Alistair Cooke

Alistair Cooke just passed away, at age 95. (The New York Times published a very nice tribute to this fine man.) Best known in America as the host of "Masterpiece Theatre," he was actually most noteworthy for his weekly "Letter from America" segment on BBC radio, which ran with only an occasional break for nearly 58 years, from 1946 until this year--a total of 2,869 broadcasts.

He was a journalist in the finest sense of the word. Here is his description of the 1962 defeat of middleweight boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson:

"When it was over, Sugar Ray flexed his calves for the last time and did a little hobbling dance over to embrace the victor, who was pink and sweaty and very happy, identifiable on the scorecard as Denny Moyer of Portland, Ore., but on closer inspection was that bearded figure with a scythe Sugar Ray had dreaded to meet."