Sidcotian and National Broadcaster Justin Webb Visits Sidcot School

17 October 2022, Winscombe: At the end of last week, Old Scholar and national BBC broadcaster Justin Webb (Sidcotian:1972-1979) visited Sidcot School for a Q&A session with current students from Years 10-13. Justin Webb boarded at Sidcot and is famous in School history for having won the coveted annual public speaking competition, ‘The Dymond Speech’ contest, three times over – the only student to have ever done so.

The students were captivated and amused by his tales of life at school in the 1970’s – though he assured them that much has changed since his time, commenting: “The thing I notice now most of all, is not the buildings. Yes they are new, the School has moved forward but the real thing is you and the Headmaster and all the teachers. There is a real sense that they are interested in you and your futures, and there is a kindness that surrounds you here.” Reflecting further, he concluded that “the modern challenges you face are very different and in some ways harder than the challenges I faced at a similar time of life.”

When asked by a student what his advice would be for a Sidcot student today, he said: “Don’t waste any opportunity that comes your way between school and later life. Put yourself forward for all the exciting opportunities out there and maximise that time you have, as it’s shorter and busier than you think”.

There were also passionate discussions from the room on the subject of humanity and impartiality in journalism. Justin shared his knowledge of working in journalism today with all the students, commenting, “Journalism is not about getting the best grades. It’s about intensive competition to get the story. You need an ability to charm people into opening doors for you that they might not normally have opened. It’s also about being calm and street-smart in a range of scenarios. It’s about putting yourself at the centre of what’s happening, for good reason, so you can share it with others. If you want to be a journalist, just write stuff, write stuff about anything and everything and enjoy the whole process. If you like to discover things or you are a gossip that likes to know who is going out with whom, or why they are not anymore, those are the journalists among you. If you steer clear of that kind of thing and you are more academic, then be a teacher instead.”

Justin also shared stories of his most exciting media assignments during his time as a war correspondent for the BBC, as well as interviews with US Presidents including Barack Obama and George W Bush.

At the end of the session, Headmaster Mr Iain Kilpatrick presented Justin with a personalised school rugby top as he had been a keen rugby player during his time at Sidcot, even joining the local adults’ team (Winscombe 3rd’s) at just 14 years old, to play against Yatton and others on a number of occasions.

Justin Webb is a British journalist who has worked for the BBC since 1984. Since August 2009, he has co-presented the flagship Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is a former BBC North America Editor and co-presented BBC One’s Breakfast News programme from 1992-97.