Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Former colleagues’ farewell to presenter
BBC broadcasters including Sian Williams, Charlie Stayt, Susanna Reid and Naga Munchetty were among those celebrating the life and legacy of Bill Turnbull at his funeral.
The former BBC Breakfast presenter died on August 31 at the age of 66 after a “challenging and committed fight against prostate cancer”, which was diagnosed in November 2017.
Family and close friends, including his BBC Breakfast co-hosts, attended a private ceremony at Holy Trinity church in Blythburgh, Suffolk, yesterday afternoon.
Williams, who anchored BBC Breakfast with Turnbull for more than a decade, said: “I think it is a day of sadness and reflection, and I hope sometime today there will also be time to celebrate his life because he was a great friend and a great man.
“And he has so many different connections to so many different people who cherish him that I hope we can have that time together where we can share those memories.
“I wish he were able to understand how much he was valued, and I think it is incredible the number of people here who just wanted to come and celebrate and pay their respects to him.
“Bill made a lot of friends and he was a very loyal friend and he was great to work with as a professional.
“But when you’re sitting alongside someone like that there is a lot of trust that goes with that.
“I think the reason that so many people have turned out today to pay their respects - to think about him and share memories of him and to celebrate him - is because he was a good man.
“He was a great bloke, he was great to work with, he was a great friend, and you see that here with the number of people who wanted to express that.”
Williams, who arrived dressed in black alongside broadcaster Reid, said she will remember Turnbull “with a smile”.
Turnbull joined BBC Breakfast in 2001 as a presenter alongside Williams and they worked together until 2012 when she left after the programme moved from London to Salford.
The presenter co-anchored alongside Reid until 2014 when she left the show to join ITV, and he was then joined by Louise Minchin and others.
Turnbull signed off from the sofa in 2016 after 15 years.
Minchin also attended the funeral along with other famous names including Martha Kearney, Mike Bushell, Charlotte Hawkins and Nick Robinson.
BBC presenter and friend Robinson said he is “going to miss him terribly.”
“People sometimes say people who present TV shows get paid a vast amount of money, they get a lot of praise and it’s easy.
“And it is easy, but the funny thing is hardly anybody can do it well.
“Bill Turnbull did it brilliantly because he was a seriously good journalist but he also was a human being who could reach out, empathise and be warm with people, from presidents, kings and queens down to people talking about their pets.
“People may say that’s easy, but funnily enough I do not know anybody else as good as Bill Turnbull at doing it,” he said.