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{{Use dmy dates|date=AprilFebruary 20122021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bob Friend<br /><small>[[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]]</small>
| image = <!-- NOTE TO EDITORS: Do not add an image unless it is a photo under a public domain or free license (NOT the same as fair use). Any fair use photos (i.e. promotional photos, album covers) are copyright violations and will be deleted. Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Fair use criteria -->
| caption =
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| death_date = {{death date and age|2008|10|08|1938|1|20|df=yes}}
| death_place =
| occupation = [[Journalist]], [[British Army|British Army Officer]], [[Television presenter|Presenter]], [[News presenter|Newsreader]]
| spouse =
| ethnicity = British
| credits = [[BBC Radio 4]]'s ''[[Today programme]]''<br>First permanent BBC Australia correspondent<ref name="Sky1"/><br>''[[BBC Breakfast]]''<br>''[[Sky News]]''
}}
'''Bob Friend''', [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]] (20 January 1938 – 8 October 2008) was one of the original [[news anchor]]s for the [[Sky News]] channel from its launch in 1989 until his retirement in late 2003.<ref name="Sky1">{{cite web|url=http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Bob-Friend-Former-Sky-News-Presenter-Dies-Aged-70-After-Suffering-From-Cancer/Article/200810115115343?lpos=UK_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15115343_Bob_Friend_Former_Sky_News_Presenter_Dies_Aged_70_After_Suffering_From_Cancer|title=Sky News Loses Its Best Friend|author=Botting, Anna|publisher=Sky News|date=8 October 2008-10-08|accessdate=8 October 2008|url-10status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522023318/http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-08News/Bob-Friend-Former-Sky-News-Presenter-Dies-Aged-70-After-Suffering-From-Cancer/Article/200810115115343?lpos=UK_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15115343_Bob_Friend_Former_Sky_News_Presenter_Dies_Aged_70_After_Suffering_From_Cancer|archivedate=22 May 2011}}</ref>
 
==Journalism career==
Friend started his career in 1953 aged 15 as a cub reporter on the [[Tunbridge Wells Advertiser]],<ref name="BBC1"/> reporting on the [[Queen Elizabeth II]]'s [[Coronation of the British monarch|Coronation]].<ref name="DMail1">{{cite web|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1074092/Tributes-paid-journalist-Bob-Friend-face-Sky-News-dies-brain-tumour.html|title=Tributes paid to journalist Bob Friend, 'the face of Sky News', after he dies from a brain tumour|publisher=Daily Mail|date=2008-10-08|accessdate=2008-10-08}}</ref> After he undertook [[National Service]] as a corporal clerk with the [[Brigade of Gurkhas]] in Hong Kong,<ref name="Sky1"/> Friend served a ten year [[freelance]] career in various British newspapers before starting his [[broadcasting|broadcast]] career with the [[BBC]] in 1969.<ref name="Sky1"/>▼
===Early days===
▲After completing his education at [[the Skinners' School]], Friend started his career in 1953 aged 15 as a cub reporter on the [[Tunbridge Wells Advertiser]],<ref name="BBC1"/> reporting on the [[Queen Elizabeth II]]'s [[Coronation of the British monarch|Coronation]].<ref name="DMail1">{{cite web|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1074092/Tributes-paid-journalist-Bob-Friend-face-Sky-News-dies-brain-tumour.html|title=Tributes paid to journalist Bob Friend, 'the face of Sky News', after he dies from a brain tumour|publisher=Daily Mail|date=2008-10-08|accessdate=2008-10-08}}</ref> After he undertook [[National Service]] as a corporal clerk with the [[Brigade of Gurkhas]] in Hong Kong,<ref name="Sky1"/> Friend served a ten -year [[freelance]] career in various British newspapers before starting his [[broadcasting|broadcast]] career with the [[BBC News]] in 1969.<ref name="Sky1"/>
 
===BBC News===
Starting out as the [[Northern Ireland]] correspondent of the [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]]'s [[Today programme]],<ref name="Sky1"/> Friend served four years in Northern Ireland witnessing [[sectarian violence]] at the start of [[The Troubles]]. After a short stint in [[Vietnam]] he got his first official overseas TV posting as the BBC's first Australia correspondent in 1973, five years as the BBC's Tokyo correspondent,<ref name="BBC1">{{cite web|url=http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7659968.stm|title=Former Sky news broadcaster dies|publisher=BBC News|date=8 October 2008-10-08|accessdate=8 October 2008-10-08}}</ref> and finally [[New York cityCity]] as [[BBC Breakfast]] correspondent where thehis currentproducer [[Director General of the BBC]]was [[Mark Thompson (television executive)|Mark Thompson]], waswho hiswent on producerto become [[Director-General of the BBC]].<ref name="Sky1"/><ref name="DMail1"/>
 
===Sky News===
After 20 years with the BBC, Friend returned to the United Kingdom to work on the start-up [[Sky News]]. Friend's first appearance on Sky News was on 232 OctoberFebruary 1989 alongside [[VivienKay CreegorBurley]], but his best known on-screen partner was [[Anna Botting]], and they became one of channel's most popular news duos.
 
