The former BBC and ITN newsreader Peter Sissons has died at the age of 77, his agent has said.
A statement from Knight Ayton management said: “We are sad to announce that Peter Sissons, the former presenter on ITN, Channel 4 and the BBC, died peacefully last night in Maidstone Hospital, Kent.
“His wife and three children were with him and wish to pass on their thanks to the hospital staff who were so caring and fought gallantly to save him to the end.”
Sissons, who also presented Question Time, retired in 2009 after a 45 – year career.
He has read the news on all of TV’s main terrestrial bulletins, including the BBC’s Ten O’Clock News, and ITN’s News at One. He also helped launch Channel 4 News.
Sissons broke the news to the nation on the BBC of the Queen Mother’s death in 2002.
Veteran newsreader Sissons was a familiar face for decades as a newsreader, joining ITN in 1964 after graduating from Oxford University.
In 1969 he was appointed ITN’s news editor, becoming industrial correspondent a year later, and industrial editor in 1972.
His first role as a news anchor came several years later when he began presenting ITN’s News At One.
Sissons joined the BBC in 1989 as presenter of Question Time, as well as joint presenter of the Six O’Clock News.
He moved to the Nine O’Clock News in 1994 and stayed with the program until it moved to its new time of 10 PM.
He retired from broadcasting in 2009 and was considered at the time to be one of the UK’s longest-serving news presenters.
Tributes to ‘great journalist’ and ‘fine presenter’
BBC director general Tony Hall said in a statement: “Peter Sissons was one of the great television figures of his time – as an interviewer, presenter and world-class journalist.
“During his distinguished career he was one of the most recognisable and well-respected faces of television news.
“He was always a great person to be with and to work with. He will be missed by his many friends and colleagues, and our thoughts are with his family.”
BBC journalist Simon McCoy was among those paying tribute, writing on Twitter: “Very sorry to hear of the death of former colleague Peter Sissons. A great journalist and a fine presenter at ITN and the BBC. RIP.”
Journalist Iain Dale, who helped publish Sissons’ memoirs shortly after the broadcaster’s retirement, said: “Very sad. I published his memoirs and he was a delight to deal with. A model author and a great journalist.”
Angela Rippon, a long-time friend of Sissons, told The Telegraph that his death was “the end of an era”.
“The lovely thing about Peter was that he was a newsreader in the days when millions tuned in every night,” she said.
“We didn’t have the plethora of TV stations we have now. Newsreaders like him were those who people looked to be informed, by someone they trusted, about what was happening in the world.
“With Peter going it’s like the end of an era, of a whole generation of great newsreaders.
“He was reading the news at a time when there was great strength and reliance on the news, and people had a lot of confidence in what they heard and trusted their newsreaders.
“They were important people who came into people’s lives every night and were trusted friends.”
She added: “He wasn’t just a newsreader, he was a terrific reporter and correspondent as well.
“I miss him as a friend. He was good fun and always someone that, whatever the news of the day was, particularly in the years after he retired, he loved to have a good discussion about what was going on. He never gave up knowing about and being involved in the news.
“It was always a joy to be in his company and have a good discussion with him. Whatever was making the news headlines of that day, Peter was on it. He was a news man through and through, and that never left him.
“Being with him at a function or socially, you knew you could sit down and have an informed conversation with him because he never lost that ability as a journalist.
“I enjoyed his company enormously. You could have a really good heart-to-heart with him and thrash out a subject with him, and he always had strong but well-formed opinions on everything.”
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