Former BBC and ITN newsreader Peter Sissons, who was born and grew up in Liverpool, has died at the age of 77.
A statement from his management company this lunch-time read: “We are sad to announce that Peter Sissons, the former presenter on ITN, Channel 4 and the BBC, died peacefully last night in Maidstone Hospital, Kent.
“His wife and three children were with him and wish to pass on their thanks to the hospital staff who were so caring and fought gallantly to save him to the end.”
Sissons was born in 1942 at Smithdown Road Hospital in Liverpool and attended Dovedale Junior School with John Lennon and Liverpool Institute for Boys with Paul McCartney.
He started his career at ITN in the 1960s and was wounded by gunfire and suffered severe nerve damage to his left leg while covering the Biafran War in 1968. After this, he took an editor’s role at ITN and went on to become a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel.
After a short stint at Channel 4 he joined the BBC and will be best remembered for his work there. During his time at the Corporation he presented Question Time, until 1993, and the Nine O’Clock News from 1994.
Earlier this year, Sissons criticised the BBC’s decision to cut regional news bulletins after the main 10 o’clock News, describing it as a “breach of their public duty”. He added: “There has never been more important news running in peacetime. They are in the business of public service, not competing for ratings.”
Sissons retired from broadcasting in 2009, having been one of the UK’s longest-serving TV news presenters. Piers Morgan paid tribute to a “splendidly combative & amusing man”.
