BBC newsreader George Alagiah dies aged 67

newsreader George Alagiah has died aged 67 after a battle with

The Sri Lanka-born journalist, the face of BBC One’s News At Six since 2007, was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer, which had spread to his liver and lymph nodes, in April 2014.

Announcing news of his death on July 24, Mary Greenham told PA: ‘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.’

On October 12, Alagiah revealed he was after scans showed that his cancer had spread further.

In a statement released at the time, he said: ‘A recent scan showed that my cancer has spread further so it’s back to some tough stuff,’ he said.

‘I’m missing my colleagues. Working in the newsroom has been such an important part of keeping energised and motivated. I look forward to being back in that studio as soon as I can.’

Alagiah first revealed he was being treated for colorectal cancer in 2014, but in March 2018 revealed it was terminal as it was caught late.

His stage four progression of cancer meant he had only been given a 10% chance of surviving the next five years.

Alagiah, the main presenter of BBC News at Six since 2007, then and that he would be taking a break from work.

A statement from his rep read: ‘He was first diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in April 2014. In a letter to colleagues in the newsroom Mr Alagiah said his medical team had decided to hit the new tumour “hard and fast”.’

Explaining he was due to undergo a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Alagiah said that working on the programme ‘has kept me sane over the last few years’ and ‘I’m determined to come back’.

After his initial diagnosis in 2014, he endured 17 rounds of chemotherapy as well as several operations which included the removal of a large part of his liver.

The cancer later spread to Alagiah’s lymph nodes and his lungs.

He previously said it took him a while to come to terms with the diagnosis and to ‘get to a place of contentment’.

‘I needed that to just look at my life and say whatever happens, I’m content.’

The revered newsreader also contracted coronavirus in the time before his death, and said that living with cancer had equipped him to battle the virus.

Speaking to the Sunday Times in 2018, he said he felt if the screening age in the UK wasn’t 60 years.

‘Had I been screened, I could have been picked up. Had they had screening at 50, like they do in Scotland…

‘I would have been screened at least three times and possibly four by the time I was 58 and this would have been caught at the stage of a little polyp: snip, snip.

‘We know that if you catch bowel cancer early, survival rates are tremendous. I have thought: why have the Scots got it and we don’t?’

He added on Twitter: ‘My cancer was caught late, very late. Earlier screening is the key. Simply no reason why others should have to go through all the treatment that I’ve had.’

Bowel cancer is the UK’s fourth most common cancer and second biggest cancer killer, with over 16,000 people dying from the disease every year.

Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on November 22 1955, George – the son of an engineer – moved to Ghana with his family when he was six, and had his primary education there before moving to the UK and attending a Roman Catholic secondary school in Portsmouth.

He read politics at Van Mildert College, Durham, and began his career in print journalism before moving to the BBC in 1989 as their Developing World correspondent.

During his early career with the Beeb he became widely regarded as one of their leading foreign correspondents, reporting on everything from the Rwandan genocide to civil wars in Somalia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Liberia as well as being part of the BBC team covering the Kosovo conflict.

He interviewed such high-profile figures as Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.

George had been the face of the BBC News at Six since 2007, making him the longest-serving presenter of the programme since it began, and was also the main relief presenter for the 10 O’Clock News.

He was married to Frances Rowbotham, with who he had two sons, Adam and Matthew, since 1984.