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Bob Berry tribute in the current Ariel by John Wilford
Bob Berry has died at his home in Kings Lynn following a heart attack. He was 60 and had spent more than half his life working at the BBC.
'At the BBC' rather than 'for the BBC'. The corporation, for Bob, was an organisation he adored but mistrusted. Its many faults, in his eyes would fill two Hutton reports, but no one was more loyal or vociferous in its defence.
Bob followed his father into the corporation as a studio manager at Bush. His fine broadcast voice soon led him to become a presenter and journalist. At one time he was the voice of World Service in the Falkland Islands presenting bulletins from London.
He worked for overseas regional services (ORS), and presented many regular Topical Tapes current affairs programmes (recorded on tape for radio stations overseas) like International Call, World Report, the International Money Programme, From The Weeklies (also heard on WS) and BBC Science Magazine.
He moved to BBC World at Television Centre in 1995. At the time of his retirement in May last year he was a senior broadcast journalist on the joint News 24/World overnight team.
Hundreds of people knew and worked with Bob. They appreciated his warmth and vivid personality. They marvelled at his ability to fall asleep in the office and wake up with the same vitriolic complaint about the management fresh on his lips.
His erudition was legendary. He could (and frequently did) hold forth on astronomy, geography, international politics, ornithology, palaeontology and anything else you cared to dispute with him.
He had been an amateur boxer and it showed. He loved physical life: golf, gardening, sailing and carpentry. But above all he adored his children, Sam, 21, and Clio, 18. They live in Brighton with his ex-wife Annie, and Bob would often drive there to inflict on them another of his passions: cooking.
At times a miserable old sod, Bob could also be the life and soul of any group. He propped up bars around the world and drinking companions from every strata of the corporation will toast the memory of a smashing bloke.
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