By Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent For Mailonline
12:02 24 Jul 2023, upgraded 13:41 24 Jul 2023
BBC newsreader George Alagiah passed away today aged 67 after a nine-year fight with bowel cancer.
The commonly reputable broadcaster – who signed up with the BBC in 1989 and had actually been the face of News At Six because 2007 – died ‘in harmony’ surrounded by his family.
BBC director basic Tim Davie led homages today, hailing him as ‘among the very best and bravest reporters of his generation’.
Alagiah – who is made it through by his better half, Frances Robathan, and 2 kids, Adam and Matt – was detected with phase 4 bowel cancer in April 2014 prior to ending up treatment in October 2015 and going back to screens a month later on.
His health was back in the headings in March 2020 when he checked positive for Covid. Alagiah was back on providing tasks in April 2022 prior to leaving once again in October after revealing that the cancer had actually infected his lungs and lymph nodes.
Alagiah had actually campaigned to raise awareness of bowel cancer, and in May shared a tweet advising individuals to gain access to totally free screening packages.
‘I want I had access to among these packages when I was initially detected 9 years back,’ he composed.
The Sri Lanka-born reporter withstood 2 rounds of chemotherapy and numerous operations, consisting of the elimination of the majority of his liver.
In a declaration provided today, his representative, Mary Greenham, said: ‘I am so extremely sorry to notify you that George Alagiah passed away in harmony today, surrounded by his family and enjoyed ones.
‘George combated till the bitter end however regretfully that fight ended previously today.
‘George was deeply enjoyed by everyone who understood him, whether it was a friend, a coworker or a member of the general public.
‘He merely was a terrific human.
‘My ideas are with Fran, the kids and his broader family.’
BBC Director-General Tim Davie said: ‘Across the BBC, we are all extremely sad to hear the news about George. We are thinking about his family at this time.
‘George was among the very best and bravest reporters of his generation who reported fearlessly from throughout the world in addition to providing the news perfectly.
‘He was more than simply an impressive reporter, audiences might notice his compassion, compassion and fantastic mankind. He was enjoyed by all and we will miss him immensely.’
Nick Robinson, speaker of BBC Radio 4’s Today program, paid homage stating: ‘George was a dazzling reporter, a charming man and a motivating example to all battling major disease. His buddies will miss him deeply.’
Broadcaster John Simpson said: ‘A gentler, kinder, more informative and braver friend and associate it would be difficult to discover.
‘I enjoyed having his business in the BBC World Affairs Unit, and his development after that was a satisfaction to view.’
Former BBC reporter Jon Sopel included: ‘Tributes will appropriately be paid to a wonderful reporter and fantastic broadcaster – however George was the most good, principled, kindest, most honourable man I have actually ever dealt with. What a loss.’
Labour leader Keir Starmer said he was ‘deeply saddened’ by news of Alagiah’s death.
He said: ‘A much-loved face of BBC News for years, George will likewise be kept in mind for his fantastic, brave journalism as foreign reporter. He appropriately won awards for his expressive, limit pressing reporting. British journalism has actually lost a skill. My ideas are with his family and enjoyed ones.’
Alagiah was a popular and comforting existence behind a BBC News desk for more than twenty years, his imperturbable manner making him a struck with audiences.
He signed up with the corporation in 1989 and was among the broadcaster’s leading foreign reporters, submitting dispatches on topics varying from the Rwandan genocide to civil wars throughout Africa.
Alagiah was born in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo in 1955 when the city was still thought about part of the previous British area of Ceylon.
During the BBC’s protection of the 2004 Asian tsunami, he went back to the nation to discover that his grandpa’s previous home had actually been destroyed in the natural catastrophe.
Alagiah was required to take a break from tv following his bowel cancer medical diagnosis in 2014 and shared updates as he fought the illness, consisting of in June 2020 when he revealed it had actually infected his lungs.
The reporter invested part his of youth in Ghana in west Africa where he moved with his engineer dad Donald and mom Therese.
He relocated to the UK to go to secondary school in Portsmouth after which he checked out politics at Durham University.
During his research studies at Durham he was the editor of the trainee paper and a sabbatical officer of the trainees’ union.
It existed that he satisfied his better half Frances Robathan. The couple wed in 1984 and share 2 children Adam and Matthew.
Before beginning with the BBC in 1989, Alagiah was based in Johannesburg as establishing world reporter for South Magazine.
He was called Amnesty International’s reporter of the year in 1994 for reporting on the civil war in Burundi and likewise won the Broadcasting Press Guild’s award for tv reporter of the year.
He was likewise part of the BBC group that won a Bafta Award in 2000 for its reporting of the dispute in Kosovo, among numerous rewards he received throughout his broadcasting profession.
