My Greatest Mistake: Peter Snow, broadcaster

My biggest mistake was not doing my homework properly back on Newsnight in the Eighties. Arthur Scargill had just returned from Moscow, where he had made a speech in which he gave the impression that Margaret Thatcher's rule in Britain was less humane than that of the Russian leader, Leonid Brezhnev in the USSR. We thought: good news story... get Arthur Scargill... interview him live.

Scargill agreed, and turned up at the studio that night. I was very pressed for time. All I had was a piece of copy that said that he'd attacked Thatcher and appeared to contrast her unfavourably with the Soviet leadership, so I began my questioning: "Hang on, Mr Scargill... leaders of the Soviet Union are hardly better people to run a country than Margaret Thatcher – however much you may dislike her, she is democratically elected, after all. Isn't this is a bit tough of you, Mr Scargill, to make this charge against her?"

He simply said: "Well, have you read my speech?".

Now, I hadn't read the whole of his speech. All I'd seen were the excerpts from the press agencies. But instead of saying that I'd read enough to see what he'd said, or admitting that I hadn't, I decided to try to avoid his question. I said: "Mr Scargill, with respect, I'm asking you the questions."

He said: "No, I'm asking you! Have you read my speech?"

I became more defensive, but he just kept asking me – had I read his speech? I foolishly went on dodging his question – trying to bounce it back – until I was forced, live on Newsnight, to admit that I hadn't read the speech. I was shot down in flames. Although the viewer may have sympathised with the line of questioning towards the end of the interview (when he finally answered some of my questions), by that point it was irrelevant. I had fallen on my face. It was a brilliant tactic. Scargill clearly felt confident enough to remove the ground from under me. It was a serious lesson. First, even if I couldn't get the speech, I still should have known exactly what he said. Second, I should have been prepared to cope with his tactic, but I wasn't. Scargill enjoyed it enormously. He certainly scored one there.