Alistair Cooke

 Alistair Cooke KBE (November 20, 1908 – March 30, 2004)

He was a British-born American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States. Outside his journalistic output, which included Letter from America and America: A Personal History of the United States, he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theatre from 1971 to 1992. After holding the job for 22 years, and having worked in television for 42 years, Cooke retired in 1992, although he continued to present Letter from America until shortly before his death. He was the father of author and folk singer John Byrne Cooke. In 1973, Cooke was awarded an honorary knighthood (KBE) for his "outstanding contribution to Anglo-American mutual understanding." Having relinquished his British citizenship during World War II, he could not be called "Sir Alistair". In March 2004, at the age of 95, following advice from his doctors, Cooke announced his retirement from Letter from America—after 58 years, the longest-running speech radio show in the world. Cooke died at midnight on March 30, 2004, at his home in New York City. He had been ill with heart disease, but died of lung cancer, which had spread to his bones.