Excellent radio broadcaster.He mastered the English language as few.He also interviewed and befriended some of the most famous people of his time.How I miss the weekly Letters from America.Rest in peace Alistair and many thanks from an admirer.
There were only a few journalists in the electronic media's earlier days who essentially reported not just factual events, but their personal judgements about those events and what they might mean. Cooke was one, Alan Whicker was another. That style of reportage is pretty common now, but back then it was different most reporters stuck with facts and didn't fill in much background. Cooke's reporting wasn't always timely, very often he was following up on things from many days or weeks before, but it was always engaging and thought provoking. His weekly radio series "Letter from America" - which played on BBC Radio 4 was always worth listening to - not so much because you found out anything new, but because he would often add colour to what had been simple good-guys vs bad-guys news reporting and give things more depth and context by drawing on his wide knowledge of people, places and history of America. For me, his crowning acheivement was his "America" series - 10 one hour programmes (still available on DVD) which covered the history of American from discovery until the time the programmes were made in 1976. By no means a conventional dry telling of that story, nor a comprehensive coverage of it, but one that tells the tale by foscussing on the actions of not only the great and the good but of the real human beings involved in every level of that epic period of history. It is well worth watching for anyone who wants to understand that great country - explained as probably only an outsider with a great talent for oratory and language could do it. His coverage of the period from the establishment of east coast colonies to independence and the writing of the American constitution is especially interesting and explains an awful lot that previously mystified me. That segment includes some great background on "the founding fathers" but also highlights that even in the struggle for independence the ties between Britain and the US remained under the surface. The settlers honoured British solders who were killed in the war for independence - with one grave site showing an inscription that says something like, "They came as enemies, but remain as friends"
Excellent radio broadcaster.He mastered the English language as few.He also interviewed and befriended some of the most famous people of his time.How I miss the weekly Letters from America.Rest in peace Alistair and many thanks from an admirer.
There were only a few journalists in the electronic media's earlier days who essentially reported not just factual events, but their personal judgements about those events and what they might mean. Cooke was one, Alan Whicker was another. That style of reportage is pretty common now, but back then it was different most reporters stuck with facts and didn't fill in much background.
Cooke's reporting wasn't always timely, very often he was following up on things from many days or weeks before, but it was always engaging and thought provoking. His weekly radio series "Letter from America" - which played on BBC Radio 4 was always worth listening to - not so much because you found out anything new, but because he would often add colour to what had been simple good-guys vs bad-guys news reporting and give things more depth and context by drawing on his wide knowledge of people, places and history of America.
For me, his crowning acheivement was his "America" series - 10 one hour programmes (still available on DVD) which covered the history of American from discovery until the time the programmes were made in 1976. By no means a conventional dry telling of that story, nor a comprehensive coverage of it, but one that tells the tale by foscussing on the actions of not only the great and the good but of the real human beings involved in every level of that epic period of history. It is well worth watching for anyone who wants to understand that great country - explained as probably only an outsider with a great talent for oratory and language could do it. His coverage of the period from the establishment of east coast colonies to independence and the writing of the American constitution is especially interesting and explains an awful lot that previously mystified me. That segment includes some great background on "the founding fathers" but also highlights that even in the struggle for independence the ties between Britain and the US remained under the surface. The settlers honoured British solders who were killed in the war for independence - with one grave site showing an inscription that says something like, "They came as enemies, but remain as friends"
Thank you so much for this 💗
He will live on forever for the next generations......
Incidentally it was spelt Cooke , so if you are tempted for any further grammar Nazi bollocks , bare in mind you have lost the high Ground
@@5888max it is called BEAR in mind...and tempted BY
@ Ignored the Warning and took the bait eh dicksplash ? Professional translator my fanny ( American enough for you? )
What a treasure!
He had a fascinating and fulfilled life!
My childhood hero for clear diction like thatcher
He is crazy nothing he says is true !
Only 2 years pass and it all came true
A .C wrote a pastiche of Hemingway as part of a competition and this was rejected because examiners thought Hemingway had written it.....