A memorial service for George Alagiah took place yesterday (November 7), with the last words of the BBC News anchor read aloud to the congregation.
Many BBC stars, including Nick Robinson and Fiona Bruce, were in attendance at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square to pay their respects to George, four months after his death from bowel cancer at the age of 67.
Also present were George’s widow, Frances Robathan, and Princess Anne‘s husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.
George Alagiah shared words he wanted at his memorial before his death
An emotional Sophie Raworth read George’s last words at the end of the service.
She told the congregation: “We end the programme today with George in his own words. If you haven’t already told the people you love, that you love them, tell them. If you haven’t already told them how vulnerable you sometimes feel, tell them.”
Many of us cancer patients know that our time is running out so there is time for reflection.
She then continued: “If you want to tell them that you would like to be with them until the front hall stairs feel like Everest, tell them. You never know what is coming around the corner. And if, lucky you, there is nothing around the corner, then at least you got your defence in first.”
Three weeks before his death, George had shared the words he wanted at his memorial with his wife.
He said: “It is a painful yet exclusive luxury to be living with cancer because for the most part it is a story of a death foretold. Many of us cancer patients know that our time is running out so there is time for reflection. It is not the brutality of a car crash.”
George’s cancer diagnosis
George was first told he had bowel cancer in April 2014. In October the following year he said that he’d finished treatment. However, he then found out that the cancer had returned in January 2018. In March that year he said it was terminal.
He also said that, if the bowel cancer screening programme was offered from the age of 50 in England like it is in Scotland, his cancer could have been caught earlier.
In June 2020, he shared that his cancer had spread to his lungs, liver, and lymph nodes. In October 2022 said that it had spread further.
George very sadly died surrounded by loved ones in July of this year.
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