This email was sent to News staff by Foreign Editor, Jon Williams, today Wednesday September 16th.

I'm very sorry to have to tell you that our former colleague Brian Barron died this morning.  Brian was 69 and as some of you know, he had been suffering from cancer for some time.  He died in Cornwall, surrounded by his family.

Brian was simply the most distinguished BBC correspondent of our age - covering wars across five decades, from Aden in 1967 to Iraq in 2003.  He joined the World Service in 1965, and along the way, witnessed the fall of Saigon - where, ignoring orders to leave, he watched with his friend and long-time cameraman, Eric Thirer as the last helicopter left the roof of the US Embassy in South Vietnam.  He reported from Africa on the fall of Idi Amin, the overthrow of Emperor Bokassar and the end of the war in Rhodesia.   He covered the Falklands War from Chile, helped lead the BBC's coverage of the first Gulf War in 1991, and went back for the Iraq War of 2003, reporting from the USS Mobile in the Gulf.  Brian served as the BBC's man in some of the world's greatest cities - Cairo, Hong Kong, Washington, New York, and Rome - as well as working as Ireland correspondent at the height of the Troubles in the early 1980s.  Along the way, he was the RTS Reporter of the Year and won the International Reporting Prize for his coverage of Latin America.

Even after his official retirement, Brian and Eric were still working as a team in New York.  Two years ago, in what would be his final report for the BBC, Brian returned to Aden, 40 years after the end of empire;  he told the story of how he had watched as the Union Flag was lowered, as a British Military Band played "Things Ain't What They Used to Be".  It was vintage Brian - funny, poignant, but with a message.  He was an inspiration to more than one generation of reporters, producers and editors - including this one.

Our thoughts are with his wife, Angela and daughter Fleur, with Eric, and his other many friends around the world.  Angie and Fleur have asked that messages are sent to brianbarronfamily@gmail.com.  Brian was a one-off -- for those of us who worked with him, it was our privilege. J

BBC war correspondent Brian Barron has died from cancer at the age of 69.
He covered wars across five decades, from Aden in 1967 to Iraq in 2003, and served as the BBC's man in some of the world's major cities.
World News Editor Jon Williams said: "He was simply the most distinguished BBC correspondent of our age".
Barron witnessed many major events and was honoured with several awards. He died at his home in Cornwall surrounded by his family.
Joining the BBC World Service in 1965, he witnessed the fall of Saigon and reported from Africa on the demise of Idi Amin.
He covered the Falklands War from Chile, as well as working as Ireland correspondent at the height of the Troubles in the early 1980s.
'An inspiration'
He won several Royal Television Society awards including Reporter of the Year in 1980 and the International Reporting Prize for his coverage from Latin America.

After his official retirement, Brian and Eric Thirer, his friend and long-time cameraman, continued to work together in New York.
     
Two years ago, in what would be his final report for the BBC, he returned to Aden, 40 years after the end of empire.
Jon Williams said: "It was vintage Brian - funny, poignant, but with a message. He was an inspiration to more than one generation of reporters, producers and editors."
Barron leaves his wife Angela and daughter Fleur.

Source BBC News Web-site
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8259005.stm

(Contains video)

Wikipedia Reference.-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Barron

From "The Scotsman"

REPORTER Brian Barron, known to millions for his cool frontline reports from wars across five decades, died today, the BBC has announced.
BBC News chiefs paid tribute to the unflappable former foreign correspondent – who was described as "among the greatest of that great generation".

Barron died today from cancer at the of 69 with his wife and daughter at his bedside.

Among the major news events from which Barron reported were the Falklands War, the Gulf War of 1991 and the war in Iraq in 2003, which he covered even after his official retirement.

He also covered the fall of Idi Amin in Uganda – later tracking down the dictator to a secret hideout in Saudi Arabia.

Barron, whose accolades included the Royal Television Society's reporter of the year title, had also been the BBC's South East Asia correspondent covering the horrors of the Vietnam War each night.

