David Tereschchuk Interview Episode 87

Matt Crawford speaks with author David Tereschchuk about his book, A Question of Paternity: My Life as an Unaffiliated Reporter. Tereshchuk describes his childhood in a small town on the English-Scottish borders to a precocious high-flying career as a TV reporter, first in London, then in New York. During his years as a journalist, he managed to interview some of the most interesting figures of our times, from tyrants to heads of state, but there was one person he never persuaded to open up to him—his mother. The question of who his father was still haunted him. It wasn't until he was in his 50s that she confided to having been raped, aged 15, by a priest – and even then, not all her information was reliable. Alongside his career, the search for his mother’s abuser has haunted him, adding further layers of stress to a life already marked by alcoholism and insecurity. This is his astonishing story, one that deserves to sit alongside those of Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and David Brinkley, and another revelatory title from EnvelopeBooks.