Gorbachev launches TV talkshow career

Mr Mikhail Gorbachev has invited Bill Clinton to be a guest as he launches a new career as a TV talkshow host.

Mr Mikhail Gorbachev has invited Bill Clinton to be a guest as he launches a new career as a TV talkshow host.

The show, called Secrets of Power, is set to go on air at the start of next year and trades on the former Soviet president's kudos to secure important guests.

His international status is already being used in attempts to attract world figures such as Pope John Paul II and Mr Yasser Arafat, reports the Russian agency Interfax.

Dressed casually in jeans and a sweater, Mr Gorbachev has been filmed travelling the world to find guests for his show.

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In many cases, the guests will reminisce about how they helped change the world. The series hopes to have filmed 10 world statesman in profile with Mr Gorbachev by the end of the year.

Alongside the Pope, the former communist leader is expected to talk to Mr Helmut Kohl, Mr George Bush, Mr Nelson Mandela, Mr Yasser Arafat, South Korean leader Mr Kim Dae-jung, Mr Lech Walesa and his own former foreign minister Mr Eduard Sevardnadze, now President of Georgia.

In one of the programmes already completed, Mr Gorbachev can be seen having a beer and a German sausage alongside former German foreign minister Mr Hans-Dietrich Genscher in his home town of Halle.

The producer of the German-Hungarian co-production, Mr Janos Zolczer, says Mr Gorbachev wants to find out what the people are really like who have the power to change the world.

"With Gorbachev's help we have been able to create some very different portraits of the politicians he has known for a long time," said Mr Zolczer.

In all the programmes except one, Mr Gorbachev will takes his guests back to their place of birth, their old schools and their present homes. The exception is the Pope, because he felt it would have shown a lack of respect for his position.

PA