Falklands : FALKLANDS REMEMBER BRIAN HANRAHAN
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 21.12.2010 (Article Archived on 04.01.2011)
Brian Hanrahan, 61, the quintessential BBC correspondent, has passed away on 20 December 2010 from cancer
FALKLANDS REMEMBER BRIAN HANRAHAN
An Editorial by J. Brock (FINN)
Brian Hanrahan, 61, the quintessential BBC correspondent, has passed away on 20 December 2010 from cancer. He was the Diplomatic Editor for BBC News and reputed for being precise and scrupulously honest.
Mr Hanrahan became a well-known reporter during the 1982 Falklands Conflict, when aboard the HMS Hermes he “counted them (Harriers) out and counted them all in,” a phrase that defined him as a foreign correspondent. Other assignments like the Gulf War and Tiananmen Square helped to mature him as a journalist.
In addition to his reporting Mr Hanrahan presented The World at One on BBC Radio Four and appeared regularly presenting news on BBC News 24.
Born in Middlesex, Hanrahan was educated at St Ignatius, Stamford Hill, Tottenham and studied politics at the University of Essex. Mr Hanrahan joined the BBC in 1970 as a photographic stills clerk, then became a scriptwriter and duty editor in the TV newsroom. He also became the BBC's Northern Ireland correspondent.
During his early career he was based in Hong Kong and Moscow in the 1980s and 1990s. He was a critic of communism, and once stated that "Europe has a lot to thank Mikhail Gorbachev for,” commenting on the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and the funeral of Yasser Arafat in 2004.
A week before the General Election he was diagnosed with cancer and died on 20 December 2010.
In tribute to Mr Hanrahan the Foreign Secretary William Hague said:
"I was saddened to hear of Brian Hanrahan’s passing. His untimely death has cut short an illustrious career in broadcast journalism.
From the Falklands War to the fall of communism and beyond, Brian reported on some of the most momentous events of the past three decades.
Throughout his long tenure as a foreign and diplomatic reporter, Brian’s professionalism, dedication and unfailing good humour won him great respect and many friends in British politics and throughout the British Diplomatic Service.
I offer my sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues."
Mr Hanrahan has visited the Falklands during Heritage Year in 1992 as well as during Falklands 25 in 2007. He made many friends and acquaintances during both visits and kept in touch. He will be sadly missed.
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