- Thursday, November 28, 2024
The British Sri Lankan inspired a generation of Asian broadcasters; he was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2014
By: Chandrashekar Bhat
THE BBC’s Sri Lanka-born journalist and presenter George Alagiah died on Monday (24), aged 67, the broadcaster announced.
His career with the corporation spanned more than three decades, during which he had won several awards.
Alagiah was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2014 and went through “challenging treatment”. However, he continued to work when not receiving treatment.
Born in Colombo on November 22, 1955, he moved to Ghana before migrating to the UK where he joined the BBC as a foreign affairs correspondent in 1989. As its Africa correspondent, he extensively reported on the famine and war in Somalia in the early 1990s. He was nominated for a Bafta in 1994 for covering Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaign against the Kurds of northern Iraq.
In 1994, he was named Amnesty International’s Journalist of the Year for his coverage of the civil war in Burundi and also won the Broadcasting Press Guild’s award for television journalist of the year.
He later presented the BBC One O’Clock News, Nine O’Clock News and BBC Four News, before becoming one of the main presenters of the BBC News at Six in 2003. Alagiah also presented his own show on BBC World News for many years.
He was recognised with an OBE award in 2008 for his services to journalism.
In his condolence message, BBC director-general Tim Davie described Alagiah as “one of the best and bravest journalists of his generation who reported fearlessly from across the world as well as presenting the news flawlessly.”
“He was more than just an outstanding journalist, audiences could sense his kindness, empathy and wonderful humanity. He was loved by all and we will miss him enormously.”
In May last year, Alagiah told Eastern Eye he had about five operations and had been “lucky to be alive”.
“Given what I know about the treatment, it is not fun, it is very, very challenging,” he had said at the time.
Alagiah leaves behind two sons with his wife of 40 years, Frances Robathan, and three grandchildren.
