Jack " Peter " Hardiman Scott (2 April 1920 ? 15 September 1999) was an English journalist, broadcaster and writer. He served as the BBC 's first political editor , from 1970 to 1975. ^{[1] [2]} During his time at the BBC, he reported on, and grew close to, four prime ministers: Harold Macmillan , Alec Douglas-Home , Harold Wilson and Edward Heath .

Career [ edit ]

After working on various provincial newspapers, Hardiman Scott joined the BBC in 1950 as an assistant news editor in Birmingham . In 1954 he became a home affairs correspondent in London before being appointed to the new post of political correspondent in 1960. In 1962 he interviewed the leader of the Labour Party , Hugh Gaitskell , on the Cuban Missile Crisis . ^[3] In 1970 he became the BBC's first political editor, a position he held until being succeeded by David Holmes in 1975. He then spent five years as Chief Assistant to the Director-General of the BBC before retiring in 1980 to his cottage in Suffolk .

He was also the author of several detective thrillers and books of verse, including When the Words are Gone in the Phoenix Living Poets series, ^[4] and was the president of the Suffolk Poetry Society from 1979 until his death. In the early 1980s he made substantial progress with a novel in which a left wing government was overthrown by an " establishment " coup , but, after discussion with his publisher, abandoned this because of the striking similarities to Chris Mullin 's A Very British Coup (1982). ^[5]

Personal life [ edit ]

Hardiman Scott was married twice and was survived by his second wife, Sue. He had two sons from his first marriage.

References [ edit ]