Veteran newsreader Peter Sissons dies aged 77

He presented ITN’s News at One, before joining the BBC,   was one of the first presenters of Channel Four News and had a spell chairing the BBC’s Question Time.
He died in Maidstone Hospital in Kent on Tuesday night in the company of his wife Sylvia and his three children.
Born in Liverpool in July 1942, he went to school with three of the Beatles – John Lennon was at Dovedale Junior School while Sissons attended the Liverpool Institute for Boys alongside George Harrison and Paul McCartney. 

Peter Sissons (Ian West/PA)

Sissons studied at Oxford before getting his first job in journalism with ITN in 1964. He later became the broadcaster’s News Editor, and later its Industrial Editor.

He joined Channel 4 News as its anchor in 1982, and the programme went on to secure three Baftas during his tenure.

He moved to the BBC in 1989 as joint presenter of the Six O’Clock news and  took over from Robin Day when the original Question Time host retired. After fronting the  Nine O'Clock News, he was later switched BBC News 24. He accused the corporation at the time of ageism.

It was Sissons' face which frequently accompanied the message "we interrupt this broadcast to bring you a news bulletin" when a major story broke.

He broke the news to the nation of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and the passing of the Queen Mother in April 2002. In 1998 it was he who alerted Channel 4 viewers to the then unexplained crash of a transatlantic flight over Lockerbie, and in 1996 he was praised for his compassionate, unsensationalised coverage live from the scene of the Dunblane school massacre.

After an interview with the Iranian ambassador in 1989 about the fatwa issued to author Salman Rushdie, the fatwa was extended to Sissons himself, and he and his family were subsequently given police protection.

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

But the death of the Queen Mother was the most controversial incident of his career. Following internal debate at the BBC about 'toning down' coverage of  the event when it happened, Sissons wore a burgundy, not a black tie. 

This and the newsreader’s perceived intrusiveness in a subsequent interview with the Queen Mother’s niece, Margaret Rhodes, led to protest over the BBC’s coverage – although this was somewhat exaggerated by the tabloid press.

Sissons later said that only 130 people had phoned the corporation to complain about “ insensitivity” in the reporting, compared with 1500 who said the coverage had been excessive or complained  of a delay to that night’s episode of ‘Casualty’.

Seen as a reliable pair of hands, he had never previously faced such criticism – he described it as ‘vicious’. But he didn’t shrink from controversy after retiring. In his autobiography, When One Door Closes, he revealed that the BBC had ordered a muted response to the Queen Mother’s death, not wanting coverage to go “overboard”.

He claimed an editor had told him which tie to wear and the BBC had later tried to issue a statement saying the colour was “the presenter’s choice”, until he intervened.
More widely, he alleged the BBC was institutionally biased towards the left, with staff reluctant to advance contrary views for fear of damaging their prospects.

He described it as a ‘mindset’ in which editorial decisions were led by coverage in the Guardian or the Independent and institutions like the UN and the EU were viewed as ‘good’ and subjected to little scrutiny.

He wrote that he had left the corporation after being frustrated after a string of producers and editors had tried to influence the questions he used in an interview with Harriet Harman the then Labour deputy leader. 

He had then been told at the last minute to read out viewer questions instead, with little time left for any of his own. “As I drove home that evening, I asked myself if I wanted to go on working for the BBC. By the time I arrived home, I’d decided to leave,” he said.

Outside of broadcasting, Sissons sat on the independent panel which reported on the Hillsborough disaster. Chair of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, former Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, said: "His advice made a huge difference to our work. I know he felt both honoured and proud to serve the city."

After hearing of his death, veteran broadcaster Michael Crick said the BBC had never made the best use of Sissons’ talents. “He was [a] superb TV reporter... brilliant at conducting short studio interviews with people in power,” Crick Tweeted.

Joanna Gosling announced the death of former colleague Peter Sissons

Tony Blair was another to pay tribute. “Peter Sissons was a journalist of exceptional talent, commitment and integrity. He was fearless but objective, always on top of his subject and an immensely likeable personality. I extend my deepest sympathy to Sylvia and all his family,” the former prime minister 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.”