FEATURE ARTICLE The Last Master - John Suchet in Interview Television newscaster John Suchet's love for the music of Ludwig van Beethoven turned from a secret affair to a best-selling trilogy of books and an acclaimed series of illustrated talks that have brought The Last Master to thousands of people across the country. MusicTeachers.co.uk's editor, John Woodford reports.

There is something ironic in a journalist interviewing a journalist, especially one whose recent years have been spent either reporting catastrophic disasters on a monumental scale, or taking a politician or statesman through his paces. But the purpose of my journey to ITN's headquarters to meet newscaster John Suchet was not to discuss world affairs or political intrigue, but to find out more about a man whose passion for all things Beethoven set him to writing a semi-biographical trilogy of his life. Entitled The Last Master, the trilogy's public reception made it a prelude to an extensive series of lecture recitals that have toured extensively throughout the UK.

'For years, my interest in Beethoven was a secret. Only one person in the whole world knew anything about it - that was my wife Bonnie. Every journalist says that he is working on the great novel, but very few get to complete it. So I was absolutely determined that I wasn't going to tell a soul about it until I got to the end.' However, his cover was blown fairly quickly. In order to write, John would get up at about 4.30 in the morning and spend the next four hours writing before going to the ITN offices to begin a day's work. 'At that time I was presenting the Early Evening News, which was on at 5.40 in the afternoon. Without fail, at 4 pm every day, my head would slump and I would fall asleep: in a busy newsroom like ours, that tends to be noticed. Eventually, my programme editor, who thought I was perhaps having a few too many late nights, challenged me.' He came clean and admitted that he was writing the first of his books on the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven. 'Journalists tend to write thrillers, not books on composers, and my editor was absolutely stunned! Since outing myself (as I usually tend to put it), I've found that so many people have a passion for Beethoven. It's amazing how many feel that they cannot live without his music. I do a lot of illustrated talks and hear so often how he has touched so many ordinary folks' lives.'