Industry | 2009.10.19
Ludovic Kennedy dies aged 89
Broadcaster, author and journalist dies aged 89 after career spanning six decades
Sir Ludovic Kennedy, the broadcaster, author and journalist has died aged 89.
The Times website reported today that Kennedy\'s family had told the paper he passed away yesterday at a nursing home in Salisbury.
Kennedy, who would have been 90 early next month, had been ill for some time after developing pneumonia following a fall.
Born In Edinburgh, he was educated at Eton and Christ Church college Oxford, and went on to enjoy a long career as a writer and television presenter that spanned six decades.
He became best known for writing about miscarriages of justice, and his 1961 book Ten Rillington Place, which argued that Timothy Evans should not have been executed for the murder of his baby daughter because the crime was committed by serial killer John Christie, resulted in a posthumous pardon for Evans. In 1970, the book was turned into a film starring John Hurt.
Kennedy was best known to TV audiences as an ITN news reader and, later, a prominent Panorama presenter.
He was a leading liberal, serving as President of the National League of Young Liberals for two years from 1959 and later standing, unsuccessfully, as a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Party.
Kennedy wrote more than a dozen books and numerous television films, including many about the second world war.
He was also a passionate advocate of assisted dying in his later years, and stood for parliament a second time in the 2001 General Election as an independent on a pro- euthanasia ticket.
His wife, Moira, with whom he had four children, died in 2006 aged 80.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.
• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/19/ludovic-kennedy-dies-aged-89
