his new one is a collection of his journalism called dispatches from the diaspora. gary younge, welcome to the media show. let s go back to some of where it all began. you studied french and russian at heriot watt university in edinburgh, and then in your final year you received a scott trust bursary from the guardian to study journalism. and i think you were quite clear at that point that you wanted to be a columnist. why? because i had been very politically involved and my entry into writing was partly because i d studied languages and studied to be an interpreter, and i like to manipulate words, but it was also because i had been very involved politically, almost precociously, and that i thought i had things to say. and what i didn t realise at the time was the degree to which reporting, running out and talking to people, finding out, all of that, is the nuts and bolts of everything, including column writing. so as someone who hadn t done an awful lot ofjournalism and heri
of his journalism called dispatches from the diaspora. gary younge, welcome to the media show. let s go back to some of where it all began. you studied french and russian at heriot watt university in edinburgh, and then in yourfinal year you received a scott trust bursary from the guardian to study journalism. and i think you were quite clear at that point that you wanted to be a columnist. why? because i had been very politically involved and my entry into writing was partly because i d studied languages and studied to be an interpreter and i like to manipulate words, but it was also because i had been very involved politically, almost precociously, and that i thought i had things to say. and what i didn t realise at the time was the degree to which reporting, running out, talking to people, finding out, all of that, is the nuts and bolts of everything, including column writing. so as someone who hadn t done an awful lot ofjournalism and heriot watt didn t have a student new
gay marriage, brexit, the windrush scandal, and the black lives matter movement. gary left as a full time journalism at the guardian in 2020 to become professor of sociology at the university of manchester. although he continues to write articles for various publications and books. his new one is a collection of his journalism called dispatches from the diaspora. gary younge, welcome to the media show. let s go back to some of where it all began. you studied french and russian at heriot watt university in edinburgh, and then in your final year you received a scott trust bursary from the guardian to study journalism. and i think you were quite clear at that point that you wanted to be a columnist. why? because i had been very politically involved and my entry into writing was partly because i d studied languages and studied to be an interpreter and i like to manipulate words, but it was also because i had been very involved politically, almost precociously, and that i thought
days. scottish national party s chief exec as it has resigned with immediate effect, after the snp was forced to reveal a massive drop in its party member ship this week. you are watching bbc news. time for the media show. my guest today has covered some of the most defining stories of our time. gary younge briefly became part of nelson mandela s entourage, joined revellers as president obama was elected, and has covered much else too gay marriage, brexit, the windrush scandal, and the black lives matter movement. gary left as a full time journalism at the guardian in 2020 to become professor of sociology at the university of manchester. although he continues to write articles for various publications and books. his new one is a collection of his journalism called dispatches from the diaspora. gary younge, welcome to the media show. let s go back to some of where it all began. you studied french and russian at heriot watt university in edinburgh, and then in yourfinal year
Relief. i just started crying, it was just very, very relief of which there are no words. you have met some pretty incredible people in your career, not least, how did you end up getting drunk in maya angelou s limousine? for that we have la traffic to thank. and i had 45 minutes with her. when the 45 minutes were over, she said, just hang back and then she took me for lunch and then she had something to do, so she got me a room in the hotel so i could sleep, and then we went to her event and then on the way back from the event there was this huge la trafficjam, it was like a big car park and we were in her limo and she said, she had this kind of purring voice, she said, would you like some whiskey, mryounge? and i said, ooh, yeah, that would be nice, and her assistant said, do you want ice and stuff, ms angelou? and she said, i want a little bit