Sometimes the memories which stand out most are not the photography itself, but the experience of meeting and photographing remarkable people. That certainly applies to the sessions with former minister Lord Denis Healey and Helmut Schmidt, former Chancellor of Germany.
We were nearing completion of our first book, Portraits of Service, in the late spring of 2012, when I thought it would be interesting to get in touch with a British lord, Lord Denis Healey, as I knew he had been involved with British troops during the Second World War. I requesting a meeting for an interview. To my surprise and delight, I heard back from him very quickly, saying I should get in touch as he’d be pleased to talk.
Healey had a reputation for being the best Prime Minister that Britain never had and he was also known as “Old Eyebrows” for fairly obvious reasons. He was very welcoming and we enjoyed our time together, although he was somewhat reticent about his war memories. Being a man of 94 years of age, it is possibly not surprising that he didn’t want to go back that far in his life, after a prestigious career as a politician, working as Minister of Defence and Chancellor of the Exchequer, which were the obvious highlights of a long life in politics. He suggested I read his book, “The Time of my Life” as it was all in there, as he put it. We went to a nearby bookshop in Sussex, where he was living, and found a secondhand copy which he later gladly signed for me, then including a cartoon sketch of himself as Old Eyebrows. While we were saying our goodbyes, he asked if there was anyone else he might know in the book, or planned for inclusion in it. “Not really,” I replied, “though I’d love to persuade Helmut Schmidt to take part.”
“Oh, I’ve known Helmut for over 50 years. Give him my best wishes, he’s sure to take part.” Which turned out to be true. Back in Germany we wrote to Herr Schmidt at the address of Zeit Magazine in Hamburg, where despite his age of 93, he still turned up every day to work in his small office. However, his schedule was such that we would miss the publishing deadline at the end of July as he could only offer a date in October. We still wanted to interview him, which turned out to be an excellent decision. His story was included in our second veterans book, Veterans Voices.
Schmidt wasn’t as reluctant to talk about his war memories and he gave us 30 minutes of his valuable time and the minutes seemed to go by very quickly. His English was excellent, which reminded me of something I had read about him when he had spoken to the British Parliament about the advantages of being a part of the European project in the 1970s. Newspapers were so impressed, they claimed his English was better than some of the Labour members’!
I was left with a few minutes towards the end to take his portrait and as he was confined to a wheelchair, it had to be an image of him sitting at his desk in front of a bookshelf. Not too exciting but it was certainly an authentic way to portrait the former chancellor. Now he wasn’t really known for being a particularly cheerful fellow, and most shots showed a fairly sad face, so I asked him if he could give me a more friendly expression. To which he replied, “What, even friendlier?”
As a result, he had to smile at his own comment and I managed to get an image which was indeed a more friendly, positive, one.
Sitting in our car minutes later, my wife and I were trying to process what had just happened. An elder statesman had devoted half an hour of his still busy schedule to talk about very personal and quite emotional memories and we felt so privileged to have been a part of it. It was a true highlight in our own lives to think back on and reflect about the glimpse he had given us about his life. He had asked us a few questions about Lord Healey, which we answered as well as we could, but the big surprise was yet to come.
A few months later we visited Lord Healey again with a copy of the now published version of “Portraits of Service”. He didn’t immediately remember us until we showed him his own page and I thanked him for supplying the valuable contact details to Helmut Schmidt. This was evidently a lightbulb moment for him as his face lit up with pleasure.
“Do you know what, Helmut came to visit me a couple of months ago! We hadn’t seen each other in years and it was wonderful to catch up after all that time.” Both had lost their wives fairly recently and had a lot to talk about. I felt this was a direct result of our meeting with Helmut Schmidt and even if we had been only partly responsible for their reunion, it was a joyful occasion and one they were both happy with. Sometimes life is full of pleasant surprises.
A great story. Thinking back on many of the politicians of that era, our contemporary politicians seem small by comparison. I do wonder if it has something to do with the military experience of Healey and those of his generation, since so many of them served in the armed forces during the war.
Interesting point. The path to becoming a politician now is a lot easier and many are devoid of other types of professional experience too. The discipline of a military background would certainly have made an impact, so I agree, and thanks for the feedback!