When George Negus finished grilling then-British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1981, he thought he’d be locked up in the Tower of London.
“She demanded that the interview be used without any editing, which we refused to do,” Negus told ABC News Breakfast.
In a 60 Minutes interview that would go on to become one of his most famous, Negus asked Thatcher why the British people thought she was “pig-headed” and “inflexible”.
“Would you tell me who has stopped you in the street and said that?” Thatcher asked Negus.
“Ordinary Britons,” he responded.
“Would you tell me who, and when and where?” she asked.
Veteran journalist George Negus died at the age of 82. (Getty Images: John Donegan)
The exchange sparked fury from Thatcher’s press secretary and a flurry of calls between the British High Commission in Australia and the Australian High Commission in London, Negus said.
“I thought we weren’t going to get out of Number 10 Downing Street alive, to be honest,” he said.
“Gerald Stone rang me and said, ‘How did the interview go?’ I said, ‘As a political interview, I would give it six out of 10 and … as an interview generally, I said 11 out of 10.
“Don’t worry, they’ll watch.”
And while the fear of a lock-up in the Tower never materialised, the performance scored him a few seats at restaurants around London that he “never thought I’d get”.
From high-school teacher to journalist
Negus graduated from Indooroopilly State High School in Brisbane and started his career as a high-school teacher before venturing into journalism at 28 years old.
“I was an ex-school teacher … and I’ve sort of conned my way into journalism somehow,” Negus said.
His work spanned Australia’s media, from The Australian and Australian Financial Review newspapers, to Channel Nine, Channel 10, SBS and the ABC.
Negus rose to prominence as a reporter for the ABC’s This Day Tonight program and later became the first presenter of Foreign Correspondent.
He reported for Nine’s 60 Minutes, presented Dateline on SBS and established his own show 6PM on Channel 10.
George Negus worked across Australia’s media landscape. (Getty Images: Lisa Maree Williams)
He interviewed a string of prominent global and national figures, including Muammar Gaddafi, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Steven Spielberg and Meryl Streep.
“I’ve always been fascinated by what makes places and people and politics in particular tick. Politics is the best way to solve problems without killing each other,” he said.
In an interview with the National Film and Sound Archive’s Oral History program, Negus said he had never really felt intimidated by his interviewees.
“I think what we have to remember about people with so-called power and authority and influence is that behind all that facade of authority and power … they’re pretty ordinary,” he said.
He said his stint at 60 Minutes “came out of the blue” after he was sacked from the ABC.
“I’d been very cheeky to the prime minister of the day when I was working at the ABC and got the flick. And Channel Nine called me,” Negus said.
“In fact, the then-boss Gerald Stone rang me and said ‘Do you like travel?’ And I said ‘Who doesn’t?’ He said you better get used to it because if you take the job I’m offering you, you’ll be doing a lot of travel.”
A self-described ‘anti-war correspondent’
In 2003, Negus published his book The World From Islam, which dispelled myths about Islam and explored the chasms between Muslims, Jews and Christians.
Negus described himself as an “anti-war correspondent” because he believed war proved “the human race is unintelligent”.
“I’m a committed coward. I’d go so far as to say that I’m a gutless wonder,” he said.
“I didn’t get a buzz out of that kind of journalism at all. I did it because you had to get close enough to be able to tell people why you shouldn’t be there at all.”
Ray Martin (right) says George Negus was a “star” of his profession. (Getty Images: Patrick Riviere)
He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015 and was honoured for his service to the media as a journalist and television presenter, and the environment.
He took credit for deliberately breaking the rules about how television journalists should dress on TV.
“I think I won because now at least people, blokes now on Australian television, look like normal human beings most of the time. So I broke the dress rules deliberately,” he said in 2015.
In 2021, Negus was awarded a Walkley for the Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.
Walkley director and Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance media federal president Karen Percy described Negus as one of Australia’s most “recognisable” journalists.
“Known for his charisma, his peerless and fearless approach, and his signature moustache, he has reported through decades of technological, political and social change,” Percy said in 2021.
Australian journalist Jennifer Byrne paid tribute to Negus and said he was a “deeply good friend”.
“I just enjoyed everything about him, he was the kindest man. Everyone saw the bluster, which was — that was the era. And he had the boats, he had the bluster but he also had the talent and the kindness. I’m very sad,” she said.
Ray Martin, who worked with Negus on 60 Minutes, said he was “the strongest personality on Australian television that I ever saw”.
“He was also a fantastic journalist: very ethical, loved telling stories, loved people,” Martin said.
“He was 60 Minutes. He probably made the program as successful as it became.
“He was such a star.”
