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BBC journalist Wheeler dies at 85 | BBC journalist Wheeler dies at 85 |
(10 minutes later) | |
Veteran journalist Sir Charles Wheeler, the BBC's longest-serving foreign correspondent, has died at the age of 85 after suffering from lung cancer. | Veteran journalist Sir Charles Wheeler, the BBC's longest-serving foreign correspondent, has died at the age of 85 after suffering from lung cancer. |
A reporter, presenter and producer, he covered stories such as the assassination of Martin Luther King and Watergate when based in Washington. | A reporter, presenter and producer, he covered stories such as the assassination of Martin Luther King and Watergate when based in Washington. |
He spent eight years in the US capital, also reporting on the shooting of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy. | He spent eight years in the US capital, also reporting on the shooting of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy. |
He was considered "a legend", BBC director general Mark Thompson said. | He was considered "a legend", BBC director general Mark Thompson said. |
"His integrity, his authority and his humanity graced the BBC's airwaves over many decades," he added. | "His integrity, his authority and his humanity graced the BBC's airwaves over many decades," he added. |
"He is utterly irreplaceable but like everyone else, I am privileged to have worked with him." | "He is utterly irreplaceable but like everyone else, I am privileged to have worked with him." |
'Magnificent' man | |
Sir Charles began his media career at the Daily Sketch newspaper. | |
He ran errands at the now-defunct publication, having been inspired to become a journalist by a film he had seen as a teenager. | He ran errands at the now-defunct publication, having been inspired to become a journalist by a film he had seen as a teenager. |
After five years in the Marines at the end of World War II, he joined the BBC in 1947 and spent 11 years as a writer and reporter for the BBC World Service. | After five years in the Marines at the end of World War II, he joined the BBC in 1947 and spent 11 years as a writer and reporter for the BBC World Service. |
Mr Wheeler was born in Germany in 1923 and was educated in KentSpells as the corporation's correspondent in South Asia and Germany followed, before his move to Washington. | |
He was also known as one of the faces of the BBC's Panorama and Newsnight programmes. | |
Mark Damazer, the controller of BBC Radio 4, said Sir Charles was a "magnificent" man who "embodied all that is best in the BBC's journalism". | |
"He had a brilliant eye and an unequalled ability to convey what he saw and what he knew." | |
Mr Damazer said Sir Charles's work for Radio 4 over the past decade "demonstrated his astonishing range, dealing with central and eastern Europe, but also - and superbly - with the legacy at home of World War II". |