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Jeremy Paxman’s fury at Joan Sutherland mistake

Leading BBC anchor ticks off viewers and his producer on air

James Inverne 9:38am GMT 13th October 2010

 

Granted, the death of Dame Joan Sutherland has inspired – quite properly – passionate tributes around the world. But Jeremy Paxman, one of the BBC’s pre-eminent newsreaders and host of their flagship television current affairs program Newsnight, has distinguished himself.

 

So furious was he at the fact that Newsnight wrongly billed a Sutherland excerpt on Monday night’s show, that he tore into both viewers (gently) and (not so gently) his producer on last night’s program. This is how he closed the show:-

 

“Last night we left you with the late Joan Sutherland’s last performance, from Die Fledermaus. Except it wasn’t, it was the brindisi from La Traviata. Thank you Mr Peter Freeman for your crowing e-mail putting us right. You were the only person out of a million viewers to notice, which is frankly [stern frown] very disappointing. Despite a university education, or alleged education, the producer responsible didn’t stop picking his nose, playing his video game, or even take his earphones out when the mistake was pointed out to him this afternoon. Here’s what he should have shown. Good night, and sorry.” Ouch.

 

You can see the entire program at the BBC iPlayer - jump to the end to see the Paxman moment.

 

James Inverne

James Inverne is former editor of Gramophone. He now runs a music management + PR company, Inverne Price Music Consultancy, writes a culture column for the Jewish Chronicle newspaper and his byline can still be found from time to time in other places about subjects that get him exercised.

Comments

Submitted by Philip-Clark on Wed 13th October 2010.

Paxo's right to be miffed - but he's still the same Jeremy Paxman who interviewed Russell 'I got a book to plug' Brand for 15 minutes on Newsnight last week, and so can't be entirely exonerated from any perceived descent into the mainstream. If he wants an informed audience for classical music: when did Newsnight last devote 15 minutes to interviewing a composer, conductor, singer or instrumentalist? Come on, come on - I need an answer!

Submitted by timsuffolk on Thu 14th October 2010.

I did see the clip on the first night, and it was from the party scene of Die Fledermaus on New Year's Eve 1990, Dame Joan's last performance at Covent Garden, singing not the brindisi from La Traviata but in fact 'Parigi o cara'. So Newsnight is wrong again!

Submitted by boomviolin on Tue 23rd November 2010.

I would be extremely carefull in starting to criticise reviews or obituaries on the death of Joan.  It was with some surprise that I noticed that the report and obituary of Dame Sutherland in last month's Gramophone did not mention the recording of Alcina by DECCA in 1962.  It is apart from one of her best recordings unique at the time. If I am not mistaken it was the first recording in stereo of such a work (opera).