He was on hand in 1975, as the last helicopter left the roof of the US Embassy in Saigon, and was there as the North Vietnamese claimed victory. He had ignored the BBC's order to leave.

After working in newspapers, Barron began his BBC career at what later became known as World Service as a producer in 1965. He went on to become the BBC's Aden correspondent, reporting the end of more than 130 years of imperial control.

He also spent a spell as the Ireland correspondent, based in Belfast, at the height of the Troubles, but returned to the role he felt most comfortable with, as a foreign correspondent, with spells in cities such as Cairo, Hong Kong, Washington, New York, and Rome, as well as any sudden flashpoints.

Barron was reporting from the deck of the US Mobile as the first missile was fired by US forces against Saddam Hussein on the opening night of the war in Iraq. He had retired three years earlier.

Helen Boaden, director of BBC News, paid tribute to him today, saying: "Brian was one of the most distinguished BBC correspondents of our age – covering wars across five decades, from Aden in 1967 to Iraq in 2003.

"He was an inspiration to many generations of journalists for his professionalism, extraordinary experience and lightness of touch. We shall miss him very much."

Jon Williams, the BBC's world news editor, said: "Brian Barron was the quintessential foreign correspondent – suave, impossibly handsome and brave.

"Long before satellite technology made it routine, he took BBC audiences to faraway places, and explained the biggest stories of our times – first on radio, then television.

"He was comfortable and composed in the most dangerous places – covering wars across five decades, from Aden in 1967 to Iraq in 2003.

"Brian was part of the greatest generation of BBC reporters and cameramen – a brave bunch who roamed the world and covered the most important stories of the time.

"Not for them the ease of satellite or digital technology – instead, they'd wait hours, sometimes days, to even place a phone call. But the story still got through. Brian Barron was among the greatest of that great generation.

"Two years ago, in what would be his final report for the BBC, Brian returned to Aden, 40 years after Britain's ignominious retreat.

"He told the story of how he had watched as the Union flag was lowered, as a British military band played Things Ain't What They Used To Be. It was vintage Brian – funny, poignant, but with a message."

Recalling Barron's decision to stay in Saigon as others were being asked to flee, Williams said: "Brian delighted in telling the story of how he'd known the end was near when plaster began falling off the ceiling of the broadcasting studio at Saigon Radio.

"Brian had gone there to talk to London because there were no reliable phone lines. As the building shook, the microphone suspended from the ceiling swung above his head – a renegade squadron of strike planes, which had defected to the Communist North, was bombing the presidential palace just up the road.

"It was at that moment that the BBC Governors in London decided he should evacuate – the order to board the nearest helicopter crackled through the earphones in the dust-filled studio.

"He ignored the instruction – as Brian put it, 'What foreign correspondent would walk away from his biggest story yet?"'




http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/War-reporter-Brian-Barron-dies.5653302.jp

From The Independent:-

Brian Barron: BBC foreign correspondent who covered many of the global conflicts of the past 40 years
Friday, 18 September 2009


Although a familiar face on BBC television for more than 30 years, Brian Barron could not be described as a household name. Few news correspondents achieve that status. Their job is to report the world's tribulations dispassionately, accurately and, most important of all, self-effacingly, keeping themselves out of the limelight so as not to get in the way of the story.

This he achieved consistently with cool professionalism, covering many of the significant global conflicts of the last four decades of the 20th century. The handful of his contemporaries who did achieve celebrity – John Humphrys, Michael Buerk, Kate Adie, Jon and Peter Snow – made the leap by quitting reporting to become newsreaders and presenters. Barron remained in the field throughout his career: the last major story he worked on was the 2003 Gulf War, three years after his official retirement.

Born in 1940, he attended Bristol Grammar School, leaving at 16 to become a junior reporter on the Western Daily Press. He progressed quickly, being appointed chief sub-editor on the Bristol Evening Post at the age of 23. Two years later, in 1965, he decided to try his hand at broadcasting, and moved to London to join the BBC World Service.

