BBC lost one of its bravest and finest journalists last week, and the world is mourning the loss of this irreplaceable TV presenter.
BBC has an incredible talent pool consisting of imminent journalists who break barriers in the world of news reporting every day. And recently the world lost one of its finest reporters when BBC’s award-winning journalist and TV presenter George Alagiah passed away.
George Alagiah OBE has left behind a legacy with his illustrious career in anchoring and presenting, and the world mourns today as it was officially confirmed last week that he has passed on. After a long-drawn battle with a fatal illness, Alagiah rests in peace. Here’s what happened to him.
George Alagiah’s untimely death
George Alagiah, who was a BBC legend, passed away on the 24th of July. The journalist has been facing an ongoing battle against bowel cancer since 2014. After 9 years of treatment, the 67-year-old George succumbed to the illness recently as he breathed his last while being among family and friends. George has been undergoing treatment on and off since 2014, with a major round of chemotherapy in the same year as his diagnosis.
Friends, family, and associates of the journalist are mourning his loss, by sharing some heartfelt words about George on their social media accounts. His agent announced his death by saying the following, as per ITV:
“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”
The incredible legacy left behind
George Alagiah has left behind a legacy in the form of his incredible career as a journalist. The father of two is remembered and honored as one of the best and bravest journalists of his generation, along with being regarded as a wonderful human being. He is a recipient of the honorable Bafta when he covered the Kosovo conflict way back in 2000. Being an integral part of BBC since 1989, he grew on the job when he became a part of the BBC Six O’Clock News team in 2003, after having been one of the most successful foreign correspondents.
And over time, he has covered various monumental events, such as the genocide in Rwanda and the various civil wars in Afghanistan, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. As per ITV, George has also interviewed iconic personalities such as Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, given that he was a specialist when it came to Africa.
Over the course of his career, he won many acclaimed awards and got his title as an OBE in 2008. Besides his enriching career in journalism, George Alagiah was also a published author for his stirring novel, The Burning Land.
The long battle with cancer
Alagiah has been on and off career-wise since his diagnosis in 2014. While he returned to his job in 2015 after a round of chemotherapy, his cancer returned in 2017, where he had to take further treatment. And in 2021, and 2022, the cancer was back, thus taking him away from his work yet again. He said the following about cancer and living with it:
“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.”
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