Kevin was 86.  He is survived by his partner, Clare Burgin, whom he met while working in Warsaw.  

A guy I was proud to work with at Pebble Mill.  Look what he's been doing since retiring!
BBC Midlands Today Unsung Hero

Thank you for this. I didn't know Langley. You make me wish I had. We were lucky in those days to have a boss we could respect.

Kevin Ruane, who as Warsaw correspondent covered the Solidarity movement and wrote books about it, has died in Australia.  
He worked at Caversham and in the Radio Newsroom before becoming Moscow Correspondent, and then moving to Poland.  In 2010 he was awarded the Medal of Gratitude by the Polish Government.  
His funeral took place in Canberra on December 7, 2018.

A damp chilly day at Mortlake but such a good turn out they ran out of Order of Service cards. One-time presenter Joanna Monroe spoke with great affection about their friendship, a nephew and a couple of longterm friends added their tributes, all accentuating the mischievous humour that was Andrew's trademark. It was of course a sad but affectionate occasion...then they all went "down the pub!"

Langley Brown, late News Editor of BBC Radio Medway and Radio Kent passed away after an illness at the end of November, according to work colleagues. Sadly his funeral was not widely announced. Many people have one or two mentors who they thank for their fulfilling media lives and successes, and Langley was one of mine. A hero to many.
I joined him late - in 1983, some three years before he 'was retired' - he was old school, straight as they came, and from Yorkshire. All three meant he said it as it was, and this didn't suit the evolving BBC ethos. But he gave me my first job in the BBC as a News Producer.
To us he was ‘Bargs’, nick-named after a Private Eye character by Graham Ellis, then in the Radio Kent Newsroom in about 1983-4. Warm, friendly, completely professional, he used to thrill us with endless stories at lunchtimes and into the evenings in the Ship Inn in Chatham High Street.
This was a concern because we loved him so much – as witnessed at the furore caused by his departure – but also because he never seemed to eat save a hard boiled egg or two sat at his desk. But it worked for him, as it had for many years prior to joining the BBC when he was a reporter and editor in East Africa which he and Jean loved. Langley also loved Yorkshire from where he hailed and his first reporter experiences.
The newsroom he ran was feisty, robust, innovative, strived for the highest standards always, in days when these included honesty, balance, lack of speculation. He led us through great stories such as the Miners’ Strike and the first stirrings of a Channel Tunnel with a deft touch, trusting his journalists and defending (from both miners' and employers accusations) when necessary even at risk to himself. I think he always reckoned his highlight was direct criticism of Mrs Thatcher (on air) when she refused to talk to the media in an election campaign and on a visit to Kent. That battle (suspension and a DG interview I believe) stopped what probably was an upward climb in the BBC - but Langley would never have regretted it - he's not have slept at night had he ducked the fight.  
I remember Langley predicting in pre-mobile phone days, that we’d all communicate with personal devices. We scoffed. What this great future thinker has had was the last laugh. Missed, not forgotten, neither is Jean his widow.

Some issues are available to view- adverts and all.


Here is the cover of the May 10th 1945 issue. BBC Victory Programmes.


Here is the front page of issue 1270, February 15th to 21st. 1948.

On page 22 from the same issue, here, you can 'earn money from growing mushrooms", or buy a greenhouse.

It is a pity that the whole issue is not available scanned since the general atmosphere of the magazine is much better than a simple text file of the programmes!
Presumably that would require removal of adverts/letters etc and take up far more data space.

I will post a brief resume for you. So sad, we saw him very recently, after the Darwin reunion, at Costume Designer Reg Samuel's funeral. Reg was taken ill that very weekend and Andrew was very upset about that. It proves we have to cherish each day as it comes...

Bill Rogers has written to inform his contacts of the sad death of an ex-colleague.

Virginia "Gina" Henry Worked on "Newsbeat", "The Colour Supplement", afterwards moving into Radio Training.

Bill's tribute to his friend and ex-colleage, Gina, is here.