Here is a gem of a story about Mikhail Gorbachev by former BBC journalist, Richard Uridge:
“Many years after the Soviet leader stepped down he was asked to open a mobile phone shop in Cheltenham. To the surprise and delight of the owner he agreed and the event was duly covered by the BBC at Pebble Mill. As a Midlands Today newsreader I introduced the story and back referenced it with words to the effect “funny old world isn’t it? One minute you’re the second most powerful man on the planet. The next you’re opening a phone shop in Gloucestershire.”
I thought it was hilarious. But I got told off by my bosses for editorialising. The shop owner wasn’t too chuffed either. Said I’d demeaned his business. I wasn’t at all sorry. Reckon he got a lot of free publicity.
My other Gorbachev-related comments – on radio rather than telly – are too excruciating to relate here and warranted a grovelling letter of apology.”
Richard Uridge
Creative commons photo of Gorbachev, by John Mathew Smith, 1997