Alastair Osborne

A good colleague and friend Alastair Osborne has died. He worked at the BBC from the early sixties to the late 1980s, in the "current affairs" bit of Radio News - and was an oasis of calm, civility, common sense and wry, gentle humour.

He was on my interview panel when I applied to the BBC in 1973 - John Wilson, then in the Radio Newsroom, asked me what I thought of the Today programme that morning. I suggested that my opinion was neither here nor there - why not ask Alastair, then Editor of Today, sitting alongside ?

Sometime later I sought Alastair's advice when I was offered a spell producing chat shows on Radio 4 - would it wreck a career in the rugged world of news ? He said go for it, and it was a grand and memorable six months.

When Alastair moved to the editorship of the oddly named Evening Sequence (essentially The World Tonight), he boasted a pleasant 4th 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 10.30, this room became known as The Osborne amongst senior colleagues - as in, "I think I'll finish off the evening with one in The Osborne".

Radio News boasted a range of strange managerial titles, and Alastair finished his BBC career as MECAR - Managing Editor, Current Affairs Radio - dispensing sage advice, and directly producing the odd weekly programme. This brought occasionally Friday panics (if Jenny Abramsky, his boss at that stage, hadn't started one anyway that Friday) - usually solved by Alastair's estimable PA Elaine, also known as Head of Gin and Tonics.

Alastair assembled great teams of presenters and producers who made great radio programmes - a life worth celebrating.