Brian Hanrahan Dead

[alan45]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50495000/jpg/_50495555_000220775-1.jpg

Brian Hanrahan, a former diplomatic and foreign correspondent for BBC News, has died at the age of 61 after a short battle against cancer.

His reporting spanned the reshaping of Nato and the EU, as well as conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Middle East.

As the BBC's Far East, and then Moscow correspondent, he watched dramatic changes unfolding in China and Russia.

He famously also covered the Falklands War and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

It was in the Falkands War in 1982 that he made his reputation, famously counting the returning Harrier jets to ensure he could report the story and get round MoD restrictions.


He said: "I'm not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out and I counted them all back. Their pilots were unhurt, cheerful and jubilant, giving thumbs-up signs."

Paying tribute to what he called "a big character", the BBC's world news editor Jon Williams said Mr Hanrahan "would always be remembered for an extraordinary story and an extraordinary turn of phrase".

He said it was his "longevity" and his "tone" that marked the reporter out.

"He could always be relied on to find the right word at the right moment... and he was loved by the audience," Mr Williams said.

Former war reporter Martin Bell also paid tribute to a "quiet, decent man" who was "very thorough and very good at his job".

"I never heard an ill word said about Brian Hanrahan," he added.

Mr Hanrahan covered Asia from Hong Kong in the 1980s, reporting on the reforms of Deng Xiaoping in China, and the assassination of Indira Ghandi in India.

He moved to Moscow when Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader, returning to Russia in 2009 to interview the former president.


In 1989 he was present in Tiananmen Square, in Poland for the installation of the first non-communist government in Eastern Europe, at the fall of the Berlin wall and the Romanian revolution.

He then became a diplomatic correspondent - interpreting international affairs from London and travelling the world, particularly during the Balkan wars and the Middle East peace process.

In recent years, the correspondent had covered ceremonial and state events such as the anniversaries of D-Day and the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales and the Queen Mother.

Following the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, Brian Hanrahan flew to New York to anchor special programmes.

Earlier this year he returned to Poland - from where he had reported on the rise of Solidarity - to cover the plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski.

He was a regular voice on BBC's Radio 4 as presenter of both The World at One and The World This Weekend programmes.


I will always remember him for the iconic I counted them out and counted them back in again speech during the Falklands War

[Chloe O'brien]

I didn't know the name but as soon as they showed him reporting from the Berlin Wall. I remembered him. He has been a reporter on the news for a long time.R.I.P

[alan45]

Return to the Falklands
Episode: 1 of 1
Tuesday, 20 March 2012, 9:00PM - 10:00PM



In this new one-off 60-minute documentary marking 30 years since the Falklands War, three men return to embark on journeys of discovery about themselves, the islands and the Argentinean soldiers they faced.

Through their stories, Return To The Falklands explores the human side of war and the captivating beauty of the Falkland Islands. And how the men who fought and reported there have changed – like the islands - in the last three decades.
For veteran Simon Weston it is an opportunity to see parts of the Falklands he has never visited before and experience some of the stunning wildlife on the beautiful Sea Lion Island. It is also a moment to reflect on the severe injuries he suffered and the friends he lost when his ship was torpedoed in 1982.

“The Falklands holds a very bittersweet place in my heart because it changed my life and without it, a lot of the great things and the good things that have happened in my life would never have happened.”

He visits Fitzroy Bay, where his ship the Sir Galahad was bombed, killing many of his fellow seamen.

“You know you’re alive, your friends are dead, that’s it - you can’t ever bring your friends back. And friends are hard made.”

And, poignantly, he takes time to explore the wildlife the islands offer, getting up close with seals and penguins.

“When we came here we had no idea all this wonderful natural beauty was here. We just came here because of what we had to do. I never thought I would have this sort of warm experience, this thrill.”

For war correspondent Mike Nicholson it is a chance to learn more about how the islands themselves have changed, developed and reinvented themselves as well as revisiting key battlegrounds.

Iconic archive footage from Mike’s reports on ITV News during the war is used to bring to life the intense battle which took place across the islands.

“The Falklands war was different from all my other wars because they were foreign wars, they were about foreigners fighting foreigners and I could be a spectator; could just do my job as an objective reporter.

“I suppose the reason one gets slightly emotional about it is that watching foreign casualties does not have the same effect upon my psyche as watching my own people dying.”

His visit is also an opportunity to see how residents view their relationship with Argentina in modern times. He talks to local newspaper editor Lisa Watson about how the islands have developed since the war. She tells him it is a different, more prosperous place for residents now.

“We are a country that has its own industries - we’ve got our fishing industry, we’ve got agriculture, we've got tourism, and it’s a beautiful country. It’s not just about a war that happened thirty years ago. What we want to be is something that makes a whole war worthwhile and the fact that men died for this country, died for us, we are incredibly grateful for that. We want to be worth something, we want to be worth what happened.”

But Michael senses a tension remains among residents over the ownership of the islands.

“You talk to people now and there is a certain stress, you know - is it going to happen all over again?”

For ex-Marine Nick Taylor, there is a unique and personal motivation for his return. In 1982, he found a camera left behind by an Argentinean soldier, took the film home and always wondered who the man in the photos was. Thirty years later, Nick found that officer working as a lawyer in Buenos Aires. The two men meet again at the top of the Mount of Two Sisters near Port Stanley – where last they were fighting against each other – for a moment of genuine reconciliation.

“It was a great memento from the battle. I started looking into it and thought - I wonder if we could find the guy who owned it, whether he’s still alive?

“I really just want to return the photographs and possibly relive some of the experiences. It’s part of my character and part of my life, it would be nice to see that. And also just to see the Argentinean’s perspective and find what his experiences were.”

Marcello Lambias, the ex-Argentinean officer whose photos Nick has, is also in the Falklands ahead of their meeting – and feels very differently to Nick about the sovereignty of the islands.

“We were convinced that we were defending the rights of our country. In Argentina the majority of the people are convinced that the islands are ours.”

But the experience of his reunion with the pictures and with Nick elicits an emotive response.

“It’s such a noble gesture. I was very deeply touched by that, because you know he didn’t have to do it. I think that reflects the fact there are no bad feelings among soldiers.”