Who was George Alagiah? BBC News Anchor Dead at 67

George Alagiah was a British journalist, newsreader, and television news presenter. He joined the BBC in 1989 after seven years in print journalism with South Magazine. 

He was a Developing World correspondent, based in London, and then Southern Africa correspondent in Johannesburg, before becoming a presenter.

As one of the BBC’s leading foreign correspondents, Alagiah reported on events ranging from the genocide in Rwanda to the plight of the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq in the civil wars in Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Somalia.

He was the presenter of BBC Four News from its launch in 2002; the program was later relaunched as The World and then another edition of World News Today. In January 2003, he joined the BBC Six O’Clock News, which he co-presented with Sophie Raworth until 200, and with Natasha Kaplinsky until October 2007.

In 2000, Alagiah was part of the BBC team which collected a BAFTA award for its coverage of the Kosovo conflict. He has won numerous awards including Best International Report at the Royal Television Society in 1993 and in 1994 was the overall winner of the Amnesty International UK Media Awards. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honors.

He died of colorectal cancer on Monday, July 24, 2023, after battling the sickness for almost 10 years. He was 67 years old.