Alastair Osborne, who held many senior posts in radio current affairs, has died.  

He had a brain tumour and died in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, on July 29th.

Alastair had been editor of both the Today programme and The World Tonight, and head of evening sequences.  

Details of his funeral to follow.

Although I was informed Paddington, it appears to me that Euston appears the best bet and change at Birmingham New Street.

This is taken from The Times:

Alastair Osborne
Published: 5:32PM BST 08 Sep 2009

Alastair Osborne, who has died aged 74, worked at the current affairs division of BBC radio for nearly 30 years until the late 1980s, producing the first edition of the groundbreaking current affairs programme The World at One in 1965 and editing the flagship Radio 4 Today programme in the 1970s.
 
Osborne launched and nurtured many familiar broadcasting figures, taking on Brian Redhead as a presenter on Today, and Henry Kelly, who considered him "simply the best. He trusted his staff and, in turn, they would go to the ends of the earth for him."

On the Today programme, which Osborne edited between 1974 and 1976, one of the early trainees he mentored was Tony Hall, later director of BBC News and now director of the Royal Opera House.

Osborne joined the BBC as a producer on Radio Newsreel in 1963, transferring to the new World at One two years later, having been recruited by its visionary editor, Andrew Boyle. Osborne produced the launch edition in October 1965, presented by William Hardcastle, a former editor of the Daily Mail.

When Osborne moved to Today as deputy editor in 1970, Jack de Manio was still the presenter. Promoted to editor four years later, one of Osborne's first tasks was to organise coverage of President Nixon's resignation in August 1974.

His innovations included removing Eileen Fowler's long-standing fitness spot, and shortening the main hourly news bulletins while extending those on the half-hour. Osborne also pushed for an earlier start time for Today, which until then had been 6.45am (suggesting "at least 6.30, but 6am would probably be more appropriate".)

Following Robert Robinson's departure as co-presenter in June 1974, Osborne had decided to replace him not by one individual but by what one newspaper called "a team of rotating announcers" to partner the permanent anchor John Timpson; several were tried out, including, briefly, Melvyn Bragg, followed by Barry Norman and Des Lynam, who had covered Saturdays and was one of the programme's regular sports presenters.

In November 1975 Osborne recruited a permanent replacement for Robinson in Brian Redhead, an experienced journalist who had recently resigned as editor of the Manchester Evening News after failing to be appointed editor of its sister paper The Guardian. Having been brought up on The World at One under Bill Hardcastle, Osborne valued former newspaper editors.

He left Today after a disagreement over dividing the programme presentation between London and Manchester. When he insisted such an arrangement would not work, he was moved to the evening sequence to edit Newsdesk and The World Tonight. There he enjoyed a pleasant fourth floor Broadcasting House office with comfy chairs, a drinks cabinet and fridge. Hospitality was on offer once the programme had finished, and in the days of pubs nearby closing at 10.30pm, his room became known as The Osborne among senior colleagues, who would take their leave by confiding: "I think I'll finish off the evening with one in The Osborne."

Alastair James George Osborne was born to Scottish parents on September 9 1934 at Wallington, Surrey. His father was a civil engineer, responsible for building some of the world's best-known bridges. When Alastair was still a baby, the family went to join his father in South Africa, where he was working as managing director of Dorman Long.

The family lived in Johannesburg, and Alastair was educated at St Andrew's College, Grahamstown, a leading public school, to which he had to travel by train for two and a half days. At Durham University he read PPE, and started up the university's satirical revue group, Cerberus, which he later took to the Edinburgh Fringe.

After Durham, Osborne returned to South Africa to join the South African Broadcasting Corporation as a presenter and producer, first in Johannesburg, and later running the Cape Town office, where he worked with the fledgling reporter Sue MacGregor. He had married his first wife, Angela, whom he had met at Durham, and their first son was born in Cape Town. Unhappy with the political climate, they returned to Britain and had two more sons.

Having moved to evening and special current affairs programmes in 1976, Osborne later became managing editor of all radio current affairs output before retiring in 1989, and moving to Cornwall to run a smallholding. He had a passion for good food and a talent for cooking; his reputation as a host was famous.

A highly regarded figure of integrity and wisdom, Osborne was an oasis of calm, civility, common sense and wry, gentle humour in a notoriously fevered and ill-tempered business. He cared deeply about his staff, who saw him as an enlightened and liberal-minded boss.

Alastair Osborne, who died on July 29, is survived by his second wife, Heather (née Summerfield), a former BBC reporter, and three sons and a daughter.