Dear All
Today, the world is a lesser place; one of the great broadcasters of our time has passed away.
Author, broadcaster and campaigner Sir Ludovic Kennedy has died aged 89.
Kennedy, a former BBC Panorama journalist, spent decades investigating high profile miscarriages of justice, notably the case of the Birmingham Six.
The Birmingham Six case made a mockery of English justice as the state imprisoned innocent men and women for crimes they didn’t commit.
A feature of this case was the Police torturing innocent people held in custody.
Sir Ludovic Kennedy died on Sunday at a nursing home in Salisbury, Wiltshire, after contracting pneumonia.
He is survived by his four children.
Born in Edinburgh, he joined the Royal Navy and served on HMS Tartar during the war.
When the war was over, he enrolled at Oxford University and from there to a successful career in journalism were he made such a name for himself.
That name was craved out by investigations into a number of high-profile criminal cases.
A member of the Liberal Democrat Party, he stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal candidate in 1958, I would have thought he would have made a good MP if elected but then sometimes the best candidate doesn’t always win.
As someone who was brought up watching Panorama, World in Action and Weekend World, I can honestly say he played a part in helping me better understand the world and why justice and people to speak out are so essential.
He was by definition, a great man.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Today, the world is a lesser place; one of the great broadcasters of our time has passed away.
Author, broadcaster and campaigner Sir Ludovic Kennedy has died aged 89.
Kennedy, a former BBC Panorama journalist, spent decades investigating high profile miscarriages of justice, notably the case of the Birmingham Six.
The Birmingham Six case made a mockery of English justice as the state imprisoned innocent men and women for crimes they didn’t commit.
A feature of this case was the Police torturing innocent people held in custody.
Sir Ludovic Kennedy died on Sunday at a nursing home in Salisbury, Wiltshire, after contracting pneumonia.
He is survived by his four children.
Born in Edinburgh, he joined the Royal Navy and served on HMS Tartar during the war.
When the war was over, he enrolled at Oxford University and from there to a successful career in journalism were he made such a name for himself.
That name was craved out by investigations into a number of high-profile criminal cases.
A member of the Liberal Democrat Party, he stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal candidate in 1958, I would have thought he would have made a good MP if elected but then sometimes the best candidate doesn’t always win.
As someone who was brought up watching Panorama, World in Action and Weekend World, I can honestly say he played a part in helping me better understand the world and why justice and people to speak out are so essential.
He was by definition, a great man.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Dear Sir George, Laird of Glasgow University*,
ReplyDeleteGood gracious, from your writing, I had you down as a strapping young lad, putting the world to rights.
But if you watched those early TV programmes you must be a lot older than I thought.
Well, well, now I can guess what benefit you are on -- same as me.
Take it easy,
Hamish.
*apologies for failing to accord you the full dignity of your title last time I commented.
Dear Hamish
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the Queen has never rewarded me for my charity work but then I never promoted I done it.
Years and years of the stuff.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University