Auto Amazon Links: No products found.
Edward Stourton, a distinguished broadcaster and journalist whose career extended over more than four decades, including ten years on Radio 4’s Today programme, has passed away at the age of 68. The BBC announced that Stourton, diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014, died on Saturday in the presence of his family. Despite the illness, which eventually became incurable and spread, he remained active professionally up until recently.
Stourton’s contribution to journalism was widely recognized and praised by colleagues and peers. James Naughtie, a former co-host on Today, remembered Stourton for his “warm intelligence and wit,” describing him as “one of the best colleagues.” Mohit Bakaya, controller of Radio 4, called him an “absolutely outstanding broadcaster,” while Jonathan Munro, the interim head of BBC News, reflected on the premature nature of Stourton’s death, saying it was “far too soon to lose Ed.” Today’s current editor Rebecca Keating referred to him as the “Rolls Royce of broadcasting,” noting his “sharp mind and vast knowledge of the world” which he applied effortlessly to every story.
Beginning his career at ITN, Edward Stourton played a significant role in launching Channel 4 News and served as its first Washington correspondent during the final years of the Reagan administration. He joined the BBC in 1988 as Paris correspondent before returning briefly to ITN as diplomatic editor. Later, he presented the BBC One’s One O’Clock News and contributed to several programmes including Panorama, Assignment, Correspondent, and Radio 4’s Call Ed Stourton. His work also extended to The Heaven and Earth Show and a documentary series about the Catholic Church titled Absolute Truth. Stourton joined Today in 1999, where his extensive foreign correspondence experience proved invaluable on assignments from Lebanon to Afghanistan. Notably, he was among the first journalists on the scene in New York after the September 11 attacks.
Although his departure from Today in 2008 was prematurely leaked to the press, causing distress, Stourton continued with the BBC presenting various programmes and contributing to Today. In his later years, he wrote and hosted documentaries for Radio 4 and presented religious affairs on the network’s Sunday programme, as well as regularly hosting The World At One and The World This Weekend. Born in Nigeria in 1957, where his father worked, and having spent part of his childhood in Geneva, he was educated at Ampleforth College before reading English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Union. His Catholic faith was central to his life and his work, reflected in several publications including *John Paul II: Man of History*, a revealing biography of the Pope, and his final book *Made in America: the Dark History that Led to Donald Trump*, published for the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence.
Tributes flowed from those who worked with or knew him. James Naughtie highlighted Stourton’s “great integrity and humanity,” his “infectious decency,” and the respect he inspired in younger producers. Naughtie emphasized Stourton’s “wide cultural interests and experience” alongside his warmth and wit. Jonathan Munro recalled their time working together and admired his analytical skills and versatility across multiple programmes. Mohit Bakaya praised Stourton’s intelligence and deep knowledge, noting how he made audiences “understand the world that little bit better.” Stourton is survived by his wife Fiona, a senior television producer, along with two sons, a daughter, and a step-daughter. The family holds homes in south London and southwestern France
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found.