Broadcaster and journalist Edward Stourton dies aged 68

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: Broadcaster and journalist Edward Stourton dies aged 68BySteven McIntoshEntertainment reporterPublished22 minutes agoBroadcaster and journalist Edward Stourton, whose career spanned more than 40 years including a decade on Radio 4's Today, has died aged 68. Stourton, who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014, died on Saturday surrounded by his family, the announced in a statement. The presenter's friend and former Today co-host James Naughtie praised Stourton's "warm intelligence and wit", adding he was "one of the best colleagues".

Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya described Stourton as an "absolutely outstanding broadcaster", while the 's interim news chief Jonathan Munro said it was "far too soon to lose Ed". The Today programme's current editor Rebecca Keating said she and colleagues referred to Stourton as the "Rolls Royce of broadcasting". "His sharp mind and vast knowledge of the world brought to bear on any story with zero fuss," she wrote on X.

The Details

In his 2023 memoir Confessions, Stourton revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer nearly a decade earlier. He had treatment but was later told it had become incurable and spread. Stourton continued to work until very recently.

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Edward Stourton photographed at home in 2003Edward Stourton's career began at ITN, where he helped launch Channel 4 News and became the programme's first Washington correspondent in the latter years of the Reagan presidency. He joined the as Paris correspondent in 1988, and after a period back at ITN as diplomatic editor, returned to present the One O'Clock News on One. His work also included Panorama, Assignment, Correspondent, as well as a phone-in programme on Radio 4, Call Ed Stourton.

He also hosted The Heaven and Earth Show and fronted documentaries including Absolute Truth, a four-part Two series about the Catholic Church. Stourton became a presenter of the flagship Today programme in 1999, where his immense experience as a foreign correspondent served him well while reporting from countries such as Lebanon and Afghanistan. He was also one of the first correspondents to reach New York after the 9/11 terror attacks.

What Experts Say

Image caption, Stourton in 2007 with Today co-hosts Carolyn Quinn, John Humphrys, Sarah Montague and James NaughtieHis departure from Today in 2008 was leaked to a newspaper before he had been told, upsetting Stourton and many of his colleagues, but he remained at the and went on to present several other news programmes. In recent years, as well as writing and presenting documentaries for Radio 4, Stourton fronted the network's religious affairs programme, Sunday, as well as regularly hosting The World At One and The World This Weekend. Stourton was born in 1957 in Nigeria, where his father was working, and also spent time as a boy in Geneva.

He was educated at Ampleforth College and read English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Union.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.