He really did a rather remarkable job for someone who had all of 10 seconds to realize that he was being interviewed on live television. I suspect a lot of people wouldn’t have managed to stay as cool as he did. I know I wouldn’t.
That’s so hard to watch because I can only imagine being in his seat. It’s literally the stuff of nightmares, right up with “I have to ace this final exam in a class I forgot I had”. If I ever find myself in that situation, I hope I can get through it with half the grace and aplomb that Goma managed.
An interview challenge turns out to be the actual job, just without compensation? I guess the media and software industries are not so different after all :)
I heard about the story from the Guy Kewney side of this. Apparently the BBC had two areas for visitors and the assistant went to the wrong one and asked for "Guy".
This interview was meant to be with a big hero of mine, and later a friend, noted UK computer journalist Guy Kewney.
It was not funny for him. He was watching in the green room, and was furious. It was a major blow to his freelance career.
It's not really funny. It terrified Guy G, and it severely hurt Guy K financially, and his ability to support his family. It was a very rough time for all of us freelance journos; I had to give it up a few years later, go become a TEFL teacher, which led me to moving to Central Europe -- i.e. the former Communist Bloc -- where I could afford to live
Guy K died of bowel cancer a few years later.
So, this is a painful memory, not a funny one, for some of us.
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[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 38.4 ms ] threadhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc
I'd imagine processes at broadcasters got a lot more stringent after this (i.e. verifying full name and probably photo as well)
Sadly Guy passed a few years ago his blog https://hunkymouse.livejournal.com/ goes through his fight against cancer.
He was one of those folks who I'd bump into occasionally at London tech events and I still miss him.
It was not funny for him. He was watching in the green room, and was furious. It was a major blow to his freelance career.
It's not really funny. It terrified Guy G, and it severely hurt Guy K financially, and his ability to support his family. It was a very rough time for all of us freelance journos; I had to give it up a few years later, go become a TEFL teacher, which led me to moving to Central Europe -- i.e. the former Communist Bloc -- where I could afford to live
Guy K died of bowel cancer a few years later.
So, this is a painful memory, not a funny one, for some of us.