Friend became the best recognised face of Sky News, and as a result of being spotted by [[Tom Cruise]] while he watched Sky News on a short visit to London,<ref name="Sky1"/> Friend had cameos in a number of [[News Corporation]] owned [[Twentieth Century Fox]]'s 1990s films, including ''[[Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day]]'' and ''[[Mission: Impossible (film)|Mission Impossible]].''<ref>{{IMDb name|id=0295514|name=Bob Friend}}</ref>
 
===Radio===
In June 2003 he was awarded an [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] for services to broadcasting in the [[British honours system|Queen's Birthday Honours List]],<ref name="BBC1"/><ref name="DMail1"/> shortly before his retirement presenting alongside Creegor on 23 October,<ref name="DMail1"/> exactly 14 years after his first appearance.▼
Friend was a guest presenter on [[LBC News 1152]] during the 2005 [[United2005 Kingdom general election, 2005|United Kingdom general election]].{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}▼
 
==Honours==
▲Friend was a guest presenter on [[LBC News 1152]] during the 2005 [[United Kingdom general election, 2005|United Kingdom general election]].
▲In June 2003, heFriend was awarded an [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] for services to broadcasting in the [[British honours system|Queen's Birthday Honours List]],<ref name="BBC1"/><ref name="DMail1"/> shortly before his retirement presenting alongside Creegor on 23 October,<ref name="DMail1"/> exactlynearly 1415 years after his first appearance.
 
==Personal life==
Friend was married with two daughters.<ref name="Sky1"/> He died on 8 October 2008 from a [[brain tumour]].<ref name="Sky1"/>
 
==Tributes==
Chairman and CEO of [[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]] [[Rupert Murdoch]] paid personal tribute to Friend:<ref name="Sky1"/>
{{cquote|Bob was a distinguished journalist and an admired broadcaster. He was quick to understand the power of non-stop programming. He was there at the beginning of that long, hard road we all had to travel to make Sky News what it is today.}}
 
==Memorial Scholarship==
The [[University of Kent]]’s's Centre for Journalism has had for many years, since 2009, the Sky News Bob Friend Memorial Scholar. Several previous scholars now work from [[KM Group|KM News]], [[Daily Mail]] Newspaper and Sky News. The annual scholarship of 2013 was presented to Georgia Fry by Neil Dunwoodie, Executive Producer Sky News, at the 2013 Bob Friend Memorial Lecture (by [[Stephanie Flanders]] BBC Economics editor ) at the Pilkington Lecture Theatre at the University of Kent’sKent's Medway Campus in [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Kent journalism student wins Sky News scholarship |url=http://www.kent.ac.uk/news/stories/SkyScholarship/2013 |publisher=www.kent.ac.uk | accessdate=28 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217095939/http://www.kent.ac.uk/news/stories/SkyScholarship/2013 |archive-date=17 December 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
==Partial filmography==
*''[[Mission: Impossible (film)|Mission: Impossible]]'' (1996) - Sky News Man
*''[[Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day]]'' (1996) - Himself - 'Sky News' Anchorman (uncredited)
*''[[Quicksand (2003 film)|Quicksand]]'' (2003) - Newscaster (final film role)
 
==References==
{{reflistReflist}}
 
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081204095327/http://www.skynews.com/bobfriend Sky News Tribute to Bob Friend] Sky News (archived)
*{{cite news|title=Obituaries: Bob Friend|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3167202/Bob-Friend.html|work=The Telegraph|date=9 October 2008}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0295514|name=Bob Friend}}
 
{{SkyAuthority Newscontrol}}
 
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME =Friend, Bob
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH =1938-01-20
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =2008-10-08
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friend, Bob}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:British male journalists]]
[[Category:British television presenters]]
[[Category:BBC newsreaders and journalists]]
[[Category:Sky News newsreaders and journalists]]
[[Category:CancerNeurological disease deaths in England]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Deaths from brain tumorcancer in England]]
[[Category:Royal GurkhaArmy RiflesService Corps soldiers]]
[[Category:People educated at The Skinners' School]]
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