A Sri Lankan-born newsreader and journalist, who covered many key world events for the BBC after joining its newsroom in 1989 as, first, a foreign affairs correspondent and then as main presenter of the Six O’Clock News. After earning a politics degree from Durham University, George Alagiah worked as a journalist for South magazine for seven years. After joining the BBC, he reported on the likes of the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, the war in Somalia, the trade in human organs in India, Brazil’s street children, the Afghanistan civil war and human rights violations in Ethiopia. He moved into presenting, fronting the One O’Clock News, Nine O’Clock News and BBC Four News, becoming one of the Six O'Clock News’ main presenters in 2003 until 2022. He was nominated for a BAFTA for News and Current Affairs Journalism for Newsnight’s coverage of Kurdistan and named as Amnesty International's journalist of the year, both in 1994. He was appointed OBE in 2008.
Read George Alagiah's Guardian obituary
Read George Alagiah's Telegraph obituary
