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Clive Myrie is in conversation with news correspondents about the music they’ve heard whilst reporting from the front line. With his own extensive experience of covering wars, and his personal love of opera and jazz, Clive and John Suchet share stories to reveal something of the power and significance of music when working in extreme conflict situations.

Former ITN newsman, Beethoven expert and music presenter, John remembers playing an LP in his hotel room of Maria Callas singing Carmen whilst reporting on the 1968 Paris Revolution. Playing Rodrigo's Aranjuez concerto on his Walkman whilst witnessing the horrors of the 1979 Iran revolution. Having Wagner's Entry of the Gods into Valhalla in his head during the 1980 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. And in 1984, he says: I was heading east from Cyprus to Lebanon, the only passenger on a ship that was steaming towards Beirut: a city in the grip of civil war. At midnight, I went up on deck. I could see a red haze on the horizon; we were travelling towards it. I took my battered old Walkman out of my pocket and played Beethoven's ‘Eroica’ Symphony.

Producer: Natalie Steed
Executive producer: Rosie Boulton
A Must Try Softer Production