Veteran broadcaster Sandy Gall, one of Britain’s most trusted news anchors who became a household name presenting News at Ten for two decades, has died aged 97.
The legendary journalist passed away at his home in Kent on Sunday, his family confirmed in an emotional tribute. “His was a great life, generously and courageously lived,” they said.
Gall spent five decades at the forefront of British journalism, witnessing some of the 20th century’s most dramatic events – from President Kennedy’s assassination to the fall of Saigon.
Starting his career at the Aberdeen Press and Journal in 1952, the Scottish-born reporter went on to become one of ITN’s most familiar faces, co-presenting News at Ten from 1970 until his retirement in 1992.
His very first assignment for ITN in 1963 took him to Dallas, Texas – just hours after JFK was shot dead. The young foreign correspondent was sent to investigate whether the city had been a “hotbed of extremists” hostile to the president.
Gall was one of the few journalists who stayed in Vietnam to cover the fall of Saigon. He reported from war zones across the globe and was even arrested in Uganda on the orders of dictator Idi Amin in 1972.
“Sandy presented with quiet authority & style,” wrote one mourner on social media. Another added: “RIP Sandy Gall. A real journalist.”
Former ITN colleague Alastair Stewart led the tributes, calling him “a giant from the good days of ITN – reporter and presenter.
The tributes flooded in from viewers who remembered watching him as children. “I watched him along with you as a kid growing up in the 70s,” one fan told Stewart. “But my goodness he had a good long life so that is something to be thankful for.”
During his remarkable career, Gall interviewed Martin Luther King Jr in 1965 and covered conflicts in Afghanistan that would shape his life beyond journalism.
After witnessing the Soviet-Afghan War firsthand, he founded Sandy Gall’s Afghanistan Appeal in 1986 with his wife Eleanor. The charity provided artificial limbs and rehabilitation to thousands of war victims and disabled Afghans over nearly 40 years.
Born Henderson Alexander Gall in Penang, Malaya (now Malaysia) on 1 October 1927, where his father worked as rubber planter, the family later moved to Scotland. He was educated at Trinity College in Perth and Kinross.
After working at Reuters for ten years as a foreign correspondent from 1953, he joined ITN in 1963 and quickly became one of Britain’s most recognisable news faces.
news at Ten, which he co-presented from 1970, became the UK’s most-watched news programme. His final appearance as newsreader came on 4 January 1991, though he returned for another year as a special reporter.
Even in retirement, Gall remained active. He presented travel programmes, wrote books about his experiences including “Behind Russian Lines” and “War Against the Taliban”, and became a world affairs expert on LBC radio from 2003.
The veteran broadcaster was honoured with a CBE in 1987 and made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2011 for his humanitarian work in Afghanistan.
He married Foreign Office employee Eleanor Smyth in 1958 after meeting her while covering the Hungarian Revolution in Budapest. They had four children, including daughter Carlotta who followed him into journalism. Eleanor died in 2018.
A keen sailor who taught himself on the waters around Martha’s Vineyard, Gall also took up golf in his 70s and was a fierce tennis player and skier.
“Sandy Gall CBE was up there with the very best of British journalists and an iconic newscaster,” one tribute read.
His passing marks the end of an era for British television news – when trusted anchors like Gall brought the world’s biggest stories into living rooms across the nation with authority, integrity and humanity.
