living legend retires

Veteran radio broadcaster Alistair Cooke, 95, has sent his final "Letter from America" and is retiring from the show, the world's longest-running speech radio program.

Mr Cooke's take on life in America has been a popular mainstay on the BBC and ABC's Radio National for the past 58 years.

A Radio National spokeswoman said Mr Cooke has chosen an episode from the archives for broadcast this weekend.

A "best of" series will air for at least a month and then, if the BBC World Service continues to broadcast beyond that, the ABC will make a decision on whether to follow suit.

"I can no longer continue my Letter From America," said Cooke, quoted on the BBC's website.

"Throughout 58 years I have had much enjoyment in doing these talks and hope that some of it has passed over to the listeners, to all of whom I now say thank you for your loyalty and goodbye," Mr Cooke said.

Mr Cooke, who was absent from the show last week due to illness and missed a broadcast in October after a fall, will not record any new shows but BBC Radio 4 will air archive shows for several weeks.

The radio legend's 15-minute personal reflections or "letters" have touched on everything from the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968 to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Since he first presented the US current affairs and historical program in 1946, Cooke's twist on the momentous events across the Atlantic has captivated listeners.

His first broadcast - in what was meant to be a run of just 13 weeks - gave the British public a take of what life was like in post-war United States.

Half a century later - following the Korean war, the thwarted Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba, the Vietnam war, former president Richard Nixon's impeachment, the Monica Lewinsky affair, two Gulf wars and much else besides - Cooke's mellifluous tones were still on the airwaves.

He has missed only three broadcasts in all that time and was, until signing out this week, the oldest person on the British airwaves.

When he began, his conversational, fireside approach was a refreshing change for BBC listeners who were used to broadcasts in a lecturing style.

After a brief role as the BBC's film critic Cooke set up home in the United States in 1937, and was granted citizenship in 1941.

Born Alfred Cooke in Salford, northwest England, in 1908, the broadcaster's close friends over the years have included Hollywood greats such as Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

The presenter, who lives in New York, addressed the United States Congress on its 200th anniversary and in 1991 received a special award for his contribution to Anglo-American relations.

-- AFP