amongst the half the editorial stuff when were made redundant. I then went freelance and I did a whole manner of jobs -- I was doing a weekly television review for The Times, writing leader columns for The Guardian and sports interviews for The Observer and Punch. In 1972, I was invited with a number of TV critics to appear on Late Night Line-up to talk about TV from over the previous year. I had absolutely no desire to be on television. To my total surprise, I was doing very well as a freelance journalist, working harder than I ever had in my life but really enjoying it, and earning more money than I ever had before. That appearance with the other critics seemed to go really well however, and a few days later I got a call from the producer of a programme called Film 71, which was then only shown in London and the South East. One of its objectives was to find new faces for TV, so the presenter was changed every six weeks. The producer had seen me on the other show and didn't think my appearance would frighten off viewers too much. He liked the stuff I was writing in The Guardian and wondered if I'd like to try my hand at reviewing films. Back then I thought it was very useful for a journalist to get as much experience as possible in every medium, so I said I'd have a go at it. I