Reggie had arranged a book signing for me at the shop, which was owned by Bernard Stone, who Reggie knew well because he often went there for his books.
As you can imagine it was funny walking in there for the first time and seeing a waxwork of Sigmund Freud in his tweed jacket. It was a signing for my second novel, Chasing The Dragon, set in Hong Kong and the South China Sea where a large shipment of class A drugs is due to be intercepted by the CIA.
I met Reggie at the ITN offices in London in the early 60s and became good friends with him. We had different diplomatic and correspondent roles there and by the time News At Ten began in 1967 Reggie had become one of its first presenters.
It was about a year after News At Ten began that our editor, Nigel Ryan, asked me to join the presenting team.
I wasn’t keen on being studio based as I’d been out in the field for so long, but I soon got used to live news presenting.
I got told things in my ear, which wasn’t easy at first and the thought this huge audience was watching could make you nervous.
But you quickly forgot that. We also got recognised by the public and that was part and parcel of presenting on television.
I did News At Ten with Reggie, while at the same time I returned as a foreign correspondent reporting from Africa, the Middle East and later Afghanistan in the 1980s.
News At Ten was a big programme with dramatic music, bongs and two presenters sitting behind the desk.
More importantly, it represented high-quality journalism coupled with very good correspondents and a superior editing team; big scoops and plenty of international news coverage.
Everyone will remember that News At Ten ended every evening with an ‘and finally’ light-hearted story. One night, Reggie, who always had this smile across his face with this item, told viewers that an old lady’s cat had got trapped high up a tree and the emergency services had managed to rescue it.
He then closed the item and the programme by saying, ‘Unfortunately’ – while breaking into his wide smile – ‘they then accidentally drove over the cat and killed it.’ He’d allowed himself that unknowing smile, which he was famous for, and the next thing was the ITN phone lines were jammed all night with viewers protesting, ‘How dare he report on this poor cat’s death and have a laugh across his face.’
He didn’t mean to, but it was the irony of it all.
We lived not far from each other in Kent, where he had a weekend house, which he later sold to the actor Rex Harrison. He was a very generous fellow and whenever you went out with him for a meal Reggie would always offer you a bottle of wine.
I can’t remember where I was when I heard of Reggie’s death in 1984, aged just 51, but it was a shock despite the fact that he had been very unwell during those final years. I was very sorry to hear of his death as we’d been friends and colleagues for a long time.
I’ll remember Reggie as an amusing fellow to be with and someone you could always rely on for a joke. That was how it was for us at ITN and on News At Ten and I think the public saw the same.”
Visit sandygallsafghanistanappeal.org to learn about Sandy’s charity work in Afghanistan.
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