A Very Private Celebrity

Read A Very Private Celebrity Storyline:

John Freeman was one of Britain's most extraordinary public figures for over half a century: a renaissance man who constantly reinvented himself; a household name who sought complete anonymity. From advertising executive to war hero to MP tipped to be Prime Minister, Freeman then changed direction to become a seminal television interviewer and editor of the New Statesman. He subsequently remodelled himself yet again to become, in turn, an ambassador, a TV mogul, a university professor and, finally, in retirement, a well-known bowls player in south London. Freeman packed nine lives into his ninety-nine years, but all he really wanted was to be forgotten. The paradox of this private celebrity was captured by the very series that made him famous: Face to Face. While Freeman remorselessly interrogated the stars of his age, he himself sat in the shadows, his back to the camera. He was the grand inquisitor, exposing the personalities behind the public figures – but never his...