After initially providing BBC Four News in 2002 he went on to co-anchor the corporations 6pm news, very first together with Sophie Raworth and after that Natasha Kaplinsky.
From 2007 he was the programs sole speaker while he was likewise a relief speaker for News at Ten.
He spoke with numerous world leaders consisting of Nelson Mandela, Robert Mugabe and previous UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
In 2008, he was made an OBE in the New Year Honours list for services to journalism.
The list below year he was asked by the BBC’s management to step down from his function as a customer of the Fairtrade Foundation.
The corporation explained that based upon its concepts of impartiality his function with the group represented an expert dispute of interest.
It was very first revealed in April 2014 that he had actually been detected with bowel cancer. It was later revealed the illness had actually infected his liver and lymph nodes.
After going through treatment he revealed on social networks in October 2015 that he would go back to work, consequently appearing on-screen in November.
An ever-popular speaker, his return was invited by audiences and his fellow reporters, consisting of speakers of contending news programs.
In 2016, Alagiah said he was a ‘richer individual’ for his cancer medical diagnosis, which saw him go through numerous rounds of chemotherapy and 3 significant operations, among that included the elimination of the majority of his liver.
Alagiah’s health was back in the headings in March 2020, when in the middle of a worldwide pandemic he checked positive for Covid-19.
He credited his experience of battling cancer with assisting him handle the ‘moderate’ case of coronavirus.
In June 2020, Alagiah revealed the cancer had actually infected his lungs however provided a normally philosophical judgment.
He informed the Times paper: ‘My medical professionals have actually never ever utilized the word ‘persistent’ or ‘treat’ about my cancer.
‘They’ve never ever utilized the word ‘terminal’ either. I’ve constantly said to my oncologist, ‘Tell me when I require to arrange my affairs out’, and he’s not informed me that, however what he did inform me is that the cancer is now in a 3rd organ. It remains in my lungs.’
Alagiah said he had actually kept the advancement a trick, just informing his editor.
He said: ‘I said to my medical professional, ‘You’re going to need to do the fretting for me.’ I do not wish to fill my mind with concern. I feel in one’s bones that he’s a smart person, doing whatever he can.’
In October 2021, an agent for Alagiah revealed that he would be taking an action back from his providing and journalism tasks as he handles ‘an additional spread of cancer’.
During an interview in January 2022, Alagiah spoke openly about his long fight with cancer, stating ‘it will get me in the end,’ prior to including ‘I’m hoping it’s a very long time from now, however I’m really lucky’.
Despite his matter of truth technique to the illness, Alagiah stayed positive when assessing his profession and domesticity.
‘I needed to stop and state, ‘Hang on a minute. If the complete stop came now, would my life have been a failure?’,’ he said.
He included: ‘And really, when I recall and I took a look at my journey… the family I had, the opportunities my family had, the fantastic good luck to run into (Frances Robathan), who’s now been my better half and fan for all these years, the kids that we raised… it didn’t seem like a failure.’
Alagiah momentarily went back to BBC News At Six in April 2022.
However, in October he when again revealed that he had actually been required to take some time far from his work after scans revealed that the cancer had actually spread out even more.
While sharing the news, Alagiah said: ‘A recent scan revealed that my cancer has actually spread out even more so it’s back to some hard things.
‘I’m missing my coworkers. Working in the newsroom has actually been such a fundamental part of keeping energised and inspired.
‘I eagerly anticipate being back because studio as quickly as I can.’
Alagiah spoke honestly about the experience of living with cancer, signing up with a videocast for the charity Bowel Cancer UK in 2020 in which he said he in some cases felt he had the ‘simple part’, coping with bowel cancer while his enjoyed ones needed to view.
He said: ‘Those people coping with cancer understand that it impacts our households almost as much as ourselves.
‘In some methods I’ve felt through my six-plus years coping with cancer that in some cases I have the simple part… My job is simply to remain in shape and my family has actually got to view all of the other things.’
Appearing in a campaign in help of Macmillan Cancer Support in 2022, discussing the effect of his own experience of coping with phase 4 bowel cancer, Alagiah said: ‘People constantly ask me how I cope and it’s the hardest concern…
‘The difficulty initially was getting my cancer medical diagnosis directly in my head – in spite of having a lot choosing me, an effective profession and a caring family, here I was simply being informed I was passing away.’
Away from journalism, Alagiah was a released author and his launching book was shortlisted for a Society Of Authors award.
His thriller The Burning Land, about corruption and murder in South Africa, remained in the running for the Paul Torday memorial reward, which is granted to a very first book by an author over 60.