His first important assignment was to Aden, where he witnessed the end of British colonial rule in 1967 after many years of violence. His gift for vivid and resourceful reporting soon became apparent, and he was appointed as BBC Radio's resident correspondent first in Cairo, then in Singapore.

In 1971 he made the switch to television, where his striking good looks and wavy blonde hair complemented his developing professional skills. After two years as a London-based reporter, learning the tricks of his new trade, he was sent to Hong Kong as Far East correspondent – a key posting, given that the Vietnam War was about to reach its climax.

He spent long periods in the war zone and was in Saigon when the Americans abandoned the city in 1975, defying a firm instruction from his editors in London to leave when it was clear that the North Vietnamese were about to take over. "What foreign correspondent would walk away from his biggest story yet?" he explained later.

There were to be many other big stories. He had the reporter's good fortune to be on hand to witness some of the most far-reaching and tragic events of his era. In 1976 he was posted to Nairobi as the BBC's chief correspondent in Africa, where one of the major threats to stability was the guerrilla war that would eventually destroy Ian Smith's illegal regime in Rhodesia. In 1977 he became one of many reporters banned by the Rhodesians for what they saw as his tendentious reporting.

Idi Amin's increasingly tyrannical regime in Uganda was another tinder-box. Barron was on hand to report on Amin's overthrow in 1979, and later described how he walked through the celebrating crowds to inspect the abandoned Presidential palace: "The priority was to search the refrigerators because of persistent reports that he sometimes kept the heads of his victims in the freezer. With relief, we found no evidence to back this up."

The following year he achieved one of his biggest scoops when he tracked the exiled Amin to his refuge in Saudi Arabia and conducted a long television interview in which the former dictator vowed to return to Uganda. This was one of the stories that contributed to Barron being named Journalist of the Year by the Royal Television Society.

He wrote later: "Idi Amin was the most flamboyant of a group of African dictators I covered during that turbulent period. Emperor Bokassa, another army sergeant gone wrong, in Central Africa; the mad, bad General Siad Barre in Somalia; the psychopathic Sergeant Doe ruling Liberia."

In 1981 he was assigned to report tension closer to home, in Ireland, although he was pulled away from that beat the following year and sent to Chile as one of the team covering the Falklands War. In 1983 he was rewarded with a posting to Washington, the BBC's most prestigious overseas bureau, if rather more staid than his previous stamping grounds.

He stayed there for three years before returning to Asia, where in 1989 he was roughed up by Chinese officials who objected to his coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests. In 1994 he returned to America, this time to New York, which he and his wife Angela enjoyed so much that they kept an apartment there even after his official retirement in 2000.

Barron's career spanned major changes in the way that television news is gathered and disseminated. When he began there were no satellite phones that allowed live, on-the-spot reporting, nor 24-hour news channels to make demands on reporters for almost constant input.

In those early days his reports were filmed and sent back to London on commercial airliners. Although this meant logistical problems in ferrying them to the airport, and clearly caused a time-lag before they could be broadcast, it meant that he had more freedom in deciding where to go and when, and at what point he had enough material to put together an authoritative report.

Modern technology places the TV reporter at the beck and call of head office, often without time to do the fieldwork that would allow a more illuminating despatch. Some of his contemporaries found it hard to make this adjustment but Barron adapted well, even if he was nostalgic for the old days. In a lecture to students in 2005, he spoke of the time before war correspondents were routinely "embedded" and restricted in their movements in battle zones.

Formerly, they could get closer to the frontline, even if their limited supplies of film meant that they had to be selective in what they recorded. And he spoke of the increasing pressure on today's journalists to keep viewers entertained rather than to "bear witness and analyse" – a fine thumbnail description of the reporter's role, and one that he fulfilled to the hilt. He died of cancer on 16 September and is survived by his wife and daughter.

Michael Leapman

Brian Munro Barron, journalist: born 28 April 1940; Royal Television Society Journalist of the Year, 1980; MBE, 2007; married 1974 Angela Lee (one daughter); died 16 September 2009.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/brian-barron-bbc-foreign-correspond...