First impressions: Sandy Gall
SANDY GALL is a Scottish journalist with over 50 years’ experience. He’s also an author and former ITN news presenter who has written several books about Afghanistan and made three television documentaries about the country during the Soviet War, two of which were nominated for BAFTA awards. In 1986, he set up Sandy Gall’s Afghanistan Appeal – a charity that provides support to people who have lost limbs in combat. Sandy was awarded the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal in 1987 and the CBE the same year. In 2003 he became the World Affairs Expert on LBC Radio. His new book, War Against The Taliban: Why It All Went Wrong In Afghanistan, is out now.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’ve got an idea for another book but I’m not ready to talk about it yet.
When were you at your happiest?
Probably when I was on my honeymoon in Dubrovnik and Milocer, when my wife says I spent all my time reading PG Wodehouse.
What is your greatest fear?
I don’t really have any great fears.
What is your earliest memory?
When I was four in Malaya, tricycling one day with my little Malay friend on my father’s rubber estate, Bukit Sidim. A snake suddenly appeared out of the ditch and we fl ed in terror. The servants told my mother it was a grass snake and harmless, but years later, my father’s assistant Crichton Matheson told me that, in fact, it was a cobra, a female with young at that and therefore very dangerous. So we were lucky.
Who has been your greatest influence?
‘Daudet’ Hayward, my house master and form master who taught me French, German and a little Spanish at Glenalmond [College]; a most civilised and delightful person. He was nicknamed Daudet after the French writer, Alphonse Daudet. This was during the war, when life at a public school on the Scottish moors was pretty bleak.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
Being shy.
What is your most treasured possession?
Our beautiful Golden Retriever called Gimcrack who is always friendly and raring to go, and is truly a member of the family.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
Rudeness.
Do you have a fantasy address?
Anywhere on the Côte d’Azur.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My twice-broken nose.
What is your all-time favourite book?
A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush, by Eric Newby.
What is your favourite film?
From Russia With Love; Some Like It Hot is a close second.
Your favourite record or piece of music?
Kenneth McKellar singing The Road To The Isles.
Your favourite meal?
A dozen Belon oysters (from Brittany); lobster a L’américaine; baked Alaska. Wines: Chablis and Sauternes.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
My wife would like the Pope and I would opt for Catherine Deneuve.
Which historical character do you most admire?
Odysseus, ‘that talkative, bald-headed seaman’ (quoted from The Old Ships by James Elroy Flecker).
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
‘We want to ask you some questions...’ meaning ‘You’re under arrest.’ Idi Amin’s thugs in Kampala, Uganda, 1972.
Do you believe in aliens?
No.
What is your secret vice?
I don’t have one – how dull!
Do you write thank-you notes?
Usually, but I am remorseful when I forget to do so.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
Sorry, what?
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
A cellarful of Château Lafite.
What would you like your epitaph to say?
I haven’t got around to thinking about that yet.
Sandy Gall’s War Against The Taliban: Why It All Went Wrong In Afghanistan, is published by Bloomsbury, £20.