Bob Friend, MBE (20 January 1938 – 8 October 2008) was one of the original

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

s for the

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

channel from its launch in 1989 until his retirement in late 2003.

Journalism career

Early days

After completing his education at

the Skinners' School The Skinners' School (formally The Skinners' Company's Middle School for Boys and commonly known as Skinners'), is a British Grammar School with Academy (English school), academy status for boys located in the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent ...

, Friend started his career in 1953 aged 15 as a cub reporter on the Tunbridge Wells Advertiser, reporting on the

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

Coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

. After he undertook

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

as a corporal clerk with the

Brigade of Gurkhas Brigade of Gurkhas is the collective name which refers to all the units in the British Army that are composed of Gurkha, Nepalese Gurkha soldiers. The brigade draws its heritage from Gurkha units that originally served in the British Indian Arm ...

in Hong Kong, Friend served a ten-year

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

career in various British newspapers before starting his

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

career with

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

in 1969.

BBC News

Starting out as the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

correspondent of the Radio 4's

Today programme ''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is BBC Radio 4's long-running morning news and current-affairs radio programme. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 06:00 to 09:00 (starting on Saturday at 07:00), it is produced by BB ...

, Friend served four years in Northern Ireland witnessing

sectarian violence Sectarian violence or sectarian strife is a form of communal violence which is inspired by sectarianism, that is, discrimination, hatred or prejudice between different sects of a particular mode of an ideology or different sects of a religion wi ...

at the start of

The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

. After a short stint in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

he got his first official overseas TV posting as the BBC's first Australia correspondent in 1973, five years as the BBC's Tokyo correspondent, and finally

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...

correspondent where his producer was Mark Thompson, who went on to become

Director-General of the BBC The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The post-holder was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period 1927 to 2007) and then the ...

Sky News

After 20 years with the BBC, Friend returned to the United Kingdom to work on the start-up

. Friend's first appearance on Sky News was on 2 February 1989 alongside

Kay Burley Kay Elizabeth Burley (; born 17 December 1960) is an English broadcaster. She was a presenter on Sky News and hosted the breakfast slot on the channel. She has also worked for BBC Local Radio, Tyne Tees Television, and TV-am. On 5 February ...

, but his best known on-screen partner was Anna Botting, and they became one of channel's most popular news duos. Friend became the best recognised face of Sky News, and as a result of being spotted by

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...

while he watched Sky News on a short visit to London, Friend had cameos in a number of 1990s films, including ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

'' and '' Mission Impossible.''

Radio

Friend was a guest presenter on LBC News 1152 during the

2005 United Kingdom general election The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect List of MPs elected in the 2005 United Kingdom general election, 646 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The governing Labo ...

Honours

In June 2003, Friend was awarded an MBE for services to broadcasting in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, shortly before his retirement presenting alongside Creegor on 23 October, nearly 15 years after his first appearance.

Personal life

Friend was married with two daughters. He died on 8 October 2008 from a

brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

Tributes

Chairman and CEO of

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

paid personal tribute to Friend:

Memorial Scholarship

The

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

's Centre for Journalism has had for many years, since 2009, the Sky News Bob Friend Memorial Scholar. Several previous scholars now work from KM News,

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

Newspaper and Sky News. The annual scholarship of 2013 was presented to Georgia Fry by Neil Dunwoodie, Executive Producer Sky News, at the 2013 Bob Friend Memorial Lecture (by

Stephanie Flanders Stephanie Hope Flanders (born 5 August 1968) is a British economist and journalist, currently the head of Economics and Politics at Bloomberg News. She was previously chief market strategist for Britain and Europe for J.P. Morgan Asset Manageme ...

BBC Economics editor ) at the Pilkington Lecture Theatre at the University of Kent's Medway Campus in Chatham.

Partial filmography

*'' Mission: Impossible'' (1996) - Sky News Man *''

'' (1996) - Himself - 'Sky News' Anchorman (uncredited) *''

Quicksand Quicksand (also known as sinking sand) is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it crea ...

'' (2003) - Newscaster (final film role)

References

External links

Tribute to Bob Friend
Sky News (archived) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friend, Bob 1938 births 2008 deaths British male journalists British television presenters BBC newsreaders and journalists Sky News newsreaders and journalists Neurological disease deaths in England Members of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from brain cancer in England Royal Army Service Corps soldiers People educated at The Skinners' School