Annie Nightingale once revealed she was the first person to interview Paul McCartney after John Lennon’s death

nme.com:

Annie Nightingale once revealed that she was the first person to interview Paul McCartney after John Lennon‘s death.Nightingale’s death was announced yesterday (January 12) in a statement by her family.

She was aged 83.The BBC Radio 1 stalwart championed many generations of musicians and was good friends with The Beatles.In a resurfaced interview on The Beatles podcast I Am The Eggpod from 2018, Nightingale shared that she was working on the music TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test when Lennon was shot and killed in 1980.She went on to say the show lined up a special programme that night to pay tribute to the singer and McCartney surprised her by phoning in during show.“It was frantic because we were trying to find people who would come in and talk about John and they just wouldn’t,” she said. “People were too upset, most people were too upset to talk about him.”During the show, Nightingale said they were trying “to reflect how people were feeling but at the same time be professional, be a broadcaster, be professional and don’t get emotional about it on air, wait until later”.

Then in the middle of the programme a producer appeared in the studio and told Nightingale that someone was on the phone for her.“He said, ‘Paul’s on the phone and he wants to speak to you.’ I had no idea who he meant.