Emotional Naga Munchetty burst into tears live on BBC Radio Five on Monday as she informed listeners that broadcaster George Alagiah had sadly died.
BBC journalist George, 67, died earlier that morning after a long battle with bowel cancer.
Naga, 47, was half way through her live radio show when she learned the news and interrupted a sports bulletin on BBC Radio Five just after midday.
She said: ‘We’ve had the very sad news that our colleague George Alagiah, BBC presenter – you all know him – who has been living with bowel cancer since 2014 – he has since stepped back from presenting BBC News.
‘We’ve just heard the news he has died aged 65. We’ve just heard that from his agent.’
Emotional: Naga Munchetty burst into tears during a live radio show on Monday as she revealed fellow broadcaster George Alagiah has sadly died, (stock image)
Sad news: George – who had been the face of News At Six since 2007 – passed away ‘peacefully’ surrounded by his family
Pride and joy: The journalist is seen at Buckingham Palace with his wife Frances Robathan and sons Adam and Matt, 17, after collecting his OBE from the Queen in 2008
As her voice started to wobble, she continued: ‘Apologies for the emotion in my voice – he was so loved in our news room.
‘We’ve had that news, we’ll bring you more a little bit later, Rebecca apologies for the interruption, you have the rest of the sport.’
Later in the show, Naga spoke about her love for George once more.
She said: ‘Our beloved colleague, George Alagiah, BBC News reporter, established reporter and correspondent, presenter who whenever he delivered the news you knew you were in safe hands.
‘He was a voice we trusted and he was someone I can personally say I loved, he supported me greatly…’
Struggling with her emotions, she said: ‘Throughout my career…apologies for the emotion in my voice but I do think this will be reflected in our newsroom and our thoughts of course primarily go out to those who loved him dearly and his family.
Widely respected broadcaster George – who had been the face of News At Six since 2007 – passed away ‘peacefully’ surrounded by his family.
BBC director general Tim Davie led tributes, hailing him as ‘one of the best and bravest journalists of his generation’.
Alagiah – who is survived by his wife, Frances Robathan, and two children, Adam and Matt – was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in April 2014 before finishing treatment in October 2015 and returning to screens a month later.
His health was back in the headlines in March 2020 when he tested positive for Covid, before announcing in June that the cancer had spread to his lungs and lymph nodes.
Alagiah had campaigned to raise awareness of bowel cancer, and in May shared a tweet urging people to access free screening kits.
‘I wish I had access to one of these kits when I was first diagnosed nine years ago,’ he wrote.
The Sri Lanka-born journalist endured two rounds of chemotherapy and several operations, including the removal of most of his liver.
In a statement issued today, his agent, Mary Greenham, said: ‘I am so terribly sorry to inform you that George Alagiah died peacefully today, surrounded by his family and loved ones.
‘George fought until the bitter end but sadly that battle ended earlier today.
‘George was deeply loved by everybody who knew him, whether it was a friend, a colleague or a member of the public.
‘He simply was a wonderful human being.
‘My thoughts are with Fran, the boys and his wider family.’
Alagiah was a popular and reassuring presence behind a BBC News desk for more than 20 years, his unflappable demeanour making him a hit with viewers.
He joined the corporation in 1989 and was one of the broadcaster’s leading foreign correspondents, filing dispatches on subjects ranging from the Rwandan genocide to civil wars across Africa.
Alagiah was born in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo in 1955 when the city was still considered part of the former British territory of Ceylon.
During the BBC’s coverage of the 2004 Asian tsunami, he returned to the country to find that his grandfather’s former home had been destroyed in the natural disaster.
Alagiah was forced to take a break from television following his bowel cancer diagnosis in 2014 and shared updates as he battled the disease, including in June 2020 when he revealed it had spread to his lungs.
The journalist spent part his of childhood in Ghana in west Africa where he moved with his engineer father Donald and mother Therese.
He moved to the UK to attend secondary school in Portsmouth after which he read politics at Durham University.
During his studies at Durham he was the editor of the student paper and a sabbatical officer of the students’ union.
It was there that he met his wife Frances. The couple married in 1984 and share two sons Adam and Matthew.
Before starting with the BBC in 1989, Alagiah was based in Johannesburg as developing world correspondent for South Magazine.
