Anthony Carthew; journalits whose beat was the Royal Family
Hyfler/Rosner
was announced, it was Carthew who prompted the much-quoted
exchange when he asked the royal couple how they felt, then
asking: "And I suppose - in love?"
Diana: "Of course."
Charles: "Whatever 'in love' means."
The Times
January 22, 2007
Anthony Carthew
April 2, 1927 - January 5, 2007
ITN journalist who reported on the activities of the Royal
Family with polite irreverence
Anthony Carthew reported on the Royal Family for ITN during
a period of important royal activities, from the Queen's
Silver Jubilee in 1977 and the triumphant progress around
Britain, through the courtship and marriage of the Prince of
Wales and Lady Diana Spencer to the sad events later.
Anthony Carthew was born in Birmingham in 1927 and graduated
in Italian and French from the University of Birmingham. He
started in journalism as a Kemsley graduate trainee working
as a reporter on the Sheffield Telegraph Group.
In 1954 he joined the Daily Herald in Fleet Street, where he
was a general reporter and also theatre critic. From there
he became a reporter on the Daily Mail, covering the Vietnam
War and the Congo revolution in the 1960s.
He was among the journalists made redundant when the Daily
Mail converted to its tabloid format in 1971. For a while he
freelanced and contributed to The New York Times Magazine,
before he joined ITN in 1973. He had many overseas
assignments and covered the Northern Ireland Troubles for
ITN's News at Ten before he was accredited to Buckingham
Palace as court correspondent.
In the Queen's Jubilee Year the walkabout became a novel
feature of royal visits. The informality of the Queen and
the Duke of Edinburgh and the obvious pleasure on the faces
of the crowds found a suitable match in Carthew's highly
individual style.
He was the newspaper journalist who best transferred feature
writing skills to daily television news. His reportage of
royal events was unstuffy and undeferential, without being
irreverent but in marked contrast to the august tones of
traditional court correspondents.
The ITV network documentary, A Right Royal Jubilee, summing
up the Jubilee year, contained some of Carthew's best
writing. Word reached ITN that Carthew's unconventional
approach was liked at the Palace.
When the engagement of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana
was announced, it was Carthew who prompted the much-quoted
exchange when he asked the royal couple how they felt, then
asking: "And I suppose - in love?"
Diana: "Of course."
Charles: "Whatever 'in love' means."
When the Prince and Princess of Wales went on their first
overseas tour together to Australia and New Zealand, ITN
used what was then new technology to produce on-the-spot
half-hour documentaries every week for six weeks. Carthew
was the natural choice to provide the words and the voice,
and the series was a big success with audiences, winning
Carthew and the production team a special TV Times award.
In 1978 ITN lost a team in Angola for more than four months.
The reporter, Michael Nicholson, and his camera team had
flown into Angola to report on Joseph Savimibi's
Western-backed Unita campaign against the Communist MPLA.
Their exit route became blocked and ITN lost all contact
with them.
Carthew had considerable experience of reporting from
southern Africa. He was one of a team of ITN journalists
deployed around the region while a rescue attempt was
mounted by two courageous freelance pilots in an executive
jet. The attempt was successful and Carthew met his newly
rescued colleagues at a refuelling stop in Zaire (now
Democratic Republic of Congo), with some cold beers. He
broke the news of their rescue with a cable: "I have the
chickens safely back in the nest."
When they arrived in Johannesburg, Carthew was detained in
custody overnight. Like many journalists, he had been banned
by the Government for previous reports from South Africa.
While the rescued ITN people celebrated, Carthew spent the
night in a cell. He was deported the next day.
In 1980 six Iranian gunmen opposed to the regime of the
Ayatollah Khomeini occupied the Iranian Embassy in London.
The siege lasted five days under unprecedented live
television coverage, which was seen around the world. On the
evening of the fifth day, the ITN outside broadcast team,
viewing from a hidden ITN camera at the rear of the embassy,
suddenly saw a group of SAS men on the roof of the embassy
lowering ropes as they prepared to storm the building. The
rescue was about to begin.
After the SAS got inside, ITN broke into the ITV network's
evening programmes and covered the scene - the bangs, the
screams, the flames, the smoke - as the SAS killed five
terrorists and freed nineteen hostages. Carthew provided the
live commentary throughout.
The coverage received main awards from the British Academy
of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) and the Monaco
International TV Festival.
Carthew retired in 1989 and lived in Cathedine, Powys.
He is survived by his wife, Olwen, whom he married in 1951,
and two daughters.
Anthony Carthew, journalist, was born on April 2, 1927. He
died on January 5, 2007, aged
Hyfler/Rosner
aka Bob
magnanimously proffered:
>When the Prince and Princess of Wales went on their first
>overseas tour together to Australia and New Zealand, ITN
>used what was then new technology to produce on-the-spot
>half-hour documentaries every week for six weeks. Carthew
>was the natural choice to provide the words and the voice,
>and the series was a big success with audiences, winning
>Carthew and the production team a special TV Times award.
He was also a correspondent ("royal reporter") for various New Zealand
media and had a delightfully wry way of putting things. RIP
BTW - I covered my first and only royal tour in NZ in 1986 and the
highlight was when I almost backed into Her Majesty as she and Prince
Phillip were being escorted from one area to another and I was gently,
but firmly moved sideways as the royal party glided past an arm's
length away.
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
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