John Freeman, who has died aged 99, was in turn an advertising copywriter, an army major and war hero, a Labour politician and minister, an incisive television interviewer, editor of the New Statesman magazine, a senior diplomat, a TV executive and a professor of international relations – to all of which he brought an elusive charm and a notable efficiency. When he had made a success of each, he simply decided to move on.
In 1945, after war service in North Africa, he won the parliamentary seat of Watford for Labour. He quickly became a junior minister and was tipped by some as a future party leader. But in 1951, along with Harold Wilson and Aneurin Bevan, he resigned his office over cuts to social spending and in 1955 left politics altogether to begin his serial march through successful careers.
Freeman was born in London to Horace, a barrister, and Beatrice (née Craddock), and educated at Westminster school and Brasenose College, Oxford.
From 1951 onwards he was involved as a journalist with the New Statesman, and established himself as an incisive and in-depth inverviewer with the BBC through his long-running Face to Face programme. His trademark was his refusal to appear on camera himself, always interviewing with the camera behind his back.
Among his subjects were King Hussein of Jordan, sculptor Henry Moore, poet Dame Edith Sitwell, Martin Luther King and psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. His interviews were sometimes regarded as aggressive or insensitive, especially by the softer standards of the day.
Insecurities
He explored the insecurities of the comedian Tony Hancock and the TV panellist Gilbert Harding, who confessed in tears to being shattered by his mother’s death. At the
New Statesman
he was assistant editor, deputy editor and finally editor. He reshaped the magazine and left it with a larger circulation than he had inherited.
Freeman then morphed into a diplomat: Labour returned to power in 1964, and he secured the post of British high commissioner to India (1965-68), and then British ambassador to Washington (1969-71). A more hands-on task presented itself when David Frost asked him to become managing director and chairman of the troubled London Weekend Television (1971-84). He went in and rescued it from disaster, although he had had no previous experience of running a company of any kind. His final role came as professor of international relations at the University of California, Davis (1985-90).
He was married four times, to Elizabeth Johnston, Margaret Kerr, Catherine Dove and Judith Mitchell. He also had affairs with the Labour politician Barbara Castle and the novelist Edna O’Brien.
He is survived by Judith and by six children.