but tonight we're devoting this conversation to talking with pearce about celebrities -- piers about celebrities, including his friendship with princess diana. let's begin with his latest career move. why, on god's earth, do you want to do a show on cnn? >> it actually goes back to 1991, i was working a big national newsroom, newsroom in britain, "the sun," for rupert murdoch. in my 20s. i was watching a giant screen like the one behind you. it was the welcome rar, bernie shore and peters arnett. >> this is high in the sky -- >> reporter: they were doing the most astonishing television i've ever watched. the whole newsroom came to a halt, and i realized watching it that the future of journalism was probably through the prism of a tv screen for the first time. and the whole cnn thing seemed incredibly thrilling. the 24-hour rolling news. if it happened, you had to watch cnn. for me, you'd thought i'd spend my life in newspapers. i could see that television through 24-hour news networks like cnn was going to be the future. >> how will you measure success in your show? >> the reason i say that -- ratings. i was brought in when cnn has been going through a tough time with the ratings, with the american audience. i think i've been brought in to shake up that 9:00 hour and make it, i think, louder, noisier. more provocative. get some headlines. get it talked about. i think that's my remake. but above all, i've got to get the ratings up because that is what the problem is at cnn now. i will do that, i think, by maintaining the -- i don't want to be part of xanadu. i don't want to bring my own politics. >> do you see yourself as liberal/conservative? >> i don't want to say that, a, i can't vote here anyway so it's meaningless. b, i don't want to get pigeon-holed once i start the show as a political interview with a bias. you know, people say, well, give an example of how cnn can be the middle ground and not partisan but still make a big noise. i always quote you, actually. from your reporting at katrina. where i really didn't get a sense that you were bothered if it was a democrat or republican administration. >> you know, i got to tell you, there are a lot of people who are upset and very angry and very frustrated -- >> what you cared about so passionately and eloquently in your reporting from there is that somebody in an administration running your country was betrying these people. and it had to stop. now i don't think that is anything but brilliant journalism. i'm not trying to boast you up the backside. >> no, no -- >> if you enjoy it, i can. but i think it's where cnn's at its best is where it can be just as visceral and emotive and passionate as its rivals, without descending into partisan political speak. >> what makes a good interview for you? >> i like it when people are surprising. not just to me but to everybody else, maybe to themselves. >> you've done some -- really surprising interviews with folks in the u.k. i mean, elton john, simon cowell, you know, gordon brown. i think you made them cry at one point or another. how do you make simon cowell cry? >> it's not easy. >> i interviewed him for "60 minutes," days at a time, i didn't get one tear. >> i know him well, i've known simon for 20 years. for him, the only day he'd get emotional is he had a freakish day in his life. he had his first big-number one record with a group called west life. it was the day that his father died. who who had encouraged him through his life. it was this -- as he put it, this horrific day of double emotion. the wonderful excitement of that moment of being number one, and then this terrible crushing moment, ringing his mother to speak to his father to tell him the great news. >> you actually do research? >> yeah. i mean -- yeah. >> i research a lot -- >> i used -- >> i researched simon cowell a lot for "60 minutes" for my piece. i did not know that moment. had i known that, i would have used it. >> i'm obsessive about research because of my journalistic background. i like interviews to engender an emotion in people. whether it's tears, laughter, anger, passion, whatever it is, it can't be dull emotionally. can't be nothing. >> you want authenticity. >> like gordon brown before the last election in brown -- former prime minister of britain. i love how you have to say that -- like president obama, president of the united states. our prime minister at the time. we had this great encounter, the 2 1/2 hour. everybody thoughts from his years as the chancellor running the treasury and the money in the country that he was this dour, boring, unemotional, dourless -- >> that is how he seems. >> people still think that actually, if you know him like i do, i know that underneath all that is an absolute firebrand passionate, emotional guy. i was determined to get it out of him. and there were just some incredible moments in that. both talking romantically about how he wooed his wife, which we've never seen him discuss that before. and also the terrible sadness of losing a child before she was even 10 or 11 days old. he got emotional suddenly, but in a very real way. and it was an extraordinary encounter. but for him, it was an extraordinary result. the british public woke up and thought, wow, this guy's whon we thought he was. and the polls closed six or seven points -- he nearly won the election on one interview because it was the human face this guy who we thought was a robot. that to me is the perfect interview. and i don't care really if they're politicians or if they're members of the royal family, if they're religious leaders or celebrities. the game plan's always the same. >> do you think you could make john boehner cry? >> these kid v a shot at the american dream like i did. >> you know, i think he needs to get more in touch with his emotional