There was a moment in his life that John Suchet, one of the most recognisable faces and voices of television news, thought he and his crew were going to die, and that he would be responsible.

It is one of many stories he will relate during his tour around the country with his talk One More Shot Bob, the title of which will resonate with any journalist who has taken a risk for a story.

"It was the single most dramatic moment of my career, just after the Soviet army had invaded Afghanistan. My crew and I had sneaked into the country pretending to be businessmen. We were on a particular story trying to get a really important picture, and we were captured by the Russian army."

Suchet and his crew were put in front of what they all believed to be a firing squad: "It had all the makings of one. We stood against a wall and really thought we were about to be shot. And I got us into that situation."

He states that a desire to get the best story will always lead to difficult decisions, perhaps more so in recent years.

"This was 25 years ago, and on the whole, journalists were not getting killed doing their job. Now they are. ITN lost a reporter in Iraq. It is far more dangerous now than it was then, but you will never stop reporters pushing it just that bit too far to get the story. It's in their blood. A good reporter will always push it as far as he possibly can, and inevitably they will sometimes push it too far."

On that occasion, he says he made a mistake: "My cameraman said he'd got what we needed, which was when I said one more shot, Bob', and I shouldn't have done. It nearly got us killed."

He saw the role of reporters change over his years in the field, but more markedly during a 20 year career as ITN anchor, with technological developments in communications and in the relationship between the media and its targets.

In his talk, Suchet discusses the methods they used to relate news stories in his earlier career.

"I watched what reporters did with eagle eyes for the rest of my career as an anchor, and was incredibly surprised about how the role changed. I was getting stories for News at Ten, but mainly for the next night's News at Ten. Now in the days of satellites, reporters have to be there all day, every day, so I used to sit there as an anchor full of admiration about how in some ways, it is much more challenging for them now."

He is mixed in his opinions about embedded journalists, introduced by the British and US armies in the recent invasion of Iraq.

"The army thought they were doing us a huge favour, and I have talked with very senior military, and they were surprised that we the media sometimes didn't like it. But of course it allows the army to censor us. It is fine to be embedded, until you get a situation where the journalist reports what they are fed, and it then emerges that there are other things going on which the army do not want made public."

Suchet claims to have only scooped his competitors on one significant occasion, and that is was purely by chance.

He got the first British television interview with the new president of the Philippines in 1986.

There has been less luck and more graft in Suchet's new career as a classical music scholar.

His book on Beethoven has been universally praised, and it led to a series of talks on the composer, an honorary Fellowship with the Royal Academy of Music, a regular show on Classic FM, and now a new study of Johann Strauss.

Not bad for a "failed musician", as he calls himself.

"I played the trombone when I was younger and thought I would turn professional. But fortunately for the world of music, I changed my mind."

Classical music has been a companion in some hairy situations.

"For some reason the music of Beethoven is what does it for me, and I have had the Eroica Symphony plugged into my head in some of the worst places in the world. I began to study him, and told my wife I was going to write a book about him. Some years later that book has turned into a little more, and I still give talks about him."

John Suchet is at Wycombe Swan on September 26 at 8pm. Tickets: 01494 512000