Rory Peck (13 December 1956 – 3 October 1993) was a Northern-Irish

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 ...

war cameraman who was killed while covering the events of the

1993 Russian constitutional crisis The 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, also known as the 1993 October Coup, Black October, the Shooting of the White House or Ukaz 1400, was a War of Laws#Issues in a new Russia, political stand-off and a constitutional crisis between the Pr ...

Work

Rory Peck covered the first

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

; the wars in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

, the many armed conflicts that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was one of the founders of the independent

Frontline Television News Frontline Television News is a cooperative of freelance cameramen formed during the chaos of the Romanian Revolution in 1989. Founded by Vaughan Smith, Peter Jouvenal, Rory Peck and Nicholas della Casa. During the next 15 years they went on to film ...

agency. Rory was shot and killed outside the Ostankino TV Centre in Moscow by

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

's loyalists (the

Internal Troops The Internal Troops, full name Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs (MVD) (russian: Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел, Vnutrenniye Voiska Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del; abbreviat ...

' special forces unit Vityaz) while covering the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. He was posthumously awarded the Order for Personal Courage by Yeltsin.

Personal life

He was born in the United States in 1956, and grew up in County Dublin, Ireland. He was educated mainly in Dublin, and also briefly in Monaco and the U.S. On his father's side, the Pecks were from

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

; his mother's family, the Titcombes, were from Maine and New York City. His maternal grandmother was from a French-speaking family in New Orleans of French and Spanish descent. There were journalists and many writers in his late father Julian Peck's family including Rawle Knox (foreign correspondent for ''The Observer''), Father Ronald Knox, E.V. Knox (editor of ''Punch''), Winifred Peck, and Penelope Fitzgerald. After school his first interest was ocean engineering; he started at the Florida Institute of Technology, then transferred to Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh – leaving there for travel, then military training, and eventually journalism. He was gifted in mathematics and spoke Russian, French and Persian. He had one sister, Julia, a photographer, and one brother Colin Peck – also a TV journalist, known for his coverage of the first Chechen war and for locating the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq during the US-led invasion of Iraq. Both brothers worked and filmed together in Moscow. His first marriage, in 1981, was to Jane, daughter of Denis Alexander, 6th Earl of Caledon, and they had two sons, James and Alexander. The marriage was dissolved in 1987. His second marriage, in 1991, was to Juliet Elizabeth Crawley (1961–2007). They had a daughter, Lettice. Juliet Peck (died 2007), with John Gunston, helped establish the Rory Peck Trust after her husband's death.

Rory Peck Trust and Rory Peck Award

The Rory Peck Trust is a charitable trust that was set up in 1995 to administer an

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

named after Rory Peck.The Rory Peck Trust
The Trust supports freelance newsgatherers and their families in times of crisis, and offers bursaries to freelancers to help them undertake Hostile Environment Training.UK Kosovo film wins Peck award
, BBC The

Rory Peck Award The Rory Peck Award is an award given to freelance camera operators who have risked their lives to report on newsworthy events.

Notes

References

* Ryzhij. V.Snegiryov. 2003. .

External links

Frontline: The True Story of the British Mavericks Who Changed the Face of War Reporting
by David Loyn
The Rory Peck Trust
offers discretionary grants to the families of freelance newsgatherers killed whilst on assignment, and crisis support to freelancers who are unable to continue their work due to severe injury, disablement or imprisonment

Д. Верхотуров. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, Rory 1956 births 1993 deaths Deaths by firearm in Russia Journalists from Northern Ireland Journalists killed in Russia People from County Londonderry 20th-century British journalists