Lola Almudevar (28 June 1978 – 25 November 2007) was a British

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

news reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. She reported for

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 ...

Early life and education

Almudevar was born in

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

father, a psychiatrist, and a British-born mother, the child of emigre German Jews who survived the Holocaust. Almudevar grew up in Nottingham and appeared as a child actress in the BBC's ''

The Rainbow ''The Rainbow'' is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence, first published by Methuen & Co. in 1915. It follows three generations of the Brangwen family living in Nottinghamshire, focusing particularly on the individual's struggle for growt ...

'' (1988). She graduated from the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

in 1999 with a degree in

European Studies European studies is a field of study offered by many academic colleges and universities that focuses on the History of Western civilization and the evolution of Western culture, as well as on current developments in European integration. Some ...

. While attending the school, she wrote for the university newspaper, the ''

Leeds Student ''The Gryphon'' is the student newspaper of the University of Leeds. It is published monthly during term time and its editor, the newspaper's only paid position, is elected annually by Leeds University Union members. The articles are written ...

'' (now known as ''The Gryphon'').

Career

Almudevar moved to

Brussels, Belgium Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, following her graduation, where she worked for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. She was subsequently awarded the Schwarzkopf Foundation's Young European of the Year prize in 1999 for her work in promoting unity among diverse

young people Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

through her

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

. She was first hired by the BBC in 2002. She initially worked for BBC Midlands. Almudevar also worked on

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

programs while working at BBC Midlands, including ''

Midlands Today ''BBC Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands (region), West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ...

'' and ''

Inside Out Inside Out may refer to: * Backwards or inverse Books * '' Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd'', by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason * ''Inside Out'', Christian book by Larry Crabb * ''Inside Out'', espionage thriller by Barry Eisler * ...

''. She also created "docu-dramas" for the network before becoming an overseas

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for the BBC. She took a

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

leave from the BBC in 2006, when she travelled to several

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n countries, including

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. She produced a number of news pieces while on sabbatical which focused on issues facing the region, including

street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers ...

and a campaign to legalize the production of the

coca leaf Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. Coca leaves contain cocaine which acts as a mild stimulant when chewed or ...

Awards

Almudevar won an award for her work on ''Alexandra Road'', a ten-part series that followed the lives of residents of a street in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, which she co-produced with fellow BBC journalist

Brady Haran Brady John Haran (born 18 June 1976) is an Australian-British independent filmmaker and video journalist who produces educational videos and documentary films for his YouTube channels, the most notable being ''Computerphile'' and ''Numberph ...

. In 1999, she won the Young European of the Year award, given by the Heinz-Schwarzkopf Foundation and the European parliament, for her work in promoting understanding among young people from different cultures.

Death

Almudevar was killed going out to cover a story for the BBC. The taxi she was travelling in collided at night with the wreckage from a previous collision between lorries which had not been cleared off the main highway. The accident happened near the Bolivian village of Calamarca on 25 November 2007. She was 29 years old. Almudevar and another journalist were travelling to the Bolivian city of

Sucre Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...

to cover a story about political unrest in the city due to the approval of a new regional draft

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. Flights had been suspended to Sucre so Almudevar was forced to take the taxi. Their

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

collided with the wreckage from two trucks which had been involved in an earlier accident. Lola Almudevar was killed, along with the two truck drivers, and Clotilde Fernandez, the wife of the taxi driver who was accompanying him.

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

reporter Eduardo Garcia, who was traveling with Almudevar to Sucre, was seriously injured in the accident. Almudevar was posthumously awarded BBC Programme Maker of the Year by the BBC World Service in 2008, in recognition of her documentary work.

References

External links

The Guardian: Lola Almudevar obituaryLola Almudevar memorial siteBBC News: Our own correspondent, Lola Almudevar
*
Journalisted - Articles by Lola Almudevar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Almudevar, Lola 1978 births 2007 deaths British child actresses English people of Spanish descent Mass media people from Nottingham Alumni of the University of Leeds English journalists British women journalists BBC newsreaders and journalists Road incident deaths in Bolivia Journalists from London British women television journalists British radio presenters British women radio presenters