30 Facts About Richard Dimbleby

Frederick Richard Dimbleby was an English journalist and broadcaster, who became the BBC's first war correspondent, and then its leading TV news commentator.

Richard Dimbleby was able to maintain interest throughout the all-night election specials.

The annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture was founded in his memory.

Richard Dimbleby was educated at Glengorse Preparatory School in Eastbourne, then at The Mall School, Twickenham, and then at Mill Hill School, and began his career in 1931 on the Richmond and Twickenham Times, which his grandfather, Frederick William Dimbleby, had acquired in 1894.

Richard Dimbleby's father had been press officer for the Ministry of Labour under David Lloyd George and held a position with the Daily Mail on Fleet Street, but had fallen out over interwar views on fascism and instead joined the family firm.

Richard Dimbleby accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France and made broadcasts from the front.

Richard Dimbleby later covered the battle of El Alamein and the Normandy beaches during the D-Day landings.

Richard Dimbleby was one of the first journalists to experiment with unconventional outside broadcasts, such as when flying in a de Havilland Mosquito accompanying a fighter aircraft raid on France, or being submerged in a diving suit.

Richard Dimbleby begged him to give her some milk, for the tiny baby she held in her arms.

Richard Dimbleby lay the mite on the ground, threw herself at the sentry's feet and kissed his boots.

Richard Dimbleby described, in another broadcast, the wrecked interior of Adolf Hitler's Reich Chancellery at the war's end.

Richard Dimbleby acquired full control of his family's newspapers, buying out his uncle, Percy Dimbleby.

Richard Dimbleby obtained a three year contract to write film scripts for Alexander Korda but this was never put to use.

Richard Dimbleby is perhaps best remembered as the commentator on a number of major public occasions, including the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and the funerals of George VI, John F Kennedy and Winston Churchill.

Richard Dimbleby wrote a book about the coronation, Elizabeth Our Queen, which was given free to many schoolchildren at the time.

Richard Dimbleby wrote a London crime novel, Storm at the Hook, published in 1948.

Richard Dimbleby oversaw the first live international broadcast, as part of the centenary celebration of the first telegram being sent between France and England.

Richard Dimbleby introduced a special programme in July 1962 showing the first live television signal from the United States via the Telstar satellite.

Richard Dimbleby was able to maintain his reporting talents by visiting places like Berlin, standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate a week before the Berlin Wall was erected across it by the communist authorities of East Germany.

In 1958 Richard Dimbleby was the commentator on the BBC's first ever broadcast from the House of Lords.

Richard Dimbleby made two return trips to Belsen at the BBC's request; firstly in the summer of 1959 as part of a documentrary "After the Battle" following six correspondents in their previous footsteps; and in 1965, which took in the huge nearby military camp at Hohne by which time the Bergen memorial had been set up.

Richard Dimbleby's reputation was built upon his ability to describe events clearly yet with a sense of the drama and poetry of the many state occasions he covered.

Richard Dimbleby could improvise extensively if there were delays in the schedule.

Richard Dimbleby showed stamina and imperturbability in marathon election night broadcasts which ran from 10pm, when the polls closed, until around 6 or 7am the following morning.

Richard Dimbleby married Dilys Thomas in Copthorne, West Sussex, in 1937.

In June 1946, Richard Dimbleby was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services as a war correspondent.

Richard Dimbleby decided to reveal he was ill with cancer, which, at the time, was a taboo disease to mention.

On 22 December 1965, Richard Dimbleby died at the age of 52.

In 1986 "Celebration of a Broadcaster", commemorating Richard Dimbleby, was held in Westminster Abbey.

The Richard Dimbleby Lecture was founded in his memory in 1972 and is delivered every year by an influential public figure.