library of Australia Manuscript collection MS Acc12.088.
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary and corrected draft transcript (typescript, 72 leaves) available.
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Ritch, Diana, 1943-, interviewer
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2028 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 1958
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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