NOT MANY of us have invented a genre of journalism but ROSANNA GREENSTREET has made a flourishing career out of the Q&A celebrity interview. She may not have been the first to think of putting cute questions to celebrities but she pioneered the idea of the quickie celebrity profile and now everybody’s doing it.
Lots of popular papers now have their “30 second interviews” or whatever but it’s The Guardian’s Weekend magazine that has provided the platform for Rosanna Greenstreet’s Questionnaire for the last 19 years.
She had done her first Q&As for the ill-fated Sunday Correspondent, the broadsheet national British Sunday paper, from its launch in June 1989, and when it folded 17 months later the Guardian invited her to bring it across.
It runs to a formula. Rosanna Greenstreet has a standard list of 50 questions, some predictable, some quite intriguing, and from the responses she selects the 20 or so most arresting for publication. The idea is to use the variety of the responses to paint an offbeat picture of the person.
THROUGHOUT the two decades she has been mining the rich seam of celebrity, TIM GOPSILL has been editing the Journalist — a publication that conspicuously eschews the celebrity culture. The NUJ, he says, makes its own celebrities, and its magazine avoids interviews with or stories about the activities of celebrity journalists.
Indeed it harbours a particular disdain for those who become showbiz celebrities themselves.
Rosanna Greenstreet has evidently not become one, because in 20 years of rubbing shoulders with the stars no-one apparently tried to turn the tables and interview her — at least not for print publication — until she and Tim Gopsill agreed to interview each other.
They set each other’s questions and found they had some strange things in common.
Rosanna Greenstreet
What was your lucky break?
Getting the job as Henry Porter’s PA on the Illustrated London News in 1988.
How many Q&A interviews have you done?
I’ve never totted them up, but every week for 19 years in the Weekend Guardian makes nearly 1,000, plus Q&A type interviews for other newspapers and magazines, so it’s into four figures, and I do longer interviews for other publications too.
How much do you earn?
Not nearly as much as you, Tim!.
Which journalist do you most admire?
Henry Porter — a brilliant journalist, inspiring editor and award-winning novelist.
Which was the best interview you have ever done?
Bruce Willis. Our time shrank to ten minutes, but in that short time he dazzled me with his Hollywood smile and delivered interesting answers with no umm-ing or ah-ing. What a pro!
What was your most pointless interview? .
Brian Keenan, who was promoting a book. He was terrific and we talked at length. The editor thought the piece was beautiful but she couldn’t run it; during the research they discovered that he had given the exact same interview four years earlier.
Any been too dull to publish?
Yes but I’m not saying who — I might try them again.
Have you ever missed a deadline?
Never — in fact, I am usually early.
What keeps you awake at night?
Worrying about an interview the next day.
What paper do you generally read daily?
The Guardian, of course!.
Which website do you most visit?
Wikipedia — and yes I double check the information.
What is your advice for a young journalist?
Always be polite. There is no excuse for rudeness, and today’s PA could be tomorrow’s editor.
Which quality do you most admire in a journalist?
Tenacity.
What would you have been if not a journalist?
I used to work in the entertainment world — for a band manager, theatre director and celebrity agent — so I would have been an agent.
Aside from a property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought? .
An oak wood desk from Heals. I bought the matching filing cabinet too, but I wish I’d gone to Ikea as the drawers have never opened smoothly.
Do you ever think of giving up journalism?
Never — best job in the world.
You’ve been in the NUJ for 19 years. Have you ever had to call on it for help?
Yes it helped over my contract with the Guardian.
What is your favourite word?
Yes!
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Hello, it’s Rosanna Greenstreet from the Guardian.
How do you relax?
I never relax.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
No mortgage.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My lovely daughters, my book which was published in six languages and, recently, my MA in creative writing.
Tim Gopsill
How much do you earn?
It’s about £51,000 a year.
Which journalist do you most admire?
In Britain, has to be Nick Davies.
Have you ever missed a deadline?
When you’re editor you set your own but ... OK, not often.
What keeps you awake at night?
Wondering how the magazine is going to get finished by deadline. Somehow it always does.
What paper do you generally read daily?
The Daily Mail. It’s outrageous.
Which quality do you most admire in a journalist?
Audacity, as in everything.
What would you have been if not a journalist?
Taxi driver.
Do you ever think of giving up journalism?
Bit late now.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Surviving in the editorship for 21 years.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Rudeness.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Indecision.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Chin too big — but I’m vain about my hair.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
D’you see my point? Sort of thing.
What is your most treasured possession?
Very funny cartoon about myself given to me, unsolicited, by the much-missed cartoonist David Austin.
What was the biggest story that got away?
The journalist hostage John McCarthy — the NUJ did so much for his campaign but when freed in 1991 he just wouldn’t talk to the Journalist, despite all kinds of approaches. He left the union too. I’d done an exclusive with fellow hostage Brian Keenan when he came out that focused on John McCarthy, which made it all the worse.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
An indescribable disaster while covering a centenarian, with the bloody Lord Mayor in attendance, as a junior reporter on the Birmingham Evening Mail. Clue: I’d drunk much too much beer.
Aside from a property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?
I paid £4,000 for a car. It ran well for eight years.
What is your most unappealing habit?
Rolling my eyes.
What is your favourite word?
Bollocks.
What do you owe your parents?
The gifts from my mum of a sense of mischief, from my dad an understanding of the world.
To whom would you most like to say sorry and why?
What’s the point? Damage is done.
What does love feel like?
Ludicrous.
What was the best kiss of your life?
Not sure but the first proper one was at a trad jazz gig in a park, aged about 17, if you want to know.
What song would you like played at your funeral?
You Are My Sunshine (sung at David Austin’s).
One piece of advice to your successor
Do not reply to unfair criticism. Never descend to their level.
Tell us a joke:
Q: How do you keep flies out of the kitchen?.
A: You put a heap of shit in the lounge.s