Broadcaster and journalist Edward Stourton has died aged 68, the BBC has announced.
Mr Stourton’s career spanned more than 40 years, including 10 years fronting the broadcaster’s prestigious Radio 4 Today programme.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014, but continued to work until recently.
The BBC said that he died on Saturday, surrounded by his family.
Jonathan Munro, the interim chief executive of BBC News and Current Affairs – who also worked as Stourton’s producer when he was ITN’s diplomatic editor – said it was “far too soon to lose Ed”.
Speaking about his time on ITN, Munro described his late colleague as “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, controller of BBC Radio 4, said: “Ed was an absolutely outstanding broadcaster. 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.”
Mr Stourton was born in Nigeria and was one of the founding members of the Channel 4 news team when it was formed in 1982.
Starting out as a scriptwriter, he went on to cover foreign news at the broadcaster, also enjoying a stint as Washington correspondent, where he reported on the final years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
He then went on to join the BBC in 1988 before returning to ITN two years later as diplomatic editor, reporting from around the world including Baghdad during the Gulf War, Bosnia during the siege of Sarajevo and from Moscow in the final days of the Soviet Union.
Stourton went back the BBC in 1993 and fronted the One O’Clock News for six years and presented his own Radio 4 phone-in programme, Call Ed Stourton, before joining the Today programme in 1999.
He fronted the flagship current affairs programme for a decade, until it was announced in December 2008 that he was set to be replaced by Justin Webb. The decision – which was communicated to him through a journalist before he was officially informed of his departure – prompted a huge public outcry. Two members of parliament, Jeremy Hunt and Keith Vaz, even put forward an early-day motion in the Commons, signed by 90 MPs.
The campaign in support of him ultimately led to the BBC retaining him as a contributor, shifting from presenting work to foreign reporting.
Recalling the time in his 2023 memoir Confessions, Mr Stourton wrote: “The letters that piled high in my pigeonhole were personally heartening, and a reminder that friendships endure even in the febrile world of journalism.”
Mr Stourton also worked as BBC Two’s world affairs strand correspondent and presented editions of Panorama, as well as a series of Radio 4 programmes including The World At One, The World This Weekend and Analysis.
Along with his four-decade-long career as a broadcaster, he authored a number of books, including 2013’s Cruel Crossing and his memoir – in which he revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer nearly a decade earlier.
His most recent book, Made In America (2025), explores US history and how it has led to the era of Donald Trump. It was written to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Mr Stourton is survived by his wife Fiona and his four children.
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