side. and i felt this for sometime. when i watch that as a brit, if a british politician did that, weeping about a generic situation, about not being abling to to see schools to meet kids he doesn't know, he'd be laughed at in britain. yet here, i notice although the media was scoffing a little bit, the public actually found that kind of emotion quite moving. and they probably like a bit of emotion and passion in their leaders. >> personally -- i was surprised like the ladies of "the view" made fun of him. i think people want their politicians to be more real. and here's a guy who at least is showing real emotion. >> i suppose the -- the concern is if you get a huge national event like a 9/11. you don't want to have people who are overly emotional running your country. >> right. >> but i didn't get that sense of him. i thought he's genuinely a very emotional guy about that kind of thing, the children, the future, the dream that he's living. he feels that passionately. >> how much of an interview do you try to prepare -- obviously you do a lot of research, you know, you probably write out questions. how much of it is what you've thought about in advance and how much is impromptu based on what somebody says? >> i like to research thoroughly. i like to know anything about them. i would hate to have a moment with a guest where they know you don't know about a key as peck of their life. >> right. >> because you haven't bothered to find out. i think as a journalist i see it as an absolute pre rrequisitepr. having said that, i love spant night. i think on television with an interview, you can get some of the best moments from a silence or from a -- whoa, what did you say? anything that makes it suddenly not look scripted. that makes it go veering off from what the viewer at home assumes is a nice, cozy setup. i like it when it's going to reveal something fascinating about the person. doesn't matter what it is. it hasn't got something bad, just fascinating. to me, there's the seven ps before you sit down. it's -- my brother's unofficial regimental motto in the royal welsh in afghanistan. prior, planning, preparation, prevent piss poor performance. and the their fs for guests, fascinating, fun, and fabulous. and if they're those, you have a great show. if you've done the seven ps and you meet the three fs, you've got emmy-winning stuff. >> seven ps and three fs. >> that's the rule. you should try it sometime. >> sounds good. i will. >> you got lucky today. you didn't do the seven ps, but you got the three fs. >> that is true. after the break, peyiers talks about princess diana's naughty size, his marriage to paris hilton. was there a prenup? 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[ announcer ] healthy green tea, tasty black tea, zero calories. i love this stuff! snapple. the best diet stuff on earth. welcome back to this special edition of 360. my conversation with piers morgan. he had some pointed opinions about celebrities and thinks one of the biggest pop stars of the time is a bore, which i disagree with. he also has a lot to say about the royal family and his friendship with princess diana. >> who do you think are the most interesting celebrities right now? >> prince william and kate because in the end what the royals always show in moments like this with the young royals with a wedding is they are the biggest stars in the world. >> i was amazed and i didn't realized this, but we really hadn't heard kate middleton speak before. that interview they gave was really the first time -- >> the queen mother always had these wonderful phrase which was, if you're a member of the royal family, never complain, never explain, and certainly never be heard speaking in public. >> really? >> that's why she's able to die with an overdraft of 4 million pounds having had a drunken lunch every day of her life and no one cared, everyone loved her. she had done amazing things for her country without ever speaking in public. she never gave an interview. >> really? the queen mother didn't? >> never once. i met her when she was 100 years old, maybe 99, at windsor castle. she's about this high, ferociously smart lady, very quick, and hilarious conversation with her. but i remember as i spoke to her thinking i was 38, 39, i had never heard her speak ever. that's no television clip apart in the war, she was so remarkably resilient and such a great public figure to the country that she could have done anything and they'd have loved her for it. >> i went -- i covered lady di's funeral as a young reporter for abc and on cnn i covered charles' wedding. the things that depressed me from going from the chapel to the party they took airport shuttle buses which to me it was so disappointing. i was expecting even handsome cabs would have been better. >> what's funny, i've got a pub called -- >> i know. i was referring to that. >> the british media -- and i used to be one of these beasts -- they go on and on about you can't waste taxpayer money. they made luke ludicrous gestur. the worst moment to me came about three months before that when the queen was seen pulling up in her rolls outside of mcdonald's for some meet the punters protocol. i remember screaming at the television saying, enough, give the royal family the gold they need to not demean themselves in this manner. if you're going to have a royal family -- by the way for the brits to have one thing over america you can never do better than us because you don't have one, a royal family, we should treasure them. give them the gold. let them eat steak, not mcdonald's. >> mcdonald's. and you knew princess diana quite well. you spoke to her on the phone. >> regularly. >> what was she like. >> she was mesmerizinmesmerizin, charismatic, beautiful, intoxicating. incredible beauty. like one of the most