London
Today I'm in London for a gathering of 91Èȱ¬ managers at the White City conference centre. That means a morning flight from Glasgow and a journey to West London via Paddington. I'm on the steep escalator down to the Heathrow Express when an elderly man who is heading upwards on the other escalator loses his footing and tumbles backwards, crashing all the way down to the bottom. I run around to help him and he's cleary dazed and shocked but still conscious. Now we're both heading upwards again, but his various bits of luggage get to the top before us, creating a block. Just as I get him to his feet, we both tumble over his bags and almost fall back again. We make solid ground and catch our breath. There's no one else around but I'm sure this whole drama is being recorded on CCTV cameras somewhere. The man tells me he's fine. His voice sounds Carribean. I find his glasses on the floor and he puts them on. We sort of shake hands and pat each other on the back. See how travel can bring people together!
I get to White City just in time and meet Roger Wright, the Controller of 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3. He's proudly sporting a Bach Christmas sweatshirt and jokes that this is the extent of marketing at Radio 3 these days. "Basically, it's me walking around various city centres wearing this." I ask him if he has a sweatshirt for everyone at the meeting. He shakes his head but does offer me a mini mince pie instead.
Our Director General, Mark Thompson, kicks off the meeting with a heartfelt tribute to 91Èȱ¬ journalists in Baghdad. It's a potent reminder of the hard work of our journalists throughout the world. Mark also updates us on other 91Èȱ¬ initiatives including the success of Strictly Come Dancing on 91Èȱ¬ 1 and how the format is being picked up by an American network. There's also a highly entertaining presentation from the guys who schedule TV programmes on 91Èȱ¬ 1 and 91Èȱ¬2. They tell us how the special episode of is such a key ingredient of the Christmas Day schedule this year.
After the meeting I walk over to the 91Èȱ¬ shop at Television Centre in search of toy Daleks. No luck.
