Bob Friend (newscaster) facts for kids

Bob Friend, who received an MBE award for his great work, was a well-known news anchor. He was born on January 20, 1938, and passed away on October 8, 2008. Many people knew him as one of the first news anchors for Sky News when the channel launched in 1989. He worked there until he retired in late 2003.

Bob Friend's Career in Journalism

Starting Out as a Reporter

Bob Friend began his career in journalism when he was only 15 years old in 1953. He started as a young reporter, sometimes called a "cub reporter," for a local newspaper called the Tunbridge Wells Advertiser. One of his first big jobs was reporting on Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation.

After that, he served in the army for a short time as a corporal clerk with the Brigade of Gurkhas in Hong Kong. Then, he worked as a freelance writer for different British newspapers for ten years. In 1969, he started his career in broadcasting with BBC News.

Working at BBC News

Bob Friend started at the BBC as a correspondent in Northern Ireland for Radio 4's Today programme. He spent four years there, reporting on the difficult times known as The Troubles, which involved a lot of conflict.

After a short time in Vietnam, he got his first official overseas TV job. In 1973, he became the BBC's first correspondent in Australia. He then spent five years as the BBC's correspondent in Tokyo. Finally, he worked in New York City as the BBC Breakfast correspondent. There, his producer was Mark Thompson, who later became the head of the BBC.

Becoming a Face of Sky News

After working for the BBC for 20 years, Bob Friend returned to the United Kingdom. He helped start the new Sky News channel. His first time on Sky News was on February 2, 1989, alongside Kay Burley. However, he was best known for working with Anna Botting, and they became a very popular news team on the channel.

Bob Friend became one of the most recognized faces of Sky News. He even appeared in a few movies in the 1990s, like Independence Day and Mission: Impossible. This happened after Tom Cruise saw him on Sky News during a visit to London.

Radio Work

Bob Friend also worked as a guest presenter on LBC News 1152 during the 2005 United Kingdom general election.

Awards and Recognition

In June 2003, Bob Friend was given an MBE award. This award recognized his important contributions to broadcasting. He received it in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, just before he retired on October 23, almost 15 years after his first appearance on Sky News.

His Family Life

Bob Friend was married and had two daughters. He passed away on October 8, 2008, because of a brain tumour.

Tributes to Bob Friend

Rupert Murdoch, who was the head of News Corporation, spoke highly of Bob Friend. He said that Bob was a respected journalist and broadcaster. He also mentioned that Bob quickly understood how important non-stop news programming would be. Rupert Murdoch added that Bob was there from the very beginning, helping to make Sky News what it is today.

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.

Scholarship in His Name

The Centre for Journalism at the University of Kent has a special scholarship called the Sky News Bob Friend Memorial Scholar. This scholarship helps students who want to study journalism. Many students who received this scholarship now work for news organizations like KM News, the Daily Mail Newspaper, and Sky News. In 2013, the scholarship was given to Georgia Fry by Neil Dunwoodie, an Executive Producer at Sky News. This happened at the 2013 Bob Friend Memorial Lecture, which featured Stephanie Flanders, the BBC Economics editor, at the University of Kent's Medway Campus in Chatham.

Movies He Appeared In

• Mission: Impossible (1996) - Played a Sky News Man
• Independence Day (1996) - Played Himself as a 'Sky News' Anchorman (not officially credited)
• Quicksand (2003) - Played a Newscaster (his last movie role)