Charles Wheeler: In His Own Words Charles Wheeler talked to Jeremy Paxman about his career on his 80th birthday. This programme was re-broadcast on Saturday 5 July at 11.00am.
"To audiences and to his colleagues alike Charles Wheeler was simply a legend. His integrity, his authority and his humanity graced the BBC’s airwaves over many decades. He is utterly irreplaceable but like everyone else, I am privileged to have worked with him." Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC
" Charles Wheeler embodied all that is best in the BBC's journalism. He had a brilliant eye and an unequalled ability to convey what he saw and what he knew .
His work for Radio 4 over the last decade demonstrated his astonishing range - dealing with central and eastern Europe - but also , and superbly , with the legacy at home of World War Two . The documentary series ' Coming Home ' in 2005 was the Radio 4 highlight that year. He was working for Radio 4 almost until he died - on a programme about the Dalai Lama .
Everything he did was shot through with his compassion and wisdom . He was magnificent . " Mark Damazer, Controller of Radio 4
"Charles was, in my view, the greatest broadcast journalist of his generation. Courageous, insightful and always curious, he had the truly outstanding gift for vivid, beautiful writing matched by a quite extraordinary skill for using pictures and sound to convey the power of his own eye witness reportage. As a journalist you saw him as the pinnacle of our profession. His death is a huge loss but his legacy will last forever." Mark Byford, Deputy Director-General and Head of BBC Journalism
