Blog: My breakfast with Hank Marvin

Dave Morris, the Shropshire Star's municipal correspondent, looks back on more than 40 years in journalism.

Blog: The queue to watch a screening at the Palladium cinema of Summer Holiday starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows, stretched from the front steps of building and all the way down a side street.

I couldn't have been more than 11 or 12 years old and had never seen so many people in Whitchurch before, and certainly not in my home village just a few miles away.

The Shadows' line-up included a hero of mine, lead guitarist Hank Marvin, and I was keen to see him on the big screen. I still enjoy his music today.

And this brings me on to a question that I have often been asked as a reporter - have you met anyone famous?

Well, yes I have, though showbiz celebs, with one exception, have not figured among them. They have tended to be politicians - Tony Blair, David Cameron and Nick Clegg to name just three.

But I have met the legendary Hank Marvin!

Sometime in the early 1980s, at the Oswestry paper I was then working for, we received a tip off from a local hotel that Hank had stayed there overnight and that he might be up for an interview. I eagerly volunteered for the job and sure enough I managed to interview him at his breakfast table.

He had always struck me as a nice guy when appearing on TV and as I went along to meet him, I wondered what he would be like.

I was feeling nervous and in fact was prepared for the image I had built up of him since a young boy to come crashing down.

But I needn't have worried. Hank couldn't have been more charming. It was a real pleasure to meet him.

We spoke at some length, at least 20 minutes or so. I can't remember exactly what about but I know it was something to do with his latest tour.

And I didn't mention Summer Holiday and Whitchurch.

Returning to well known politicians there are two that readily come to mind as being easy to interview and a pleasure to meet.

And they came from each side of the political divide.

Sir Patrick Mayhew, later Baron Mayhew of Twysden, was Conservative Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 1992 to 1997, the post now held by North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson.

Anyway, I met Sir Patrick as he then was, at Lilleshall during the 1997 General Election campaign.

He was relaxed and witty, and I found him very likeable. He was far different from some of the knockabout politicians I had been interviewing up until then.

I have interviewed Estelle Morris - now Baroness Morris of Yardley - three or four times.

A former teacher, she became a minister in the Department for Education and Employment when Labour took power in 1997 and was promoted to Secretary of State for Education and Skills in 2001 - a post she held briefly.

I was always impressed by what seemed her genuine concern for young people.

And the two most difficult politicians to interview?

I always think of John Prescott and Anne Widdecombe. Both I found to be prickly.

I have met Ms Widdecombe on at least two occasions, possibly three. It was never easy.

If I remember correctly, one of the interviews was during the 2001 General Election campaign at the Lord Hill Hotel in Shrewsbury.

As had happened previously, it didn't go particularly well. She wasn't relaxed and like the majority of visiting big guns to the county, would not be drawn on any local issues and just spouted the party's general line.

However a female colleague from the paper had come along to do a piece from a woman's perspective. When it was her turn to put some questions, Ms Widdecombe was asked whether she had ever considered having a make-over.

I waited for the eruption from the shadow home secretary but it didn't happen. Instead she smiled and the two women chatted away amiably. How surreal, I thought.

Back to the 1997 election campaign. Prescott swept into Donnington, Telford, aboard Labour's Battle Bus.

He stepped down from the coach to the applause of party supporters, waving the famous card of five pledges which summed up the key targets for Labour's first term in office if they won the election.

After Prescott had made a short, but rousing speech to the faithful, I was invited on board the Battle Bus to interview him. As with Widdecombe it wasn't easy and I certainly didn't get any new line from him as we drove for several miles.

When the bus stopped, a following car whisked me back to the starting point, making sure I was in good time to meet that day's deadline for our Telford edition.

I remember being struck by the slick operation - which seemed to confirm my feeling that Labour would take power.