Answers: Roger Cook

Argh! In a stroke of major misfortune, I am stuck at home with a stinking cold for most of today and so, to my great disappointment, was unable to meet Roger in person. Gutted.

I did, however, have a very interesting chat with him over the phone. He has a very dry sense of humour.

On calling his hotel room:

Me: Hello, is that Roger Cook?
RC: No, it’s the bogeyman. Of course it’s Roger Cook, who else is it going to be? 

And that’s how it started. It is also how it continued, with me occasionally being chided for my lack of wit. (A fair and just accusation.) 

It cheered me up, which is no mean feat when I’m under the weather. (Usually I get stupidly maudlin. A bout of flu once had me weeping at an episode of Pet Rescue.)

I will use a lot of the interview for a 600-word piece for the Media & Marketing page on Monday.

However, to answer Bounder’s question:

RC: It’s a bit of an accolade to be parodied. In total I have been parodied 23 times – yes I have counted them.  The first time was on Not the Nine O’Clock News by Mel Smith. It was hysterical.

I was also parodied by Spitting Image three times. Two of the times they weren’t very funny – one had two puppets of me and I was beating myself up. That’s just ridiculous as I never beat anybody up on The Cook Report. They also gave me a terrible brash Australian accent.

The third was really good. It was me doorstopping God, accusing him of selling the Holy Land as a timeshare to the Muslims and the Jews. That was very funny, but I think with Spitting Image most of the talent was in making the puppets, not in the writing.

 

Any Qs: Roger Cook

Roger Cook

[Answers are here]

Date: Wednesday, October 17.

Investigative journalist Roger Cook is giving a talk and Q&A at The Electric Cinema on Wednesday, organised by the Royal Televison Society.

Seats cost £4 or are free to Royal Television Society members so, if you’re about, you can go and ask questions yourself. But, if you’re not, I will be interviewing him before the event and would appreciate your thoughts.

At the moment, I’m thinking I will focus on the future of investigative journalism in the UK. Is there a place for it in an increasingly budget-constrained mainstream media? What impact has the Internet had on investigative journalism. Is there any new journalistic talent that he admires? That sort of thing.

I’ll try to ask any questions posted as comments and, if they don’t make the newspaper cut, I’ll post them up on this here site. Deal?