A biography for Jonathan Dimblebyhasn’t been written yet.
“The long, forensic interview really matters.”
“In the world in which we live, truth is an ancillary virtue, but it shouldn't be.”
“Presidents and prime ministers, whether they live in the rich or the poor world, are insulated and isolated from the devastating impact of global poverty. They read the statistics, but they rarely witness at first hand the misery and degradation of life on a dollar a day.”
“Until I was 21, I wasn't going into the media. I was a professional show jumper; I was going to have a farm... Then my father died, and it changed my life. I realised I had to have a go at being a journalist to see if I could cut the mustard.”
“Travelling to make television programmes means I have some unusual food memories. In Pasto, Colombia, I was taken to a restaurant where I chose my meat for the evening from a cage of white rats. It tasted perfectly good - like rabbit.”
“Food is about communal togetherness. Our family does sit at the table. I think it's a great tragedy if a family doesn't have a table, as there is such an atmosphere of good will and warmth when we have eight people sitting around it.”
“I was born with a silver microphone in my mouth, and that was an advantage. My father wrote books and was also a great broadcaster.”
“It is easy enough to hold an opinion, but rather more testing to act on it.”
“Programme names have been changed, and we have Andrew Neil saying he won't be using long words.”
“Recently, I had a hip resurfaced. It's different from a hip replacement because it's done with titanium. I like to think that it's the consequence of riding horses so strenuously, but I fear it's much more mundane and was just early-onset arthritis.”
“The moment seemed right to me for a full and, if possible, authoritative portrait of the life and character of the Prince of Wales.”
“I honestly believe that TV generally is obsessed with the ratings battle to the point of cutting its own throat.”
“I adore Madonna. She reinvents herself like no one else.”
“That test should not be about ratings. What should weigh is the knowledge that a public broadcaster delivers programmes that matter.”
“I fail to understand how you can justify a poll tax on the entire population, yet exclude a significant proportion of that population from programmes that this tax is paying for.”
“Over the last two years, I have been able to comb through The Prince's archives. I have been free to read his journals, diaries and many thousands of the letters.”
“I'm not certain that the BBC can claim to be making a wide enough range of distinctive programmes to make the case convincingly.”
“Anyone who thinks that you become a journalist or broadcaster in order to be a wallflower needs to think again.”
“It's absolutely fine to think of new ways of doing things, and I'm not just asking for the traditional reporter to look into our living rooms night after night.”
“I ought to rejoice in the fact that our principal rival has died, but I don't.”