John Sergeant talks to William Hague

One of the UK’s best known political broadcasters John Sergeant talks about his life and career and the state of politics and journalism today in conversation with the Chancellor of the University of Oxford and former Conservative Party leader Lord William Hague.

Sergeant was chief political correspondent of the BBC for 12 years and was also political editor of ITN until 2002. He was famously hand-bagged by Margaret Thatcher on the steps of the Paris Embassy after she failed to retain the Conservative Party leadership. Sergeant’s career as a journalist took him around the world to cover conflict in Vietnam, Cyprus, Lebanon and Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Since retiring from news, he has presented documentaries and appeared on light entertainment shows including Have I News for You and Room 101 and as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. He has written two books, an autobiography Give Me Ten Seconds, and Maggie: Her Fatal Legacy.

The Chancellor’s Forum (previously Lecture) features a well-known figure talking at the invitation of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford Lord Hague. Previous Chancellor’s Lectures have included Dr Mario Vargas Llosa (2009), Jung Chang (2011), Vikram Seth (2012), Seamus Heaney (2013), Orhan Pamuk (2014), Amitav Ghosh (2015), Professor Frank Dikötter (2017), Sebastian Barry (2018), Robert Harris (2019), Penelope Lively (2022), Mick Herron (2023), Tom Fletcher (2024).