HE’S perhaps best-known as ITN’s anchorman during the 1990s, covering the funerals of Princess Diana and the Queen Mother and uttering the words “Andfinally…” on a daily basis; and later, as a Classic FM broadcaster.

But when John Suchet comes to Falmouth on Saturday, it will be to share his enthusiasm for, and expert knowledge of, one of classical music’s most revered names.

He has already written seven books about Beethoven, covering aspects of his life from his early years in Bonn to his hearing loss in middle-age. His latest, In Search of Beethoven, is slightly different: as well asincluding ground-breaking new information about Beethoven's health and ancestry, it is a deeply personal account of Suchet's relationship with the great composer.

Ask when their lives first intertwined, and he admits: “I wish I could point to the musical equivalent of a blinding flash of light when my world changed forever, but the truth is Beethoven crept up on me.

“I had always been a nerdy classical music nut, and my first experience of Beethoven was as a 17-year-old on a school trip to Vienna. We visited the state opera house and saw Fidelio – his only opera – and I slept through the entire thing.

“Two decades later, as an ITN reporter I was on a flight leaving Cyprus for Beirut, flying through the dark towards a red glow of war, listening to the Eroica symphony (number 3) on my Walkman. By that point, he had definitely entered my life, and the music began speaking to me in ways I never expected.”

These included in his mid- to late-30s, when he was promoted to ITN’s prestigious Washington bureau. “Argentina invaded the Falklands, and instead of being a ‘fireman’ jumping on a plane, I was a diplomatic correspondent, attending briefings with the British ambassador. It’s a subtle art, and I wasn’t a subtle reporter. I was out of my depth.

“At the same time, my marriage was unravelling. That single piece of Beethoven I knew, the Eroica - I needed it. It begins with desperation and defiance, and ends in triumph. I still need it to this day. If I don’t listen to it every day, I hear it in my head. It’s got everything.”

While west of the Tamar, John will also recall happy memories of childhood holidays at Polurrian, on the Lizard Peninsula, with family members including younger brother David, now famous for playing Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot. “Our dad was keen to explore local culture and took us to Helston to see the Furry Dance,” he remembers.

John Suchet will be in conversation with BBC Radio 3 presenter (and Cornishman) Petroc Trelawney at the Poly in Falmouth from 6pm on Saturday. For further information and tickets, visit falmouthbookfestival.com