In 1963, my friend George Bennett, who has died aged 91, saw an advertisement for a talks writer in the African section of what was then called BBC External Services and is now the World Service. This began his 26-year career in broadcasting to Africa, the last 13 of which he served as head of the BBC’s output to Africa in English, Swahili, Hausa and Somali.
George had many skills. Probably the best of all was his ability to find talented people to make interesting radio programmes. Production staff in the African Service in the 1970s and early 80s were unimpressed by the way that the Bush House newsroom reported on Africa. As a result, its two English language daily news programmes, Focus on Africa and Network Africa, began to recruit their own team of stringers. This practice transformed the output.
