McCarthy, Keenan, Waite and Morrell
I am a great BBC Radio Four listener. One of the programmes I like is called ‘The Reunion’. It’s a simple idea but it works very well, thanks in no small part to the excellent journalism and chairing skills of the presenter, Sue MacGregor. This Sunday she brought together, apparently for the first time in a very long time, John McCarthy, Brian Keenan and Terry Waite, who were all held as hostages over many years in Lebanon, and Jill Morrell, who was then McCarthy’s girlfriend. The sheer humanity of all four is wonderfully communicated by their reminiscences and by the almost complete lack of bitterness about their experiences. It is also leavened by their good senses of humour. McCarthy recounted being bundled, taped and put in a sack, and then dumped into the boot of a larger-than-usual car for one of the frequent changes of place where he was held. All of a sudden, the car stopped, the boot was opened and another hostage, also bundled, taped, and in a sack, was dumped on top of him. It was Terry Waite. ‘This seems larger than the usual boot,’ he remarked. ‘It was before you got in,’ McCarthy retorted. Wonderful stuff. You can listen to it at here.
Leave a Reply