Brian Lamb
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Brian Patrick Lamb (born October 9, 1941) helped found the C-SPAN television network in 1979, and has been its chief executive officer since its founding. He hosts Washington Journal once a week, and hosted the C-SPAN show Booknotes from 1989 to 2004. Lamb now hosts a weekly one-hour program called Q&A in which he interviews people from a wide range of backgrounds, such as journalists, teachers, politicians, authors, and technology innovators. Q&A airs every Sunday night at 8 and 11 p.m. ET. [1]
He is the editor of several collections of Booknotes interviews. Lamb edits out his side of the questioning, leaving something of an essay by the interviewee:
- Booknotes on American Character: People, Politics, and Conflict in American History
- Booknotes: Stories from American History
- Booknotes: America's Finest Authors on Reading, Writing, and the Power of Ideas
- Booknotes Life Stories: Notable Biographers on the People Who Shaped America
Lamb is also the author of Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites.
According to a Washington Post profile [2], Lamb has never spoken the words "Brian Lamb" on the air and forbids C-SPAN hosts to say their own names, under the notion that this discipline removes ego from the C-SPAN formula, at least from the host's side.
Lamb was born in Lafayette, Indiana. He graduated from Purdue University, going on to join the U.S. Navy. While in the Navy, he served at the White House during the Johnson administration. He also served in the Pentagon's public affairs office, and later in the Office of Telecommunications Policy during the Nixon administration. In addition to his executive branch experience Lamb also spent time on Capitol Hill, serving as press secretary for Sen. Peter H. Dominick (R-CO).
On September 26, 2005, it was reported that Lamb married a hometown friend named Victoria (no last name given). A C-SPAN spokeswoman said that they were married in a small, private ceremony in the Washington area.[citation needed] The Washington Post has honoured Lamb with the title "Most Boring Man in America."[citation needed]
[edit] Quotes
"How long's he been dead?" question asked to Milton Friedman about F.A. Hayek, an example of Brian's unique and direct interviewing style.
"Who was Abraham Lincoln?" question asked to Lincoln biographer David Herbert Donald about Abraham Lincoln, another example of a direct, no-frills style. Donald's first response was "Oh, my. What a question!"
In a Washington Business Forward article, Lamb once stated: "Barbara Walters treated me with disdain. I'll never forget that."
