Veteran BBC reporter Brian Hanrahan dies aged 61

Biggins

Veteran BBC reporter Brian Hanrahan dies aged 61

The Times report.

The BBC journalist Brian Hanrahan, who made his name with his coverage of the Falklands War, has died at the age of 61. Having joined the BBC in 1970, he was a reporter for almost 30 years, covering landmark events including Mikhail Gorbachev’s appointment as Soviet leader, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the handover of Hong Kong, the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales and the September 11 attacks.

But he was probably best known for his work in the Falklands. Reporting from the deck of HMS Hermes, he sidestepped MoD restrictions on revealing the operational details of that day’s Harrier jump jet sortie by telling viewers: “I’m not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out and I counted them all back.”

Mr Hanrahan died after a short battle with cancer, the BBC said today. Jon
Williams, BBC World’s news editor, paid tribute to his colleague, who had been scheduled to report last week on the last flight of the Harrier fleet, which has been axed in defence spending cuts.

“On the morning he sent a text to a colleague saying he was just not well enough. He wasn’t well enough because he was in hospital, but that’s the measure of the man. He had a hunger, he was 61-years-old and he had a hunger to do the story.

“He was a big character and television needs big characters, and people who can punch through the screen and be embraced by the audience, and that was Brian’s lasting achievement - he was loved by the audience.”

Mr Hanrahan, who was married with one daughter, graduated from Essex University with a degree in politics and spent a year teaching science in West Africa with VSO before joining the BBC.

Later in the 1980s he moved to Moscow as Gorbachev took over and began his campaign of glasnost and perestroika. He covered the rise of the trade union Solidarity, and the installation in Poland of the first non-Communist government in the Eastern Bloc.

He was beside the Berlin Wall as it fell, witnessed the Romanian revolution and was in Tiananmen Square when the Chinese authorities broke up the student protest. He later covered the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, and was a regular in the flashpoints of the Middle East.
His less hairy assignments included the reshaping of Nato and the EU, the D-Day anniversaries and the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales and the Queen Mother.

As the story of the September 11 attacks broke, he provided live commentary and political analysis from London, but went to New York shortly afterwards to see the aftermath for himself.
He became a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4 programmes including The World at One and The World Tonight, but still ventured into the field where possible.

Earlier this year he returned to Poland to cover the plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski, many senior Polish politicians and Anna Walentynowicz, the Solidarity activist whose firing sparked the Gdansk shipyard strike of 1980.

Those that were around during the Falklands battles will remember him and his authoritative voice becoming the sound of good , decent accurate reporting. Before and after he continued on with equal high skills and reputation.

I remember him alone from the fall of the Berlin Wall, the fall of Poland's communist party, etc...
He was just reporting history. He was part of it at times.
He brought honour and truthfulness to be the title of being a reporter/journalist.
Something lacking in a lot of todays later reporters.

He will be sorely missed from our screens.

RIP Brian.

mike65

Famous enough to be the subject of parody of a kind!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDKQliH1awY

I was surprised at his age only 61, as he has been in the tv for my whole adult life.

take everything

mike65 wrote: »

Famous enough to be the subject of parody of a kind!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDKQliH1awY

Peter, you've lost the news!!!