Nov 10 - Clive Golt’s “In Camera” – The “Living History Of Gibraltar”
The 52 interviews with local personalities conducted by Clive Golt as part of GBC’s “In Camera” programme have been transcribed and released as a four volume set which will be sold alongside DVDs of the original recordings.
The production of the set was a Government manifesto commitment to preserve and make more accessible what is considered to be a valuable cultural repository of tales from Gibraltarians that cover topics like the Second World War and the closing of the frontier.
Speaking at the launch yesterday evening in Grand Battery House, the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said: “These interviews are the living history of Gibraltar. Not all of the 52 guests are still living but their testimony is still alive.”
“It is fundamental for our future that we remember our past; that we keep an ear to the lessons of those who lived lives after the Second World War,” he said.
Speaking to YGTV, Mr Golt said: “It was Mr Picardo who stopped me and told me that these interviews had huge heritage value and should be preserved.”
Mr Golt said that he only realized that the interviews would come to constitute a culturally valuable collection once he heard the stories his guests revealed.
“It was fascinating to hear the stories of the World Wars, of the origins of surnames of people who came from Genoa and Malta – I did capture that. The idea behind the series was that, as it was my return to GBC after over 12 years, I didn’t want to return as a hardline interviewer. I didn’t want to wield the axe and get into the political scene of the moment,” he said.
Asked about his interviewing style and how he prepared for the series, Mr Golt stressed the necessity of conducting plenty of research before approaching any interview.
He also explained that it was important to make an interviewee feel at ease.
“This was different in style to my political interviews. This was more about coaxing people into giving me their thoughts, their memories and make them feel so relaxed that they in effect forgot that they were in front of a camera,” he said.
“Interviewing is hard graft – it’s to do with research and preparation. You can’t sit there with somebody without preparing your interview,” he explained.
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