BBC journalist Brian Hanrahan, best known for his coverage of the Falklands War in 1982, has died at the age of 61.
Hanrahan, who spent almost 30 years with the corporation covering major stories from all over the world, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. He was admitted to hospital with an infection 10 days ago.
His varied assignments spanned the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev in the former Soviet Union, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the assassination of Indira Gandhi in India. He rose to become Diplomatic Editor of BBC News.
But he will perhaps be best remembered for his reporting during the Falklands War, when he famously counted the returning Harrier jets to circumvent defence ministry restrictions.
"I'm not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out and I counted them all back. Their pilots were unhurt, cheerful and jubilant, giving thumbs-up signs," he said at the time.
Fellow BBC reporter Kate Adie said Hanrahan had “a wonderful way with words” and recalled hearing his famous Falklands broadcast.
“It was an extraordinary moment," she said. "You heard the words and you knew the import and the way he had delivered it and rightly it has gone into history that phrase.”
BBC director general Mark Thompson said he was a journalist of "unimpeachable integrity and outstanding judgment" and that his personal kindness and humanity also shone through. "That is why audiences and everyone who knew him here will miss him very much."
British foreign secretary William Hague said he was “saddened” to hear of his death.
“Throughout his long tenure as a foreign and diplomatic reporter, Brian’s professionalism, dedication and unfailing good humour won him great respect and many friends in British politics and throughout the British Diplomatic Service. I offer my sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.”
BBC World News Editor Jon Williams paid tribute to the man he described as “a big character”.
He told BBC News Hanrahan had been scheduled recently to report on the last flight of the Harrier jets which are being scrapped because of spending cuts.
“On the morning he sent a text to a colleague saying he was just not well enough," he said. "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 and as I say 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.”
Meanwhile, Anthony Howard, a British political journalist who edited the New Statesman magazine from 1972 to 1978, died yesterday at the age of 76.
Howard died after surgery for a ruptured aneurysm, according to the Guardian. He had reported for British newspapers including the Manchester Guardian and the Sunday Times, and was the Observer's Washington correspondent. He also edited the diaries of former Labour minister Richard Crossman.
"He was a great editor and author - British politics has lost one of its best informed and talented commentators," prime minister David Cameron said.