Nick Robinson pays tribute to George Alagiah
George Alagiah’s BBC colleague and friend Nick Robinson held back tears as he described the “cloud of sadness” lingering over the BBC studios.
Like many other BBC programmes, Monday’s The One Show kicked off with a special tribute to the 67-year-old, who died following a nine-year battle with cancer.
Nick joined hosts Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas to reflect on George’s life.
“First, we’re starting with the sad news about BBC News journalist and presenter George Alagiah, who died today at the age of 67, nine years after he was diagnosed with cancer,” Alex stated.
After Jermaine read out some moving tributes from fans, Alex turned to Nick and said: “So sorry to hear about George and a tough day for you to join us.”
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She went on to ask: “What’s the atmosphere like in the newsroom? Because as we heard there, [he was] very well-respected, such a sincere and kind man.”
“You feel it when you come in the building,” Nick replied. “You feel it when you walk around this building, it’s like there’s a cloud of sadness.
“Some people, like Sophie [Raworth] who’s just presented the 6 o’clock News, and Clive Myrie, they’ve known him for decades.
“His friend Allan Little, who paid tribute. To others, he’s just a colleague that they’ve seen occasionally, they don’t know [him].
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“But I think people who watch this programme and watch the news… Everyone thought George was their friend.”
The 59-year-old added: “Whether they really knew him… I got to know him later in life when we became a member of the club that nobody wants to be a member of, we both had cancer at the same time.
“But everybody felt that sense of friendship. I was trying to think why.
“You guys do a great job, but lots of people can read out what’s on that screen, what people can’t do is look and be and feel like a human being while they’re telling other people’s stories and George just did it, I will miss him.”
When asked by Alex what George’s legacy would be, Nick described Geroge’s influence in getting people to open up about bowel cancer and spotting the signs.
“Also, the understanding he gave, he was a reporter first before he became a presenter,” Nick continued.
“It’s telling other human beings’ stories and what Geroge did brilliantly was find the stories of people, in Africa often, but also in his home of Sri Lanka.
“He would tell those stories to people who maybe didn’t understand.
“And finally I think what he taught us was… [that] an immigrant, a boy who moved from Sri Lanka to Ghana, from Ghana to Britain, could become one of the most trusted voices and faces to this country.
“That was a tribute to this country but above all, it was a tribute to George.”
The One Show airs weekdays from 7pm on BBC One.
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