Broadcaster and journalist Edward Stourton dies aged 68
BBC News 2026-07-20 07:30:13
Context: Edward Stourton, a renowned British broadcaster and journalist, has died at the age of 68 after a long career spanning over 40 years, including a decade on Radio 4's Today program. He passed away on Saturday surrounded by his family. Stourton had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014, and had continued to work until recently.
Key Facts
- Edward Stourton was born in 1957 in Nigeria, where his father was working, and also spent time as a boy in Geneva, before being educated at Ampleforth College and reading English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge.
- 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 BBC as Paris correspondent in 1988, and after a period back at ITN as diplomatic editor, returned to present the One O'Clock News on BBC One, and also worked on various BBC programs, including Panorama, Assignment, Correspondent, and Call Ed Stourton.
- Stourton became a presenter of the flagship Today program in 1999, where his experience as a foreign correspondent served him well while reporting from countries such as Lebanon and Afghanistan, and was also one of the first correspondents to reach New York after the 9/11 terror attacks.
- Stourton wrote several books, including John Paul II: Man of History, a biography of the former Pope, and Made in America: the Dark History that Led to Donald Trump, and was also a regular host of The World At One and The World This Weekend on Radio 4.