Brian Hanrahan dies at 61

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Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 255

One of the BBcs finest correspondents remembered for his comment during the Falklands War"i counted them all out and i counted them all back"refering to the Sea Harriers coming back to Ark Royal, a sad loss to broadcasting

Original post

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 10,647

Indeed, what a shock. His famous Falklands Sea Harrier moment was only played again last week on the news with the Harrier retirement going on.
RIP

Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 1,259

Sad news indeed, the phrase will live on as will his memory.

Member for

16 years 3 months

Posts: 1,813

Yes, really sad, a TV journalist who could get his message across without sensationalising it..........

Will be sadly missed. RIP.................

Planemike

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 2,820

Indeed, what a shock. His famous Falklands Sea Harrier moment was only played again last week on the news with the Harrier retirement going on.
RIP

I was just reading on the BBC website that the Harrier crews recorded him a get well message as he was unable to attend the retirement personally.

I think Planemike summed it up perfectly , and its a sad loss indeed.

Member for

14 years 5 months

Posts: 4,956

What a shock, so relatively young! - cancer as reported. An excellent reporter and fine foreign correspondent who will, of course, be always remembered for that immortal line but his memory will also live o9n from the pastiche by Patrick Marber in The Day Today, as Peter Hanran O'Hanrahan.

Member for

20 years 6 months

Posts: 2,230

That is such a shame, He was a amazing reporter who had such a way that was not patronising, but informative.
The Harrier speach from the Falklands echos in my ears to this day. I was a little boy when he did that but remember it well. Seems even more of a shame he was too ill to be at the retirement of the type he helped make legendary.

His type of reporting is rarer and rarer these days.

RIP

Member for

16 years 11 months

Posts: 338

Sad news. He was a journalist you could trust. Rare breed these days. I hope the Harrier crews are allowed one last sortie to pay tribute to him as he did to them.

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 1,376

I think the beauty of the "Harrier" quote is that it perfectly captured the tense, uncertain feeling we all had early in the Falklands campaign, for so many of us the first time we saw our country really go to war. As a memorable soundbite, I'd have to put it in my top 3 alongside "One small step for a man..." and "Some people are on the pitch..." Sad loss.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,234

I think the beauty of the "Harrier" quote is that it perfectly captured the tense, uncertain feeling we all had early in the Falklands campaign, for so many of us the first time we saw our country really go to war. As a memorable soundbite, I'd have to put it in my top 3 alongside "One small step for a man..." and "Some people are on the pitch..." Sad loss.

Nods in agreement.

I remember it on TV live. The full quote was "I'm not allowed to say how many Harriers were involved, but I counted them......etc.