Radio 4's: Clash of the titans Dimbleby vs Humphrys
VETERAN BBC Question Time host David Dimbleby left fans baffled yesterday as a farewell tribute turned into a bad-tempered spat with fellow news presenter John Humphrys.
Dimbleby, 80, had been invited to guest edit Radio 4's flagship news show Today to mark his departure as the Beeb's most senior TV inquisitor. But what was supposed to be a lighthearted exchange of banter at the end of the two-hour broadcast rapidly descended into an undignified row over which of the lauded presenters is the least posh. The section ended with Dimbleby accusing Humphrys of firing off "sneering" questions at him.
The Today host hit a sour note when he accused Dimbleby of having a cosy relationship with the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family because he is "posh".
Humphrys asked: "Because you're quite posh, aren't you?"
He drove on: "And one imagines that you've been quite close to the monarchy over the years and you've certainly covered huge amounts of royal occasions."
Dimbleby could be heard spluttering into his microphone before firing back: "Sorry, John, there is a typical sneer in that 'You're quite posh'. I'm about as posh as you are."
He hit back at Humphrys, saying: "I come from Wales, like you do. I'm not posh. I happen to have been a broadcaster for a long time and I'm not..."
Humphrys said of David's father, Richard, who virtually invented TV royal punditry: "You had a very distinguished father..."
Dimbleby snapped back: "Well, that doesn't make me posh. I had a distinguished father... that's a ridiculous question.
"But the point is about the monarchy. I'm not close to the monarchy. I've met the Queen probably less often than you've met her. Once, I think."
Humphrys replied: "I don't know why I made that assumption."
But Humphrys couldn't resist a final dig as he was winding up the show, signing off with: "David Dimbleby, guest editor who is positively not posh, thank you."
John Humphrys
Parents: Winifred and Edward Humphrys, a hairdresser and a French polisher
Pupil at Cardiff High School (then a grammar)
Left school at 15 to become a reporter on Penarth Times
David Dimbleby
Parents: Richard Dimbleby, renowned BBC war correspondent, and Dilys
Pupil at independent schools Glengorse in East Sussex, and Charterhouse in Surrey. Read philosophy, politics and economics at Christ Church, Oxford