beautiful women i had ever seen in my life. funny, mischievous. she was unpredictable, machiavellian. >> machiavellian, really? >> very. she was the kind of person -- i will give you an example. she -- >> she was born that way or made that way? >> i think partly both. she came there quite a damaged upbringing. her mother was basically an alcoholic who, you know, moved away from the kids when they were very young. i think all those children were quite damaged, and i think diana was troubled as a youngster and then she was 19 when she married prince charles, and ridiculously young age to be pushed into this incredible roller coaster ride of being a princess and the whole world fell in love with her but it made her the biggest star in the world at 19. and i think she found it very difficult to deal with, but she could be naughty. i remember camilla parker bowles' 50th birthday party and prince charles wag doing the big unveiling of his love for camilla, and diana was with mohamed al fayed and i got a call from the boat where they were saying will you photographers be on the beach tomorrow morning at 9:00? which was the morning of the party. i said, yeah they will. okay make sure they are. 9:00 out she comes in a leopard skin bikini and did half an hour of cartwheels, knowing that every front page of the paper the next day would be, dear camilla, happy birthday, love diana, in this stunning leopard skin dress. and that was where she could be mischievous and naughty. >> you also said you're banning madonna. what do you have against madonna. >> she's boring. there's lady gaga. everything is cyclical. it will happen to you anderson. there will be a new anderson. >> i'm boring now. i never pretended not to be. but she's not boring, i like madonna. >> no, she's boring. >> what? >> i'm too old to do that kind of thing. >> come on. >> when i saw her stripping off down to her undies at 52, enough. lady gaga, great. it's the new madonna with bells, with brains. >> i think madonna is very interesting. >> i disagree and she's banned. that's it. by the way, it's permanent. it's a life ban. there's no way back. >> you banned her, but you got married to paris hilton. >> i did. >> we have a picture of this. where is the picture? >> it cost us $300, and it's all over in 15 minutes. that's my kind of romance. >> do you, piers morgan, take paris hilton to be your wedded wife? >> i do. >> and you, paris milton, take piers morgan to be your lawfully wedded husband? >> i do. >> i give you this ring -- >> nice. >> it's a really big one. >> i give you this ring. >> as a symbol. >> as a symbol. >> of my love and fidelity. >> of my love and commitment. >> i give you this ring. >> i give you this ring. >> as a symbol. >> as a symbol. >> of my love and commitment. >> of my love and commitment. by the power vested in my by the laws of this state i do now pronounce you husband and wife. piers, you will kiss your wife. >> thank you. ♪ >> remember, piers, what happens in vegas, stays in vegas. but i'm keeping the ring. >> did -- was there a prenup? >> i can't go into the details. >> did you have to take a course of antibiotics after that? because -- >> because of her dog. you have to be careful. the little dog was yapping at my heels. i'm very proud of my union with paris. i was doing a documentary in las vegas, and i was trying to illustrate how ridiculously absurd and shallow it is to get married in an elvis chapel. i had elvis and marilyn monroe, the rat pack and the beatles. everyone was reforming about us. we went through this ceremony, but she got into the spirit of things. technically she's my bride. >> did she keep the ring in fact? >> probably. >> you used to kind of skewer celebrity a lot. you seem now more embracing of it, true? >> well, sort of. i think i've kind of poached its own game keeper. i have gone on the other side of the fence, but i used to fail as a newspaper editor that a lot of celebrities were whiny little prima donas that wanted to have their cake and eat it. now they've crossed the other side. >> now you're trying to book them. >> i certainly am much more attracted to celebrities who don't whine all the time. i think ordinary members of the public hate a whining celebrity. you have all these amazing things and the only thing you have to put up that's irritating is the photographer or some silly headline. in the general scheme of things, it's not important. >> up next, why piers got punched in the head and a decision he made about covering the iraq war that led to his very public firing from "the daily mirror" in london. >> i remember going back to my apartment on a riverside apartment in london with a few very close friends and we got a chinese meal and we got some fine french wine and i watched my own obituaries on television. [ male announcer ] this is charlie whose morning flight to london starts with arthritis pain... and a choice. take tylenol now, and maybe up to 8 in a day. or...choose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. enjoy the flight. print journalism in england is news for being a rough and tumble world. as i continue my conversation he he talks about the time he got punched and the thrill of being appointed to a major position, and the sting of a very public professional downfall. >> you're only two years older than me. you seem more adult. >> i know. i didn't want to say anything. i had to grow up very early. when he was 20 years old rupert murdoch made me editor of "news of the world." >> i understand the job offer came after you were walking down a beach together. >> it was completely surreal. >> what's that like? haas that like -- >> i was tell you. i was editing the showbiz column in "the sun." i got a call rupert murdoch wants to see you tomorrow. great, where? miami. you're on a plane now. i fl