(Alfred) Alistair Cooke - Media beginnings, Move to United States, London Letter, American Letter, The Staff Reporter, The end

Journalist and broadcaster, born in Manchester, Greater Manchester, NW England, UK. He studied at Cambridge, and won a scholarship to study at Yale and Harvard. He returned to England, working as a film critic for the BBC in 1934, and as London correspondent for a US broadcasting company (NBC). He returned to the USA in 1937, and became a US citizen in 1941. A sympathetic and urbane commentator on current affairs and popular culture in the USA, he has reported for several British newspapers, written numerous books, including One Man's America (1952), and edited The Vintage Mencken (1954). His ‘Letter from America’, broadcast by the BBC from 1946 to 2004, was the longest-running solo radio feature programme. At the end of 2004 the programme was replaced with A View From ..., featuring a team of eight journalists reporting on the latest news and trends in their own part of the world. He is also well-known for his BBC TV series America (1972–3), which produced a best-selling book. He received an honorary knighthood in 1973, and in 2003 was inducted into the newly established Radio Hall of Fame. He retired from broadcasting at the beginning of March 2004, because of illness, and died within the month. In accordance with his will, his ashes were secretly scattered in Central Park, New York City, in spite of a byelaw prohibiting such acts. A memoir, American Journey: Life on the Home Front in the Second World War, appeared posthumously in 2006.

Alistair Cooke
Birth Name Alfred Cooke Born November 20, 1908 in Salford, Lancashire, England Age 95 Died March 30, 2004 in New York City, USA
Circumstances Occupation journalist and broadcaster Gender Male Spouse Ruth Emerson Ethnicity British-American Notable Credit(s) Letter From America Alistair Cooke's America

Alistair Cooke, KBE, (November 20, 1908 – March 30, 2004) was a legendary British-American journalist and broadcaster.

Media beginnings

In 1934, at the end of his study fellowship, Cooke saw a newspaper headline that Baldwin, the prime minister's son, had been fired by the BBC as film critic.

Move to United States

Cooke began what was to become a permanent emigration in 1937, although his claim for citizenship took over four years to be processed .

London Letter, American Letter

Shortly after emigrating, Cooke suggested to the BBC the idea of doing the London Letter in reverse: a 15-minute talk for British listeners on life in America.

The first American Letter was broadcast on March 24, 1946 (Cooke said this was at the request of Lindsey Wellington, BBC's New York Controller);

The Staff Reporter

In 1947, Cooke became a foreign correspondent for the Manchester Guardian, for which he wrote until 1972.

Alistair Cooke's America, a 13-part television series about the United States and its history, was first broadcast in both Britain and the US in 1973, and was followed by a book of the same title. Alistair Cooke said that, of all his work, Alistair Cooke's America was what he was most proud of;

The end

On March 2, 2004, at the age of 95, following advice from his doctors, Cooke announced his retirement from Letter From America - after 58 years, the longest-running speech radio show in the world.

Cooke died at midnight on March 30, 2004 at his home in New York City.

Theft of body parts

On December 22, 2005, the New York Daily News reported that bones of Cooke and many other people had been surgically removed before cremation by bodysnatchers working for a tissue-recovery firm. Games with Alistair Cooke: On Sport and Other Amusements (1996) ISBN 1-55970-327-X Memories of the Great and the Good (2000) ISBN 1-55970-545-0 The American Home Front: 1941-1942 (2006) ISBN 0-87113-939-1 Alistair Cooke's American Journey: Life on the Home Front in the Second World War (2006) ISBN 0-7139-9879-2

"America" books

Talk about America Letter from America: The Early Years 1946-1968 America Observed: From the 1940s to the 1980s/Ronald A. Wells Letters from America: The Americans, Letters from America and Talk About America One Man's America The Americans Alistair Cooke's America (2002) Letter from America: (1946-2004) (2004) ISBN 1-4000-4402-2

Cooke also co-authored several "coffee table" photo books

Preceded by: None

Host of Masterpiece Theatre 1971–1992

Succeeded by: Russell Baker

Media

Alistair Cooke's America,a 13-part series on DVD, with a bonus where Cooke talks about his life.