Storyville - American Idol: Ronald Reagan

Even the best of storytellers would have struggled to have made up a life like Ronald Reagan's.

From humble origins he rose to become a lifeguard, radio presenter, second division actor, ambassador and salesman for the General Electric corporation, governor of California, president of the United States and the butt of thousands of jokes.

And yet it's far too easy to dismiss him as some political Forrest Gump. As BBC4's absorbing Storyville revealed, he was cleverer than left-wingers gave him credit for, and not the giant that those on the right thought he was. This was a man of principle. A man of conviction. The only trouble was he changed those principles and convictions so often nobody really knew who he was. Even his biographer described interviewing him as like 'talking into a cave'.

The image said cosy man of the people, but millions of those people took a battering under his leadership. And his principles, so wedded to deregulation and the idea that the state is bad, left millions of Americans in the poorhouse. Odd, considering his own family had been bailed out by the New Deal. But Reagan, who honestly thought that some people chose to be homeless, had no time for such socialist ideas. "What, so it was good then but not good now?" asked his son, who was impressively even-handed when dealing with the old man's legacy.

Under Reagan the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Big corporations got bigger, and the ordinary Americans, the ones to whom Reagan appealed, didn't do so well. In the name of Trickledown economics less was spent on social care and education, but more was spent on the military - at one point $34m every hour.

So, even his supporters now admit that slashing state spending in the hope that the free market will step in was a disaster, the effects of which are still being felt.

I hope you were watching, Nick and Dave. If you missed it try the iPlayer.

Speaking of missing (it's a tenuous link this, but bear with me) it's been decades since the last sighting of musician Jeremy Spencer. One day in 1971 he told fellow members of Fleetwood Mac that he was popping out to a Los Angeles bookstore. On the way he met members of the Children of God cult and, according to legend, was never seen again.

Until last night, that is, when he turned up, in rude health, on a BBC 4 documentary about that other Fleetwood Mac casualty, Peter Green. (Actually, I say 'that other' casualty, but Fleetwood Mac's body count is only slightly lower than the Somme's.)

I was genuinely surprised to see him, having been under the impression that he was still AWOL. But, no, there he was with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, and a happy trio they appeared to be. Where had he been all these years? Dunno. The programme never told us.

Then again, there probably wasn't the time. You may be able to cram an overview of Ronald Reagan's extraordinary life into 90 minutes, but you'd need a couple of weeks to cover the legend of Fleetwood Mac.