My Love Letter to Late Night Live - But First!

When we learned that Phillip Adams was retiring as presenter of LNL, I started putting some thoughts and reflections together to express my appreciation. Then the project grew …

These thoughts have matured over the past year or so into My Love Letter to (the program) LNL (and the ABC). It is in 3 parts.

After reading this, I invite you to read more thoughts in Part 2 and find links to the interviews in Part 3.

Comments welcome.

(This is the 1st of a series of three blogs. In it, I express my heartfelt appreciation for Phillip Adams, his fellow presenters, the producers of LNL and the ABC. You can read some thoughts about many interviews in Part 2 and find links to those interviews in Part 3).

When I heard ABC Chair Kim Williams being interviewed by Kerry O’Brien (on Big Ideas in August 2024) and passionately describing the value of our national broadcaster (see Link 1 of 52 Links) - I felt that I must document my love for ABC Radio National. I agree that having a truly ‘free’ press is fundamental to democracy, especially at times when the world is so fractured geopolitically. We have seen what happens when the press are controlled by billionaire media owners. So, I continue to support Australia’s Federal tax dollars being used for our national public broadcaster so it can fulfill its broad mission for the benefit of the nation.

My lengthy love letter is directed principally to Late Night Live (LNL). I hope it lures others to discover some of the amazing interviews stored in the ABC’s extensive and invaluable archives, which might educate them as much as they continue to educate me.

Recently departed host of LNL, Phillip Adams, in his final chat with Laura Tingle, told us how the sole purpose of LNL was really just to educate him! Well, I must add myself - and I am sure a zillion others - to the list of those who have been educated by the wonderful array of interviewees, interviewers and the superbly skilled producers.

I marvel at how Phillip, a self-declared autodidact who freely discloses he never undertook university study, can readily digest half a dozen or so professors each week as he gobbles up their wisdom and learnings!  By this I don’t mean to disparage Phillip’s motives or knowledge. No doubt most of us - the “Gladdies and Poddies” – enjoy learning from him and his guests as we listen to that deep resonant voice with his command of language including his penchant for alliteration.

I have enormous respect for all those who have studied successfully – whether that be through schools, technical colleges or universities. My hope is that all of society respect the learnings of those who have learned, either formally with hard-earned qualifications, or informally.

One of the joys of listening to many of these LNL interviews, some of which extend for almost an hour, is that we ‘Gladdies and Poddies’ get to know something of the presenters. It is a wonderful, intimate feature of this ‘little wireless program’ that we get to glean a little about the personalities of the presenters. We learn that Phillip and his wife, Dr Patrice Newell, are organic/biodynamic farmers of garlic, cattle and Shropshire sheep on their 10,000 acres, part of which has been generously given over to nature conservation. Phillip is a self-declared atheist and a ‘leftie’ (as am I), was an early member of the Communist Party, and, over his time with LNL, has continued to advocate for ‘progressive’ points of view. How he also got to be a collector of rare antiquities is a mystery to me!

Again, in his final chat with Laura, Phillip submitted that he was just a marionette, presenting what had been researched by his producers. No doubt, most of his ‘dear listeners’ would question that. I want to pay special tribute to those many talented producers who, night after night, play such a crucial role in researching, producing and enabling the presenters. Typically, presenters give credit to the names of that week’s producers at the end of each week. I salute all of those mentioned in my eclectic list of notable interviews: Ann Arnold, Gail Boserio, Ian Coombe, Penny Lomax, Taryn Priadko, Amanda Roberts, Jack Schmidt, Julie Street, Claudette Werden, Anna Whitfeld and Catherine Zengerer!

Lately, it amuses me as I imagine those prepared scripts, when I hear the new host, David Marr, use words that I thought had been copyrighted by Phillip: “But first!”

It was very pleasing to hear at the beginning of Phillip’s final episodes, some heartfelt thanks from just a few of his interviewees. I reckon Phillip’s LNL is really a ‘mutual admiration society’ as interviewer and interviewee frequently swap effusive praise! I guess, after all, it does help authors sell more books which also keeps ‘our friends at Scribe/Penguin/Hachette/etc.’ happy.

As one of his interviewees, Peter Frankopan, said: “Phillip is deeply thoughtful”. Satyajit Das speaks glowingly of Phillip’s talents as an interviewer and concluded “he is great!” Johann Hari says, “Phillip is such a humane person … such an intelligent person … he is driven by curiosity … it has opened up just whole parts of the world to me”. Simon Winchester speaks of Phillip’s “deep knowledge … voice rich with genial kindness” and Clive Hamilton states that, with Phillip’s retirement, “there will be a great gap in the landscape of Australian public life”.

You might ask, how is it that I have discovered this treasure trove of education so late in my life? Well, for much of my working life - as an academic researcher and teacher - I spent inordinate amounts of my time reading the scientific literature in my own discipline, student assignments, exam scripts, etc. with virtually no time left for recreational reading and listening. What a travesty it is not to find the time to read more widely!

Now, in retirement on our little farm, I leave the house in the morning armed with last night's LNL and other podcasts to inform me for hours on end, listening to this eclectic mix of ideas as I tend the fences, pastures, cattle and trees. It is such a delight!

Before discussing some of the most interesting interviews I have heard over recent years, I must also pay tribute to some of LNL’s regulars including ABC Indigenous Affairs journalist Dana Morse, ABC’s Laura Tingle on Australian politics, Columbia University’s Bruce Shapiro describing happenings in America and columnist with I-news, Ian Dunt, with his UK insights. They are all thoroughly entertaining as they present their juicy morsels every fortnight or so.

Importantly, LNL provides us listeners with wonderful exposure to serious matters, not only across Australia, but also explores so much of the world including the USA, the UK, the South Pacific, India, the Middle East, etc.

In this critique of fifty or so interviews conducted over recent years, most have been presented by Phillip Adams who has been such an influential voice over more than 30 years with the program. David Marr has now taken over the reins most capably. And it is worth noting that other occasional presenters - such as Jonathon Green and Sarah Dingle - are also articulate and entertaining. The common thread, worth stressing once more, is the wonderful quality of the background research conducted by the producers.

(I invite you to read on by visiting:

·         the 2nd part of this series: My Love Letter to Late Night Live – Highlights, Critique, Praise

and then you can find hyperlinks to each interview in:

·         the 3rd part of this series: My Love Letter to Late Night Live – 52 Links)