As a child I only saw my mother cry twice: once when President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The second was at the news of the slag heap disaster in the Welsh Valley mining village of Aberfan in 1966.
We watched, shocked, on our grainy black and white television as both dramatic, tragic events were broadcast, three years apart, on live BBC television by the broadcaster Cliff Michelmore who died today (March 17th).
He first entered my life as a child when we used to listen to a programme on the wireless on Sunday mornings called Two Way Family Favourites, on the Light programme. Its aim, post-war, was to link troops in West Germany with their families at home.
I was one of 26 million listeners. It gave me an enduring love of Frank Sinatra (whose son Frank Junior also died today).
This is a nostalgic tribute to a broadcaster who was so much part of my youth.
I'd like to share a BBC link to an excerpt which shows him and Robin Day in action.
It is a meaningful insight into the distance my generation has travelled.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32602453
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