Godfrey Talbot

Godfrey Talbot OBE (8 October 1908 – 2 September 2000) was an English broadcast journalist. After an early career in print journalism, his time as a BBC Radio journalist included periods as a war reporter and royal correspondent.^[1] He was the first officially accredited court correspondent at Buckingham Palace.^[1]

Talbot was born on 8 October 1908 at Walton, near Wakefield, Yorkshire,^[2] and he was educated at Leeds Grammar School. He joined the Yorkshire Post at the age of 20. Four years later, he was editor of the Manchester City News, then worked at the Daily Dispatch, before joining the BBC in 1937.^[1]

Imperial War Museum photograph 26 July 1944 in Italy. Caption reads "HM King George VI watches a squadron of British fighters take off on a mission from a Humber staff car. In the background the BBC reporter, Godfrey Talbot is preparing his van for recording the occasion"

During World War II, having been sent to replace Richard Dimbleby,^[3] he reported on North African battles such as Al Alamein^[4] and Cassino,^[1] for which he was mentioned in dispatches and, in 1946, made a military Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).^[2]

He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 29 August 1960.^[5] In the same year, he was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order. He published two volumes of autobiography.

He died peacefully at home on 3 September 2000.^[1] He and his wife Bess Owen had two sons; she and one of them pre-deceased him.^[1]

Bibliography

• —— (1944). Speaking from the desert; a record of the Eighth Army in Africa.
• ——. Ten Seconds From Now. (autobiography)
• ——. Permission to Speak. (autobiography)
• ——. The Country Life Book of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
• ——. Our royal heritage.
• ——. Royalty annual.
• —— (1981). The Country life book of the Royal Family.

References

1. "BBC veteran Godfrey Talbot dies". BBC Online. 4 September 2000. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
2. "Godfrey Talbot – Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. 5 Sep 2000. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
3. Purser, Philip. "Godfrey Talbot". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
4. Beckwith, Roger. "Planning for D-Day". Old BBC Radio Broadcasting Equipment and Memories. Retrieved July 9, 2015. Godfrey Talbot arrived in Cairo in August 1942, replacing Richard Dimbleby.
5. "Desert Island Discs – Castaway : Godfrey Talbot". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 27 July 2014.

External links

• Godfrey Talbot at the Internet Movie Database
• Godfrey Talbot: The Voice of the Desert and the 8th Army Oral history, at the Second World War Experience Centre