I like to imagine that if Gore Vidal had lived to see now, the book he might've written would've been titled, "I Told You So" . One of my truly missed people

I could listen to this man all day,

The greatest loss was felt when this brilliant and incisive of Historian;s life ended, His was the voice of freedom all his life!

Always great to hear from a person who is so well read! Thank you Mr. Vidal.

Gore Vidal, the best president we never had. We need him now.

I love to hear this man, for so many decades now. I am going back into the historical novels now because although I have found & read some excellent histories...especially on early America which I love reading about this new nation, there was such hope then, but no one writes like Gore! Mr. Vidal lived a long time, the best & the last of the finest writers. I hope I have time to read Saul Bellow, his old friend, much more too. Anyway, I go back all the time to the convenient appearances that we have now of Gore...thanks to all this new tech; pc's, devices to see & hear him. He is so wise, he never wastes a word and he could never be dull for a second. I wish he would have been a very, very excellent, successful governor in CA. in 1982. How awful that he ust lost that race after he got so many votes, there and in the N. Y. political race in 1960, his dear friend President Kennedy's year was the closest ever too, but K. did win his. We get clowns in public offices & men like Gore Vidal did not win. I am still upset that we never had this giant among men to work with Bobby & ack Kennedy. etc. Thank goodness we did (and here in 2022 & forever) will still have so much of him on video and the books, the wonderful books he left us.

This is a fitting tribute to Gore Vidal, and Melvyn Bragg deserves much praise for it. Here we see Vidal in old age but still sharp,, insightful, witty and original

I'm 63....I read Gore most of my life....as well as many other authors....Mailer, Hemingway, Plimpton, Cheever, Capote, Steinbeck, Eliot, Melville, Twain, and my personal favorite, Kurt Vonnegut - aside from Vonnegut, Gore Vidal has consistently been the most enjoyable and gratifying author, in my opinion. As if that weren't enough, he was a brilliant essayist, and also possessed one of the most devastating wits I've ever come across. Those authors who cast him in a bad light or disparaged him were so blatantly covetous of his abilities I'd often loudly laugh upon hearing their pathetic little barbs.... Where are the new greats?

It's wonderful to finally catch the full interview. This is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

So sad to wake up and hear of of Gore's death. WHAT a legacy though......

one of the 20ih century's great writers

Superb interview. A great man.

So refreshing when the air is clear. Gore represents truth and reality, high culture and art. He is the counterbalance to the wee little ones who are destroying life and everything that is beautiful in the human condition. I wish he was still with us, especially now.

Thank you for posting this - it was delightful.

I love to hear him speak. So eloquent, but he seems so approachable and easy going. Absolutely adore his debates.

There a few writers and political analysts I can stomach listening to. Vidal was one of the few.

I'm still trying to search for the 1987 South Bank Show with Gore. Can't seem to find it anywhere. I saw Gore give a talk in Brighton, UK in 2009 and wonder if anyone filmed it. Glad you all like the show!!

God Bless Him...what a true & great person.

thanks for th post

Gore Vidal was a critic of American foreign policy. He wrote several books and countless essays on the subject. I'm not sure how his dying in his bed of old age renders his words invalid. How, in your eyes, should he have died in order to preserve his authenticity? Is there an unwritten rule that US critics should pass away from TB at the age of 25?

RIP, Mr Vidal...always a pleasure...

very very sad today, a great man has passed and history along with the mindless masses will still take a while to realize how much sense he spoke througout a remarkable and unique life form an enlightened perspective.

Vidal was one of the very few visionaries ever produced by the 'United States of Amnesia'

a rare gem. His world seems gone. No one reads anything of value, basically.

Great thinker and man who left his mark 👍

I haven't got the 1987 show I'm afraid. Really want to see it myself

Thank you very much indeed. when this first came out my Dad and I watched it, then my mother came home and the three of us rewatched it. It is that good. 2.04 his charm. 32-37 for sheer class. 46.50 that answer!

Gore moving back to Hollywood from Italy. I find it incomprehensible. But a delightful guest. I suspect Gore had personal issues, relationship issues in Italy, and as he did screenwriting (wrote the script for BEN HUR and television scripts), perhaps he wanted to be back in familiar surroundings, when he was young, energetic and made a great impact, to relive the gilded ambiance of those days. I like him. He was one of a kind, unique, brilliant, prophetic and honest. Classically trained. No one like him these days. We live in dark times now. Gore provided illumination.

Gore Vidal I leaarned so much true history from him of my home. One of our last true Intellectuals, and Literary Giants. Never, will we see his like again it depresses me that the novel is now truly dead.

