Inspiring a young trainee

When Adam Kellett-Long came to the last Baron’s Bash in Sydenham, I spotted him getting out of a taxi to sit in his wheelchair with considerable difficulty. I helped him up the lift, guided him through the throng, sat with him at lunch and made sure he got the food and drink he wished. As he left, he thanked me effusively, but I felt: no need, I owe you this, you inspired me at the beginning of my career.   

That was at the time of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, when Adam was chief correspondent in Moscow, and he, Bob Evans and Lars-Erik Nelson were filing non-stop. I watched in rapt admiration as the Reuters teleprinter spewed forth a mass of thrilling, comprehensive, expert coverage. I remember thinking: that’s what I want to do. That’s what I should aspire to.  

When I landed in East Berlin shortly afterwards, Honecker had ousted Ulbricht as East German leader just the day before. Adam fortunately steered me away from the facile conclusion that this was a falling out among local comrades. In East Germany, he sternly warned me, nothing happened without the Soviets deciding so. They had ordered the change. They ruled ruthlessly over their empire, and Adam knew it. He had a finger on their pulse. ■