{"id":44446,"date":"2024-01-24T16:40:49","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T15:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1973349"},"modified":"2024-01-24T19:01:26","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T18:01:26","slug":"cecil-taylor-pioneering-bbc-broadcaster-dies-aged-96","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/cecil-taylor-pioneering-bbc-broadcaster-dies-aged-96\/","title":{"rendered":"Cecil Taylor, pioneering BBC broadcaster, dies aged 96"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was BBC News Northern Ireland’s first TV reporter. <\/p>

By Katelyn Mensah\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 24 January 2024 at 15:40 PM<\/p>

\n\n

BBC newsreader Cecil Taylor has died at the age of 96, it has been announced.<\/p>\n

Taylor was BBC News Northern Ireland\u2019s first TV reporter, and developed a number of shows for the BBC, including Newsline.<\/p>\n

Over the course of his career, Taylor covered historic events including the beginning of the Troubles, the civil rights movement and the IRA campaign of the 1950s.<\/p>\n

According to the Belfast Telegraph<\/a>, Taylor began his career in newspapers and joined the BBC as a reporter in 1955, with his entire career with the BBC being spent in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

Tributes from former colleagues have poured in for the journalist, with those who knew him describing him as \u201cvalued\u201d.<\/p>\n

Don Anderson, who worked alongside Taylor over the years, said (as per BBC News<\/a>): \u201cHe used to say that when he arrived at the BBC the news from the Belfast newsroom sounded as if it had been written in Stormont Castle, and he did something to change that, which was highly important.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cYou knew what was expected \u2013 fair and accurate reporting. Anything else and he came down on top of you like a ton of bricks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of journalism, Taylor commissioned a number of TV dramas including Graham Reid\u2019s The Billy plays, which starred Kenneth Branagh.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was one of the men who began television drama here \u2013 when we see all the studios here now, all the series, he began all that,\u201d Anderson continued.<\/p>\n

Former BBC News editor Robin Walsh said Taylor had a \u201cfine-tuned editorial mind\u201d and will be \u201csadly missed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Walsh told BBC News: \u201cHe told you what he thought and there were no airs and graces about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a fine-tuned editorial mind, but I tell you what he also had, he had an open door \u2013 sadly, sadly to be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor is survived by his wife Doreen, his daughter Olwyn, son-in-law Ian and grandchild Matty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n

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