Leading Sky News anchor Bob Friend dies at age 70

October 9, 2008

London, England - The very first newscaster to ever appear on Sky News in the UK, and one of their primary anchors for almost 14 years, Bob Friend, has died at the age of 70.

Bob joined Sky News back in 1989 from the British Broadcasting Corporation, where he had been based for over 20 years and was a major face on the channel. He anchored their primetime evening news slots at 7 and 10pm, in partnership with his co-anchor Anna Botting.

He retired from Sky News through ill health, his last broadcast being in 2003. Bob's death from a malignant brain tumour was announced this morning on Sky News' website.



Leading the tributes, Rupert Murdoch, president of News Corporation and British Sky Broadcasting, owners of Sky News, said Bob was:

a distinguished journalist and an admired broadcaster. He was quick to understand the power of non-stop programming. He was there at the beginning of that long, hard road we all had to travel to make Sky News what it is today.