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ITV News
30-06-2025
- General
- ITV News
Legendary ITV News presenter Sandy Gall dies aged 97
ITV News Europe Editor James Mates looks back at Sandy Gall's legendary career. The veteran broadcaster and journalist Sandy Gall has died aged 97, his family has confirmed. Gall became one of the most familiar faces in the country, firstly as a foreign correspondent for ITN, before becoming co-presenter of News at Ten. His family revealed he died at his home in Kent on Sunday, and paid tribute to him saying: 'His was a great life, generously and courageously lived." Gall's career in journalism spanned more than 50 years, starting in 1952 when he joined the Aberdeen Press and Journal. He then worked at Reuters news agency for ten years as a foreign correspondent, before joining ITN in 1963. It was at ITN where he was to become a household name in the UK, until his retirement from the broadcaster in 1992. One of his first assignments with ITN was in Dallas, Texas just hours after the assassination of President Kennedy. His time at ITN saw him cover some of the 20th century's biggest stories, such as the Vietnam War, the Soviet-Afghan War and America's civil rights movement, where he interviewed Martin Luther King in 1965. He was also one of the few journalists to remain in Vietnam after the victory of the North Vietnamese to cover the fall of Saigon in 1975. Gall went on to co-present News At Ten in 1970, which was then the UK's most watched news programme. He made his final presenting appearance on News at Ten in 1991, before returning to work with the company as a special reporter until his final retirement in 1992. He later became the founder and chairman of Sandy Gall's Afghanistan Appeal, a charity for disabled Afghans that ran for nearly 40 years. It began with a focus on treating Afghans with war-related casualties and land mine victims, as well as children in refugee camps. This focus widened, as the rehabilitation needs of many other people with disabilities became apparent. Sandy was awarded a CBE in 1987 and Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2011.
ITV News
06-05-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Papal Conclave: Decision time for cardinals choosing the next pope
ITV News Europe Editor James Mates reports from the Vatican on the eve of the Papal Conclave Cardinals will begin trying to find a new pope on Wednesday afternoon, when the Conclave opens, more than two weeks after the death of Pope Francis. Given the challenges facing the Catholic Church, it is a daunting task for the 133 cardinal electors, who come from 70 different countries. That is because sexual abuse and financials scandals have harmed the church's reputation and there are trends which are turning people away from organized religion in many parts of the world. The Vatican is also struggling with financial issues. There is also an element of uncertainty about the election because many of the cardinal electors did not know one another before last week. They held their last day of pre-conclave meetings on Tuesday morning, during which Francis' fisherman's ring and his official seal were destroyed in one of the final formal rites of the transition of his pontificate to the next. When the Conclave opens on Wednesday afternoon, the "princes of the church" will walk solemnly into the Sistine Chapel to the meditative chant of the "Litany of the Saints." They'll take their oaths of secrecy under the daunting vision of heaven and hell in Michelangelo's "Last Judgment," hear a meditation from a senior cardinal and then cast their first ballot. Assuming no candidate secures the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, the cardinals will retire for the day and return on Thursday. They will have two ballots in the morning and then two in the afternoon, each successive day, until a winner is found. The person who is selected to become the next pope, will almost certainly be one of the 133 cardinals within the Conclave and there is a lot of speculation about who that will be. There are some real-world geopolitical concerns to take into consideration. The Catholic Church is growing in Africa and Asia , both in numbers of baptised faithful and vocations to the priesthood and women's religious orders. It is shrinking in traditionally Catholic bastions of Europe, with empty churches and the faithful formally leaving the church in places like Germany, many citing the abuse scandals. Pope Francis was the first Latin American pope , and the region still counts the majority of the world's Catholics. However, India has four cardinal-electors, and overall Asia counts 23, making it the second-biggest voting bloc after Europe, which has 53 (or likely 52, given that one is not expected to participate for health reasons). According to Vatican statistics, Catholics represent 3.3% of the population in Asia, but their numbers are growing, especially in terms of seminarians, as they are in Africa, where Catholics represent about 20% of the population. Whatever the final outcome is, there will be a lot of attention on chimney of the Sistine Chapel in the coming days.
