Tag Archives: George Alagiah

Clive Myrie Pays Emotional Tribute To ‘Mentor And Friend’ George Alagiah On BBC News

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BBC News presenter Clive Myrie has said “journalism has lost a giant” as he paid an emotional tribute to his colleague and friend George Alagiah.

The award-winning journalist and presenter died on Monday, the BBC said. Alagiah had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2014.

Announcing his colleague’s death during the lunchtime BBC News broadcast, Myrie appeared emotional as he spoke about his “mentor and friend”.

Myrie said: “On a personal note, George touched all of us here at in the newsroom with his kindness and generosity, his warmth and his good humour.

“We loved him here at BBC News and I loved him as a mentor, colleague and friend.

“His spirit, strength and courage in the later years of his life is something his family can be so proud of. Journalism has lost a giant.”

On the BBC News at Six, Sophie Raworth, who launched the “new look” show with Alagiah 20 years ago, shared that his “final” wish to return to work one last time.

Raworth said: “I saw him a few weeks ago. He told me he had hoped to come back to work one last time, to say thank you and goodbye right here live on air in the studio.

“He didn’t get a chance. So we have done it for him. I will leave you now with George Alagiah in his own words.”

Alagiah first joined the BBC as a foreign affairs correspondent in 1989, and won accolades for his reports on the famine and war in Somalia in the early 1990s, and was nominated for a Bafta in 1994 for covering Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaign against the Kurds of northern Iraq.

He was also named Amnesty International’s journalist of the year in 1994 for reporting on the civil war in Burundi and also won the Broadcasting Press Guild’s award for television journalist of the year.

Since 2003, Alagiah had been the regular presenter of BBC News at Six, as well as hosting News at One and News at Six.

Alagiah, who was appointed an OBE for services to journalism in 2008, underwent 17 rounds of chemotherapy to treat his advanced bowel cancer after he was first diagnosed in 2014.

He returned to presenting duties in 2015 after making progress against the disease, and said he was a “richer person” for it.

His cancer returned in December 2017, and the presenter underwent further treatment before once again returning to work.

Last October, he announced a break from his role on BBC News as he dealt with “a further spread” of the disease.

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George Alagiah Says He’s Spent A Lot Of Time ‘In Extreme Pain’ As He Opens Up About Living With Cancer

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George Alagiah has said he has spent “a lot of the last 18 months in extreme pain” thanks to a “tumour site” at the base of his back.

The BBC newsreader publicly shared his stage four bowel cancer diagnosis in 2014 and is continuing to undergo gruelling treatment.

In a candid new interview with The Sunday Telegraph, George opened up about how he continues his presenting duties while living with cancer.

He detailed a tumour that is “resting very close to the spine” that doctors think has “eroded a bit of a vertebra”, and while they are not yet sure if it is the cancer, he said it causes him major discomfort.

“I’ve spent a lot of the last 18 months in extreme pain. There have been times when even lying down makes it worse,” he said.

“Sleep deprivation was an issue, but I don’t want people to think I am feeling sorry for myself.”

He added that his back pain is currently not so bad as it has been.

George in the BBC News studio
George in the BBC News studio

Jeff Overs/BBC via PA Media

Asked how he manages to continue to present BBC News if he is in pain, George said: “It is incredible what adrenalin will do. It is invented by nature to get you through anything.”

He explained enjoys working, which leaves him “absolutely knackered physically”, but “mentally rejuvenated”.

“I’ve been with people who treat me as they always did, who don’t patronise me, and it is a tremendous fillip,” he said.

George said that with his chemotherapy schedule – which sees him have low doses for around three quarters of the year, and higher doses for the rest of the time – means he “quite regularly” wakes up “feeling shit”.

“I can suddenly have an energy collapse. But I’ve got amazing colleagues at the BBC who step in to my place on the rota,” he added.

The former BBC foreign correspondent, who was part of the BBC team that was awarded a Bafta in 2000 for its coverage of the Kosovo conflict, underwent treatment his advanced bowel cancer in 2014.

He returned to presenting duties in 2015 after making progress against the disease, and said he was a “richer person” for it.

His cancer returned in December 2017, and the presenter underwent further treatment before once again returning to work.

Last October, he announced a break from his role on BBC News as he dealt with “a further spread” of the disease.

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George Alagiah Says Cancer Will ‘Probably Get Me In The End’ As He Opens Up About Living With Disease

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BBC newsreader George Alagiah has said he believes his cancer will probably “get him in the end” as he discussed living with the disease in a new interview.

The 66-year-old broadcaster was first diagnosed with the illness in 2014 and again in 2017.

Appearing on Craig Oliver’s Desperately Seeking Wisdom podcast, George admitted he does not think he is “going to be able to get rid of this thing”, but spoke of finding contentment with his diagnosis.

“I’ve got the cancer still. It’s growing very slowly,” he said. “My doctor’s very good at every now and again hitting me with a big red bus full of drugs, because the whole point about cancer is it bloody finds a way through and it gets you in the end.

“Probably … it will get me in the end. I’m hoping it’s a long time from now, but I’m very lucky.”

George said he wishes he “never ever had cancer”, but explained it has changed the way he looks at life.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure that I’d give the last seven years back because I have learnt stuff about myself and think about life differently. I’ve become wiser and life’s richer,” he said, noting how he also now has an even better relationship with his wife Fran following his diagnosis.

George is one of the BBC's most loved newsreaders
George is one of the BBC’s most loved newsreaders

Jeff Overs/BBC via PA Media

George underwent 17 rounds of chemotherapy to treat his advanced bowel cancer in 2014.

He returned to presenting duties in 2015 after making progress against the disease, and said he was a “richer person” for it.

His cancer returned in December 2017, and the presenter underwent further treatment before once again returning to work.

Last October, he announced a break from his role on BBC News as he dealt with “a further spread” of the disease.

Explaining his contentment at how things are, George continued: “I had to work at it… I had to do the pros and cons. And I’m content that if it all had to stop now, that actually it’s been a good run. So I’ve got to contentment. Acceptance. I’m not gonna give up. I’m not giving up.

“I think I always knew that there was a kind of impermanence. You can’t be a foreign correspondent and do the things I’ve done, seen the things I’ve seen, and not know about the impermanence of life, and too often lives are curtailed. Rather than worrying about when it’s gonna end, I can see it for the gift it is.

“I feel that gift keenly, every morning. You know what I do, Craig? I have a few mantras, and one of them every night I say to myself, ‘Georgie boy, are you gonna be here tomorrow morning?’ For hundreds or thousands of days in the last seven years, the answer has been, ‘Yes. Yeah, George, you are gonna be here in the morning’. I think, ‘Fuck me, what a gift’.”

Desperately Seeking Wisdom with Craig Oliver is available on all major podcast providers.

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