BBC’s Nick Robinson tells of moment he survived horror car smash that claimed life of his two pals
BROADCASTER Nick Robinson has told of the moment he survived a horror holiday car smash which killed two of his pals.
The BBC journalist, 58, was just 18 when the trio’s VW Beetle had a head-on collision in France and exploded.
Friends James Nelson and Will Redhead, son of BBC R4 Today legend Brian, were both killed.
But Nick admits he still does not know how he got out of the blazing wreckage alive.
And he said the tragedy, which he said was “like a meteorite striking”, still sometimes blindsides him.
He told the Crisis What Crisis? podcast: “I remember the moment I tried to smash the windows of this two-door car.
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“I’m in the back and I couldn’t get out.
“And I remember giving up, I mean, I remember thinking, ‘That’s it’.”
The veteran BBC journalist suffered horrific burns and ended up in intensive care on a ventilator.
And he said talk of the machines during the pandemic had brought memories flooding back.
But he said he just had a “desire to get on and get back to the life before” and “not to over-reflect”.
He said he had turned down counselling at the time, when the service was still “quite early days”.
He added he had avoided asking himself “what if” questions, because they “descend into absurdity”.
‘EVOKING MEMORIES’
The R4 Today host said the crash had left him fearing for his two sons, now in their 20s, getting behind the wheel.
He said: “There’s a bit of me saying I don’t want them to drive.
“And yet I desperately want them to go on a holiday and to enjoy themselves and have the freedom that a car can bring.”
The dad-of-two, who named one son Will in tribute to his best friend, said the legacy of the crash can sometimes “come from nowhere”.
He added: “I watched a movie a little while back, it was not even about a car crash.
“And I felt myself well up during this film. I now realise what the trigger was, by the way.
I remember giving up, I mean, I remember thinking, ‘That’s it’
Nick Robinson
“It was a film called Captain Phillips. Over which about the bloke who takes on Somali pirates.
“There’s a moment he is trapped in a diving bell. And I realised that in his own way, it was evoking memories of me being trapped in the car.”
Nick also spoke of his cancer fight after being diagnosed with a tumour on his lung in 2015.
He described his family’s decision to go public with details of his diagnosis and said seeing it as a breaking news story was “the weirdest” feeling.
The presenter said telling his three children was “undoubtedly” the worst part of the ordeal.
He also recalled fearing for his career after surgery left him only able to whisper, saying he kept it a secret from many at first.
But over months he learned to use his voice again after the tumour was successfully removed.