BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton dies aged 68

Corporation pays tribute to ‘outstanding’ journalist who presented shows including Today and One O’Clock News

The journalist Edward Stourton has died aged 68, it has been announced.

The BBC Radio 4 presenter was best known for fronting current affairs programmes including Today, World at One and its religious and ethical current affairs series Sunday.

He died on Saturday surrounded by his family after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014, the BBC said in a statement.

Former colleagues paid tribute to a man they called an outstanding broadcaster.

“It’s far too soon to lose Ed,” said Jonathan Munro, who runs BBC News and Current Affairs. “I worked as his producer when he was ITN’s diplomatic editor – unflappable then and ever after. Many years later, I was listening to his superb analysis of the new pope for the BBC – another of his many areas of expertise.

“Not many broadcasters can present Today, BBC One’s One O’Clock News, The World at One and Sunday, but he did. He leaves a huge gap.”

Mohit Bakaya, the controller of BBC Radio 4, said Stourton was an “absolutely outstanding broadcaster”. He added: “He brought intelligence, authority and an extraordinary hinterland to everything he did. When Ed was behind the mic, whether on Sunday or the various news programmes he regularly presented for Radio 4, you felt you understood the world that little bit better. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time.”

Stourton had a distinguished career in broadcasting, working for the BBC and ITN, which produces Channel 4 News. He spent nearly a decade presenting Radio 4’s flagship Today programme, and also presented the One O’Clock News and Any Questions, as well as Radio 4’s Sunday and BBC One’s Panorama.

He joined ITN from university in 1979 and became a founding member of Channel 4 News three years later. Starting out as a scriptwriter, he went on to cover foreign news, and became the programme’s first Washington correspondent in 1986, reporting on the final years of the Reagan presidency.

In 1988 he started a two-year stint as the BBC’s Paris correspondent, which ended when he rejoined ITN as diplomatic editor. He reported from Baghdad during the Gulf war, Bosnia during the siege of Sarajevo and from Moscow in the final days of the Soviet Union.

He returned to the BBC in 1993 and presented the One O’Clock News for six years. He also presented editions of Assignment during his time with the broadcaster and had his own Radio 4 phone-in programme, Call Ed Stourton . He joined the Today programme in 1999 and, having presented it, later became a regular contributor.

From 2009 Stourton began presenting The World at One and The World This Weekend.

He was a Roman Catholic and hosted Radio 4’s Sunday and BBC One’s The Heaven and Earth Show, as well as documentaries such as Absolute Truth, a four-part BBC Two series about the Catholic church.

He was born in Nigeria, where his father was based, in 1957, and was raised in the UK. Stourton studied English literature at the University of Cambridge. He is survived by his wife, Fiona Stourton, and four children.

In his 2023 memoir Confessions, Stourton revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer nearly a decade earlier. Amy Rylance, the director of health services, equity and improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “We’re grateful to him for speaking openly about his diagnosis in his memoir, and in doing so raising lifesaving awareness with men across the country.

“Prostate cancer often doesn’t have symptoms at the early stages, but the earlier you find it, the easier it is to treat. That’s why it’s so important for men to be aware of the disease, to know their own risk and to know what they can choose to do about it. You can find out right now by using Prostate Cancer UK’s 30-second online risk checker.”