Imagine how distracting it must be to write American history while you have the most beautiful backdrop and setting of Ravello in Italy. What a lucky man!

This was a great man! Please pay attention.

RIP Gore. I Shall miss your carefull and measured speech.

Greatest writer and essayist. Political commentary realistic.

yeah, thanks a lot

An incredible genius

I really appreciated Gore's honesty about nonsense like "gay identity" - sexual activity shouldn't define us. Plus it's very undignified to go around flaunting your sex habits in everyone's face - it is enough to end persecution and harassment.

"Here comes a bad letter from Vidal Sassoon" Me: LOL

What's the opera name played at the end?

18 May 2008

The beauty of the show is slightly ruined by the announcement of 'Sarah Ferguson helps a family of overweight smokers next on ITV..' over the end credits! No wonder the South Bank Show was axed by ITV. The South Bank show, the only light ITV ever gave....

RIP Gore

The last true man of American letters .

the distinguished event, Henry James on death. Vidal found that quote very note worthy.

That opening is fuckin trippy

Gone..but GORE'S thoughts are as Potent as ever.

What would he say about today?...

... We shall let 'why' linger a while longer in the wings.

Glad Gore Vidal is back in the home where he belongs. Hollywood.

A brilliant man, really funny and biting with his impressions of his friends and enemies. Very biting about religious belief; I don't agree but his insight is dead on.

Wow! At last an american intellectual who doesnt get on my nerves!

that man who helps Gore down the stairs, the cutie with the pony tail, is hot.

Melvyn Bragg.at his best - thanks.

Spartacus led his rebellion circa 73 BC.

Normally in screen interviews the camera is focused solely on the interviewee, with the interviewer's voice heard in the background. But My Lord Bragg always has to make sure the camera gets himself in as well (best side.) Bragg is a very apt surname.

Melvyn Bragg was surprised Gore was correct about the Military Industrial Complex?

Is it me or did Gore Vidal have enormous ears ?

Whilst I didn't agree with everything he thought, his predictions almost all came true and his ability to see the long game (and indeed in this case, the long con) was uncanny. Htichens could have never been Vidal's successor, as when it came to politics, especially in his later years Hitchens was utterly wrong; his only saving grace was his anti-theistic views.

the opening theme segment is a little much

I think that Vidal and Mailer are helping NYT by mentioning them. They have still a terrible taste in reviewing books. Does anyone remember the name of the author praised by NYT in 48 when he published City and the Pillar? me neither

That was class.Certainly a better performance than this one. ;)

He was born at West Point, not "the nation's capital". . .

43:28 lol if only he'd lived to see Trump

Interviewer is just a bit too nice and solicitous for my tastes. But he’s spot on about Bush being an evangelical.

Repose toi papy t'as l'air très fatigué !!!

Wut an excellent human being to hav leave us, we can scarcely afford it, much love to the family and all of us for the leaving of this great clear sighted being. We must unite and confront the talentless hacks who are attempting to enslave this whole planet under their witless constructs of rabid capitalist warmongering psychosis

How prescient Gore was on the death of the novel and his legacy resting in his brilliant essays. Imagine his cutting critique of US politics today,, - the shambolic insurrection, the indictments of Trump et al. He'd make it funny and pitiful..

Yes the voice over at the end of the show; Just confirm's the point's Vidal was making about the idiot society we are part of the intelligent milnipulation of populare sensibilit'es by the media. He was talking about the USA. But he could have been talking about 52nd state(uk) When all a tv station in our era can offer viewer's is cheap senstionlist crap like the Duchess up North and Hitler in colour. No wonder the literature music film and tv drama of today is bland and over hyped.

W F Buckley called him a queer.

Vidal's 'Bush is stupid' status-quo thinking really hurt his credibility towards the end, he ceased to think analytically or coherently post-9/11.

he's cool. smart too. but i saw him wishing his own demise. it's good maybe he's ready. maybe he's the soft entry distraction to the outer shell of the media matrix. if he's so indy, shouldn't he be ONLY in PRINT?

Is that an academic's lie that wars are good for the economy?

He should have acknowledged his privilege. He's not Noble. He's not brilliant. Yes, he is a critic.

There certainly are some homosexual and heterosexual sensibilities and temperaments. They shouldn't determine who you are as a whole though

Every comment praises this mean, nasty grouch who made his fortune insulting people. He pissed in the soup and he is called an essayist.

the more privileged you are the less you have to lie....also the less you have to say

Much over-rated. His essays were very good. The rest mediocre. As a person....nasty, misanthropic, and endlessly impressed with his family background, which was only moderately interesting.

He died a very lonesome and bitter old man