My Greatest Mistake: James Naughtie, Presenter of the 'Today' programme

'If I'd got this on air, I could have made this child the most famous baby in Europe...'

There are a lot of mistakes which involve forgetting an important question, mucking up an answer, and folding too quickly in an interview. I remember the embarrassing episodes – passports mislaid on the wrong side of the Berlin wall, in a Buenos Aires taxi, in a bar on a boat in Hong Kong harbour (all found).

I remember something that happened on Kosovo-Macedonia border that was sad but funny in a rather black way. The refugees were pouring out of the hills in the night. I was there with a producer from Today to try to catch some of the drama and the awfulness of the scene. We moved along a line of refugees, trying to find someone who could speak English. We found him. He was carrying a baby who could have been no more than four or five days old. The man told us about his experiences. As he did, the baby interrupted every two or three seconds with cries and squeaks. I hate to put it like this, but it was perfect radio. I asked him about the baby, and he said she had been born in the hills, during that trek to escape the Milosevic forces. He was gripped by pride and relief. He kissed the baby and said, "We're going to call her Liberty." It was obvious, I'm afraid, to me and my producer, that if we got this story on the air this was going to be the most famous baby in Europe.

We could hardly contain our excitement. We rushed away and turned on our mini-disc recorder. There was an awful silence. We had jiggled the machine at the crucial moment when it was laying down the sound and everything was lost. By this time, our refugee had headed off to one of the reception centres in Skopje. We trailed around for hours trying to find our English-speaking man and his baby Liberty. We never did. I've thought of him since, and I hope he's safely home and happy with his baby. But I confess I can't help wishing he'd been on the radio, too.