Alistair Cooke dies at 95
 

man, a cultural icon for sure. Thank you for your Letters From America Alistair. I listened to them as a child but they ment more when I heard them after I moved to the UK.

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Veteran broadcaster Alistair Cooke dies at 95


LONDON (Reuters) - Legendary British broadcaster Alistair Cooke, best known for his long-running series "Letter from America," has died at the age of 95.

A spokesman for the BBC said on Tuesday Cooke had died in the past 24 hours, but no further details were immediately available.

Cooke retired from the BBC in March after 58 years of Letter from America.

He said he had decided to quit the show -- the world's longest-running speech radio programme -- due to ill-health and on advice from his doctors.

In a statement when he left, Cooke said he had thoroughly enjoyed his time on the airwaves and hoped that some of the enjoyment had passed over to the listeners "to all of whom I now say 'thank you' for your loyalty and goodbye."

Cooke joined the BBC in 1934 as a film critic and began reporting three years later.

Letter from America began in 1946, when Cooke was asked to give a weekly snapshot of life in the United States. During the following six decades, he provided listeners with insightful reports of the country's cultural and political affairs.

As a result of the programme' huge success, he became known in America as the man who explains all things British, and in Britain as the man who explains all things American.

In presenting 2,869 shows, he had missed only three broadcasts. He wrote his letter every week on a typewriter in his flat overlooking New York City's Central Park.

In a 1997 speech to television executives, Cooke said: "I discovered very early on that broadcasting is the control of suspense. No matter what you're talking about -- gardening, economic, murder -- you're telling a story. If you say a dull sentence, people have a right to switch off."

Cooke was also a distinguished face on television. "Alistair Cooke's America" was aired worldwide and his show "Omnibus" changed the face of American television in the 1950s.

Born in Salford, northern England, in 1908, Cooke spent his last years living with his second wife in New York.


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040330/325/epu4e.html

goodnight funnyman :(

Damn. :(

RIP Alistair.

He did Monsterpiece Theatre, right?

MASTERpiece, dear, Masterpiece. Cookie Monster (aka Alistair Cookie) did Monsterpiece.

You know, being of the generation that I am it was impossible for me to ever think of him without also thinking of Alistair Cookie. Though, that is a sign of the icon he was because I don't know many people with a Sesame Street character named after them.

that is just sad news...... he is an icon and
I think it will be a great lose in the industry.

I listened to US broadcast of his BBC radio show, when I happened to be up at 4am or so on Sundays (maybe once a month), as recently as a month ago. Wondered why I kept missing him lately. It's amazing that a 95 year old coot had not only a lot of good stories, lots of interesting thoughts, and historical observations and anecdotes to tie into modern events, but was still able to organize them and articulate them so well. His voice sounded old and breathy, but his mind was still spry. Masterpiece Theater brought him a wider US audience in the 70s or so, but he was doing his radio show way before that and way after that. Glad he was around as long as he was.

So sad......:( may he rest in peace.

That guy's weekly letter got broadcast right round the world.

The national broadcaster here in Australia used to broadcast the letter every week and you could pick it up anywhere in the bush.

I often used it here it when I was on the road out in the back blocks of New South Wales.

as a wanna be writer, I just think such success is amazing.

Just think how he used to make his listeners feel - I could always picture myself sitting with him in front of a roaring fire with a cognac or port and discussing with him whatever the topic of his 'letter' was.

That's pretty amazing seeing often when I was listening to him the temp outside the car was over 100F - yet that was the way he came across. He somehow touched something inside his listeners heads that almost changed reality for them - and yet at the same time he was talking about reality.

Maybe I've had too much wine tonight.

It's funny - I heard that he had broadcast his last letter and I thought then that he had grown tired and wouldn't be with us much longer - and he only lasted another month :(

weird thing is that a couple weeks ago I commented to my husband that I heard a bunch of his old letters being run on BBC radio (one in particular from the Clinton sex scandal was particuarly powerful) and now I guess I know that they knew he was dying.

When I was a kid in the States I would listen to him just because it was 'neat' to hear what someone else thought of my country. When I grew up and moved to the UK it kept me a bit closer to home.