Fifty years ago this year, Westminster Abbey played host to a remarkable occasion, a memorial service for a mere journalist and broadcaster. The Abbey was packed. Hundreds of members of the public stood outside in the cold and wet to pay their respects to someone they saw as a trusted friend, Richard Dimbleby.
In this programme, Jonathan Dimbleby dips into the extensive treasure-chest of his father's work, dating back to the 1930s, when Dimbleby Sr boldly wrote to the BBC to propose the idea of such a thing as a 'radio reporter' and promptly got the job he'd envisaged. Right from the start, he displayed a remarkable natural flair for bringing reports alive through his choice of language, facility for painting vivid pictures and ability to improvise under pressure.
Richard Dimbleby was the BBC's first-ever out-and-about radio reporter, cutting his teeth by reporting live from a telephone box on the burning down of Crystal Palace. He was the Corporation's first war correspondent and...
