Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s Middle East editor, is promoting his book The Arab Uprisings at the Edinburgh book festival. Radio 4’s Today programme phoned him yesterday at his hotel, asking him to go to the BBC’s Edinburgh studios to comment on the situation in Syria.
“I refused,” says Bowen, 53, who was hit by shotgun pellets in Cairo last month. “I told them I was spending quality time in Edinburgh with my young son and daughter. While they watched TV, I sat bolt upright in bed, wearing just my boxers, and did a question-and-answer two-way over the phone. That’s the joy of radio. You could be stark naked, and listeners are none the wiser.” Bowen’s quality time is brief. He left Egypt on Saturday to fly to Edinburgh. He flies to Beirut today. Stand by for naked broadcasts from the Middle East.