He was 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.
He was also part of the BBC team that won a Bafta Award in 2000 for its reporting of the conflict in Kosovo, one of several prizes he received during his broadcasting career.
After first presenting BBC Four News in 2002 he went on to co-anchor the corporations 6pm news bulletin, first alongside Sophie Raworth and then Natasha Kaplinsky.
From 2007 he was the programmes sole presenter while he was also a relief presenter for News at Ten.
Helping others: George had campaigned to raise awareness of bowel cancer, and in May shared a tweet urging people to access free screening kits
Special moment: He was made an OBE in the 2008 New Year Honours list for services to journalism
He interviewed several world leaders including Nelson Mandela, Robert Mugabe and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
In 2008, he was made an OBE in the New Year Honours list for services to journalism.
The following year he was asked by the BBC’s management to step down from his role as a patron of the Fairtrade Foundation.
The corporation explained that based on its principles of impartiality his role with the group represented a professional conflict of interest.
It was first announced in April 2014 that he had been diagnosed with bowel cancer. It was later revealed the disease had spread to his liver and lymph nodes.
After undergoing treatment he revealed on social media in October 2015 that he would return to work, subsequently appearing on-screen in November.
An ever-popular presenter, his return was welcomed by viewers and his fellow journalists, including presenters of competing news programmes.
In 2016, Alagiah said he was a ‘richer person’ for his cancer diagnosis, which saw him undergo several rounds of chemotherapy and three major operations, one of which included the removal of most of his liver.
He credited his experience of fighting cancer with helping him deal with the ‘mild’ case of coronavirus.
In June 2020, Alagiah revealed the cancer had spread to his lungs but delivered a typically philosophical judgment.
He told the Times newspaper: ‘My doctors have never used the word ‘chronic’ or ‘cure’ about my cancer.
‘They’ve never used the word ‘terminal’ either. I’ve always said to my oncologist, ‘Tell me when I need to sort my affairs out’, and he’s not told me that, but what he did tell me is that the cancer is now in a third organ. It is in my lungs.’
Alagiah said he had kept the development a secret, only telling his editor.
He said: ‘I said to my doctor, ‘You’re going to have to do the worrying for me.’ I don’t want to fill my mind with worry. I just know that he’s a clever guy, doing everything he can.’
In October 2021, a representative for Alagiah announced that he would be taking a step back from his presenting and journalism duties as he deals with ‘a further spread of cancer’.
During an interview in January 2022, Alagiah spoke candidly about his long battle with cancer, saying ‘it will get me in the end,’ before adding ‘I’m hoping it’s a long time from now, but I’m very lucky’.
Despite his matter of fact approach to the disease, Alagiah remained positive when reflecting on his career and family life.
‘I had to stop and say, ‘Hang on a minute. If the full stop came now, would my life have been a failure?’,’ he said.
He added: ‘And actually, when I look back and I looked at my journey… the family I had, the opportunities my family had, the great good fortune to bump into (Frances Robathan), who’s now been my wife and lover for all these years, the kids that we brought up… it didn’t feel like a failure.’
George temporarily returned to BBC News At Six in April 2022.
However, in October he once again announced that he had been forced to take time away from his work after scans showed that the cancer had spread further.
While sharing the news, Alagiah said: ‘A recent scan showed that my cancer has spread further so it’s back to some tough stuff.
‘I’m missing my colleagues. Working in the newsroom has been such an important part of keeping energised and motivated.
‘I look forward to being back in that studio as soon as I can.’
He spoke openly about the experience of living with cancer, joining a videocast for the charity Bowel Cancer UK in 2020 in which he said he sometimes felt he had the ‘easy part’, living with bowel cancer while his loved ones had to watch.
He said: ‘Those of us living with cancer know that it affects our families almost as much as ourselves.
‘In some ways I’ve felt through my six-plus years living with cancer that sometimes I have the easy part… My job is just to stay fit and my family has got to watch all of the other things.’
Appearing in a campaign in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support in 2022, speaking about the impact of his own experience of living with stage four bowel cancer, Alagiah said: ‘People always ask me how I cope and it’s the hardest question…
‘The challenge at first was getting my cancer diagnosis straight in my head – despite having so much going for me, a successful career and a loving family, here I was just being told I was dying.’
