Trevor Leggett was head of the Japanese Department of the BBC and this  is a part of one of his broadcasts

Zubari: Old Newspapers

Hullo listeners! This is the summer period when some of us make a visit to another place to visit friends or relatives, and we take out some suitcases in which to pack new clothes. Sometimes we find in the suitcase’s old newspapers from perhaps a year ago. Usually we throw them away, but it is interesting to put them aside, and look at them. We see how the newspapers, one year ago, expected the future to be.

Even a 3-month-old newspaper can be very interesting. I recently found one published shortly before the recent General Election in Britain.  The Conservative Mrs. Thatcher won by a big majority, but this newspaper featured a speech by the Labour Leader Mr. Kinnock, saying that his Party would win a “landslide victory”. Not just a victory, but a crushing victory. The newspaper agreed with him that it was likely.

How completely wrong they were! I remember reading this speech at the time. But I had forgotten about it. It was good to read it again – because it makes one realize again how little we humans can predict the future. In important matters, the best-informed people are often wrong.

© Trevor Leggett