Alistair Cooke has recorded his final “Letter from America”. Like most people here, I can’t recall a time when this wasn’t on. He was always interesting and often thought-provoking. Some of his opinions still gnaw at me - I’ve half a mind to start a My Lai v. bombing thread in his honour. He made radio commentary his own: every broadcaster copies him to some extent.
At 95 he deserves some rest, but it will seem an odd world without his voice.
Never heard of him. I’m shocked that he’s giving out letters all over the world without my permission!
I can send a weekly “Letter from America” if you want one.
Never heard of him? Cor, that means you got whooshed by Cookie Monster!
Been listening to him for 20 years, and that’s about a third of his actual output. I’m sad to see him go, but pleased that he is going to get some rest.
I learned as much about US politics from him as I have since learned from the SDMB. Always charming, always utterly professional, his broadcasts were recorded without editing, and were perfect to the second. They meandered through fascinating anecdote and always returned to a pithy conclusion. I disagreed with only some of his conclusions.
For anyone who doesn’t know what kind of journalist he was, here’s a classic Letter from America, written after he was present at the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.
I’ve read his letters off the BBC news site. They were always fun to read. Although with the recent redesign made them harder to find.
I’ll miss him. He always seemed like a real nice guy. Farewell and hope you enjoy your retirement.
As a more recent UK-US migrant, maybe I can get the Beeb to give me his job…
He offered the deepest imaginable political context and I’ll remember him for that.
While I haven’t read or listened to him for some while, I do recall thinking he was of another journalistic era where balanced reporting and personal integrity mattered as much as the story.
But his letters were also more than conventional journalism because after tell the story, he went on to form a view; in that sense, one could almost argue he pre-dated blogging by 50 years or more.
I also seem to remember not always agreeing with some of the views he formed, but he’s a 95-year old, pretty conservative, Anglo-American. So I wouldn’t.
I hope he has a long and happy retirement.
Farewell to a man who felt like a true friend.
A good scholar, an objective journalist, and most of all----a gentleman.