Who is Selina Scott?
Selina Scott has spoken about her “humiliation and anger” after being assaulted and robbed in central London, and being unable to find a police officer.
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Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has apologised to the veteran broadcaster after her ordeal last week.
Sir Mark told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on LBC: “I can feel for her. She’s obviously very upset. She’s a 70-odd-year-old lady who had a very frightening experience.
“The officers weren’t able to give the service that we would expect on that day. I’m sorry about that.”
Ms Scott lost her bank cards, driving licence and cash in the robbery and said that CCTV in the area was not working.
Judging by her social media, Ms Scott is now safely back at her north Yorkshire home but has been understandably shaken by the events in London.
Who is Selina Scott and why is she in the news?
Ms Scott is more accustomed to presenting the news than being in it.
The 73-year-old has a long history of presenting current affairs, arts, and politics programmes, but appeared as an interviewee on Nick Ferrari’s show on LBC after being mugged.
“There were too many of them and there were no police anywhere,” she said after the incident, which happened outside Waterstones in Piccadilly.
“So, I’m feeling humiliated and angry, but most of all fearful for all those who are listening to Nick’s show and feel that they can walk the streets of London safely, because I’m telling you, they can’t.
“So, here’s my question, why when you can put police on the streets whenever anyone wants to shout their head off on a march, yet you can’t patrol the centre of London to protect thousands of people like me?”
She expressed her frustration to Sir Mark, saying that she could not find a police officer anywhere. Sir Mark apologised and the police force is now investigating.
Born and raised in Yorkshire, she still lives in her home county but has travelled far and wide for her work, including a stint presenting in the US in the 1980s and 1990s.
What has Selina Scott presented?
Rising to prominence in the 1980s, Ms Scott presented news and current affairs programmes for ITV and the BBC while she was in her late 20s and early 30s before moving Stateside.
She interviewed celebrities including chess champion Garry Kasparov, former Beatle George Harrison, and U2’s Bono while presenting West 57th for CBS.
Since the mid nineties she has favoured one-off productions and limited series, although she returned to provide maternity cover for Natasha Kaplinsky on Channel 5’s news in 2008, and fronted BBC documentaries.
Her credits include:
- Sky News: 1990s
- Tales from the Country, ITV: 2000s
- Animal Rescue Live, BBC: 2000s
- The Clothes Show, BBC: Various years
- The Real Marigold Hotel, BBC: 2016
And what happened when she met Donald Trump?
One of Scott’s mid nineties ventures was to interview Donald Trump, then a socialite and New York retail tycoon, for an ITV documentary.
The future president had reportedly expected a puff piece but the programme exposed his business malpractice and that he owed millions to banks.
She told BBC Newsnight that he was “ambitious” but could not imagine he could ever have been president.
“I knew he was an unreconstructed misogynist,” she said. Of the interview, she added: “I was expecting someone who was going to be pretty difficult.”
She said Mr Trump sent many letters, questioning her work and putting down her appearance, before sending press cuttings of better coverage he had received.
Later, in the nineties, Mr Trump told Ruby Wax: “Selina Scott made me look as bad as possible… But where is she now? Whatever happened to her?“I think she was a terrible reporter who got it terribly wrong… As proven, here I am bigger and better than ever!”
Selina Scott’s famously private, private life
Ms Scott has never been drawn about her personal life. She told the Guardian in 2021: “I tried very hard. Private life to me meant private. I was able to be independent, do my thing, meet who I wanted to meet, and pretty much got away with it all, and for that I am truly thankful.”
Also in the interview she said that Prince Andrew had once asked her on a date (and her number while on Wogan), which she had declined, and that she shared her house with only a ghost at the time of writing.
She added: “Marriage and being tied to a particular person is fine for people if that’s what they want, but it can be seen as an achievement that you don’t get married today. I consider it an achievement that I’ve been free to do anything I’ve wanted to do. I’ve chosen who I would like to be with or not be with.”
It has also been suggested that Andrew’s older brother, now King, Charles was romantically interested but this has never been confirmed. The public have not known who Ms Scott has dated - but one person who did have an insight was Charles’s former wife Princess Diana, whom she revealed was a friend.
“We always talked about things like hairstyles, clothes and boyfriends,” she told the Guardian of their time together.