My Alter Ego - George Augustus Sala

Can you imagine who you might have been if you'd lived at a different point in history? That's exactly what the presenters of My Alter Ego have been asked to do. Each programme in the series is presented by someone whose life, career, or mind-set shares some similarities with a character from history. Programme 3: George Augustus Sala was a Victorian journalist, one of the best known writers of the day, whose career took off when Charles Dickens spotted his talent and published his work in 'Household Words'. Sala joined the Daily Telegraph shortly after its launch in the mid 1800s becoming a prolific leader writer and an adventurous and well-travelled foreign correspondent. He reported on the American Civil War (where his southern sympathies made him an unpopular figure) and the Franco-Prussian war (where he was arrested and thrown into jail, accused of being a spy). He would never travel anywhere without a revolver, a corkscrew, and a 'little huswife full of pins, needles and buttons'. it doesn't really compare with the Blackberry, mobile phone, and flak jacket needed by today's foreign correspondents, but despite this, Con Coughlin (the Daily Telegraph's Executive Foreign Editor) sees many parallels with his career and Sala's. In the third programme in this series Con Coughlin explores those parallels, while telling the colourful life-story of his Victorian alter ego. Producer: Karen Gregor.