If only today’s simpering TV anchors had the gravitas of my friend Alastair
A fellow newsreader pays tribute to Sir Alastair Burnet, who has died at 84
There has never been a finer news anchorman on British television than Alastair Burnet – not before him or after he retired. With that soft scottish burr, combined with an authoritative on-screen presence, he had the brilliant knack of making news accessible to viewers.
sir Alastair, who anchored numerous elections for iTn’s news At Ten as well as the first Moon landing and the wedding of the Prince charles and Diana spencer, has just died at the age of 84 after a series of strokes.
Yesterday the broadcaster – also a distinguished reporter, national newspaper editor and a voice of state occasions – was hailed by colleagues as ‘the best we’ll ever have’.
Perhaps he will be best remembered for his pre-wedding interview with charles and Diana in 1981 when he elicited the Prince’s chilly aside, ‘whatever that means’, when asked if they were in love.
indeed, when i heard that Alastair had died, my mind immediately flashed back to that summer’s night.
i was due to anchor the live broadcast of the wedding for iTn and Alastair was the commentator. After a late supper we both retired to our rooms at a London hotel. But i couldn’t sleep. Through the bedroom wall, all i could hear was the tap, tap of his portable typewriter. he stayed up all night to ensure that he had every fact and figure at his fingertips and would be word perfect for the ceremony at st Paul’s cathedral.
how very, very different his dedicated and inspirational performance was to the shambles of the BBc’s recent coverage of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee pageant on the river Thames and the amateur slothfulness of many of its presenters.
Today, most news anchors do little more than read somebody else’s words off an autocue. however, Alastair would always write his own script. he was an editor with an editor’s power and the respect that goes with it. indeed, before iTn, Alastair had a distinguished career as a print journalist, editing publications such as The economist and The Daily express.
i remember one night during the Falklands War when there were unconfirmed reports that hMs sheffield had been sunk by an Argentine exocet. We were on air live at the time and there was tremendous pressure on Alastair to announce the disaster and the prospect of great loss of British life.
he would not do so. he told the studio director that we must wait for confirmation, that the families of British servicemen and women were involved. They were undoubtedly watching the programme and we had a responsibility to them.
There were, of course, many lighter moments.
having become a face on iTn bulletins in the early 1960s, he was appointed co- host of news At Ten at its launch in 1967, and was the anchor for the Apollo 11 Moon landing two years later. During the broadcast he told viewers: ‘There it is, the old Moon – the one the cow jumped over, the one the poets wrote about, the one that lovers made love to. And from now on, it’s going to be rather a different one.’
ALAsTAirfamously loved a tipple or two. he always kept a bottle of Bell’s whisky in the filing cabinet. i think he had a dram on the day that a pregnant Princess Diana came to visit iTn’s office. Alastair and i were detailed to look after her. Alastair of course was a model of decorum. This allowed me to have a bit of girly fun with Diana.
i remember she looked at all the scriptwriters, sub- editors, technicians and myriad numbers of young men and with a wicked grin turned to me and asked: ‘Which one is your boyfriend’?!
When i told Alastair about what she said, later, he just twinkled.
Alastair was always avuncular but like many scots (although sheffield-born) he could be dogmatic matic and occasionally harharboured grudges. A deeply principled man, he campaigned for the main news to be returned to its 10pm slot after it was controversially given a new, earlier, time by iTV. he was also adamant that the news reflected the stories which were of general interest rather than just for the chattering classes.
Yet he didn’t mind being mocked by the satirical TV series spitting image which sent up what it saw as his overly-sympathetic documentary portraits of the royals. his puppet character also featured in a regular spoof sketch about the deaths of prominent figures, declaring: ‘Tonight’s main headline – someone famous has died.’
Alastair was the sort of man who took such fun in good sport. Brilliant, unstuffy, kind, generous and always able to respond to the madness of life.
Television can be a cruel mistress. Those who’ve experienced the fame it can bring are always invariably reluctant to step out of the limelight. Most cling on desperately. This was not the case with Alastair Burnet.
When he left iTn in 1991, he never again wanted to appear on TV. he retreated into his private world of books and his other great love, the horses.
As i watch modern TV news presenters simper their way through bulletin after bulletin, i mourn the loss of the gravitas and authority of my dear friend Alastair.