Brian Walden

Alastair Brian Walden (born on 8 July 1932 in West Bromwich) is a British journalist and broadcaster who was a Labour Member of Parliament for a decade. He is the father of actor Ben Walden.

The son of a glass-worker, Walden attended West Bromwich Grammar School. He then won a major open scholarship to study at The Queen's College, Oxford and in 1957 was elected President of the Oxford Union. He completed a postgraduate course at Nuffield College, Oxford, before becoming a University Lecturer.

At the 1964 general election, Walden was elected the MP for Birmingham All Saints, later Birmingham Ladywood, in an election where race dominated the Birmingham campaign (see Patrick Gordon Walker). He was re-elected in the subsequent General Elections of 1966, 1970, February 1974 and October 1974. He was a campaigner for the liberalisation of the cannabis and gambling laws, even named by some as "the bookies' MP" when he was revealed to be receiving more from the National Association of Bookmakers than from his parliamentary salary.

On 16 June 1977, Walden resigned from the House of Commons by taking the Chiltern Hundreds, to become a journalist and broadcaster. He has presented various television programmes, mostly for London Weekend Television, such as Weekend World, The Walden Interview and Walden, and was a member of the board of Central Television between 1981 and 1984.

Walden is considered one of the finest political interviewers in British broadcasting, tenacious and ruthless. He was well-known for his one to one interviews of major politicians, especially Margaret Thatcher. He was said to be her favourite interviewer, although he would give her a tough ride. In November 1989, Thatcher gave Walden a famous interview when her own Party was turning against her. He did not let up on her:

Brian Walden: "You come over as being someone who one of your backbenchers said is slightly off her trolley, authoritarian, domineering, refusing to listen to anybody else – why? Why cannot you publicly project what you have just told me is your private character?"

Margaret Thatcher: "Brian, if anyone’s coming over as domineering in this interview, it’s you. It’s you."

Brian Walden continues to broadcast. In March 2005, he began presenting a ten minute programme on Fridays, called A Point of View, on BBC Radio 4, in a spot formerly occupied by Alistair Cooke's Letter From America.

He lives in Guernsey and is firmly against the ban on fox-hunting.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Brian Walden
• Brian Walden at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Brian Walden at the Internet Movie Database

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Hollingworth	Member of Parliament for Birmingham All Saints 1964 – February 1974	Constituency abolished
Preceded by Doris Fisher	Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood February 1974 – 1977	Succeeded by John Sever