Newsreaders Sophie Raworth, Fiona Bruce and Natasha Kaplinsky gather to say their final farewell to their colleague George Alagiah
BBC NEWS presenter Sophie Raworth fought back tears as she read George Alagiah’s final message at his memorial service.
Stars flocked to St Martin in the Fields Church in Trafalgar Square yesterday to remember the late TV presenter, who died of bowel cancer aged 67.
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Fiona Bruce and Natasha Kaplinsky also attended the parade service.
The BBC Six O’Clock News presenter had penned his own touching message for the community – which was read out by his former co-host Sophie, 55.
She said: “If you haven’t told the people you love that you love them, tell them.
“If you haven’t told them how vulnerable you feel sometimes, tell them.
Read more about George Alagiah
“If you want to tell them that you would like to be with them until the hallway stairs feel like Everest, then tell them.
“You never know what’s around the corner.
“And if, luckily for you, there’s nothing at the door, then at least you’ll have your defenses under control first.”
Aligia had dictated the moving words to his wife Frances Robathan, with whom he had two children, just three weeks before he succumbed to cancer in July.
Other news anchors in attendance include Mark Austin, Matthew Amroliwala, Jane Hill and Simon McCoy.
Sri Lanka-born George, who has presented BBC One’s News At Six since 2007, was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in April 2014.
When first diagnosed, the disease had already spread to his liver and lymph nodes.
George first joined the BBC in 1989 and became a well-known foreign correspondent, covering civil wars in Somalia and Liberia and the infamous Rwandan genocide in the 1990s.
The journalist returned to work in 2017 before taking another break in 2021 before returning for a few months last year.
He died on July 24th at the age of 67.
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