Bob Simpson (journalist)
| Bob Simpson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Robert Anthony Simpson 29 November 1944 Woodford, Essex |
| Died | 25 July 2006 (aged 61) London |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Notable credit(s) | BBC News |
| Spouse(s) | 1st wife (?-?) Juliet Bremner (1996-his death) |
| Children | 2 |
Robert Anthony Simpson (29 November 1944 – 25 July 2006) was a foreign correspondent for the BBC. Nicknamed "Mr Grumpy" by his friends and family, he reported from a number of dangerous locations across the world but was best known for his reports from Baghdad during the Gulf war.
Simpson was born in Woodford, Essex. His father was a tenant farmer. He attended Brentwood School, at that time a direct-grant grammar school, where he was a contemporary of the future Labour party politician Jack Straw. He failed his A-levels and briefly took a job as a trainee banker in the City. He disliked the role and decided to leave after noting a distinct lack of entries in the diary of a senior clerk.
Simpson began his career working as a reporter at a newspaper in Walthamstow before moving to Robson's news agency. Simpson then moved to the BBC, working in local radio, first at Radio Brighton, where his contemporaries included Desmond Lynam, Kate Adie, Barbara Myers and Gavin Hewitt, then at Radio Sheffield. Whilst at Radio Sheffield Simpson reported on a number of serious stories including a miner's strike in early 1972. Later that year he moved to the BBC's national radio newsroom at Broadcasting House where he became a sub-editor. During his time in London he covered the exposure of Anthony Blunt as a former Soviet spy. He also reported on the ending of Radio 2's soap opera Waggoners' Walk.
The BBC then sent him to Northern Ireland to report on the Troubles, a period of time which Peter Ruff, writing in the Guardian, regarded as marking him out to his employers as "a potential "foreign fireman" correspondent". Simpson went on to report from some of the most dangerous locations in the world. He filed reports from Spain during the attempted coup d'état known as 23-F,Montevideo in Uruguay during the Falklands war, and Romania during the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu. He would later go on to report from Sarajevo during the siege.
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