Written Interview with British journalist, author, and academic John Cornwell

Written Interview with British Journalist, Author, and Academic John Cornwell  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cornwell_(writer) 1)What was it that prompted you to become an investigative journalist and author? It started with a personal interest in the dangers of pollution in the Mediterranean,  when I was teaching in Canada in the late 1960s. I decided to discover whether it might be true that the sea could become a dead ocean like the Great Lakes of Canada and the US.  I wrote an article: my first feature and it sold all over the world.  I thought:  I like this. 2) In 1969, you published the book, The Spoiled Priest. How did you decide on the subject matter of that particular book? I had spent two years in the senior seminary of central England, studying for the priesthood.  It was an unhappy, although interesting and formative experience:  I decided to employ some of those experiences in the form of a novel. 3) How would you describe your own particular writing style? Are there any authors you look to for inspiration? I learnt about writing style from the journalist, historian, and novelist Hilaire Belloc whose works I read as a teenager. 4) In 1999, you published “Hitler’s Pope”. The book is highly critical of Pope Pius XII as a figure complicit with the evils of the Nazis, which included primarily the signing of the Konkordat which gave the church a monopoly over education in Germany in exchange for the dissolution of their Catholic Centre Party which gave the Nazis a clear run politically. As part of your research, you were granted what has been described as “unprecedented access” to the Vatican State Secretary archives. What prompted you to pursue this project and how were you granted such access to the archives? It started with a meeting a dinner with several students who accused Pius XII of being a fascist.  I thought they were wrong, and decided to embark on my own investigation -  my US publisher was very supportive.  The book did not turn out as I expected it would. 5) As a Catholic yourself, has the evidence you uncovered regarding the church in any way challenged your own fealty to the Holy See? Faith is always a problem, daily.  For 20 years I was an agnostic, and I even waver from day to day.  But the mystery of life and creation keeps me within the Christian fold more or less. 6) You followed up Hitler’s Pope  with Hitler's Scientists. The book is a compelling story of German scientists under Hitler’s regime and a wonderful commentary on ethics in science. What did your research process consist of for this particular book? It is a sister book to Hitler's Pope: the common theme is the predicament of the fellow traveler:  those who dissociated themselves from the ideology of the dictator and yet in various ways game him credibility and took benefits from him and the regime. 7) One of my inspirations, Christopher Hitchens, held you in very high regard. I would be terribly curious to know how you came to be introduced to him? I met Christopher in the early 1980s when he was hoping to work for my newspaper, the Observer,  as a correspondent in Washington.  It didn't work out, as my editor wasn't interested.  But in subsequent years whenever I was in the US we would meet up.  He approved of the Hitler's Pope book and we had many conversations about religion; although we didn't always agree.  8) You have been the Director of the Science and Human Dimension Project  for some time. For people unfamiliar with it, what is its purpose and how may people find out about it? The project is a program based at Jesus College, Cambridge, in public understanding of science;  founded in 1990.  There is a website:  Science-Human.org. 9) If you weren’t a journalist and author, what do you think you would be in life? A school teacher.