Tributes pour in for Nick Clarke

Tributes have poured in for the late Radio 4 presenter Nick Clarke since news of his death was announced earlier today.

Mark Damazer: Controller, Radio 4
"Nick Clarke was a Radio 4 colossus. He embodied what Radio 4 stands for and his audience knew and appreciated it.

"He was fearless, superbly informed, scrupulously impartial, and wonderfully charming.

"Every weekday for 13 years on the World at One he probed and challenged his interviewees. Nick combined unremitting intellectual courage with unfailing courtesy. Always.

"We have lost a supreme champion of Radio 4 - and the BBC. We owe him much."

Michael Grade: Chairman, BBC
"Nick Clarke was one of the outstanding broadcast journalists of his generation, and held in great respect by his Radio 4 audience.

"His series of audio diaries, in which he chronicled events both emotional and physical during the course of his illness, provided one of the most moving and courageous broadcasts in memory.

"He will be greatly missed by his family, his audiences and by all of his friends, colleagues and admirers within the BBC. This is a very sad day."

Helen Boaden: Director, BBC News
"Nick was a superb journalist of enormous integrity. He had a brilliantly forensic mind, a wry wit and a deep instinct for the power of language. It's hard to imagine Radio 4 or BBC journalism without him."

Mark Byford: Deputy DG, Head of BBC Journalism
"Nick Clarke will be remembered as one of the BBC's greatest ever broadcasters.

"I admired him hugely as an outstanding journalist and as a brilliant interviewer. I will remember him for his great style, intelligence and precision with words, matched by the fantastic focus he brought to the subject matter in hand.

"He was so greatly loved and admired by both his audiences and by his colleagues.

"Today my deepest sympathies go to his wife and family."

Colin Hancock: Editor, The World at One
"Nick was the most brilliant interviewer I've ever known.

"He had an instinct for exactly the right approach, every time: never hectoring or offending, always probing in precisely the right areas.

"More than that, he absolutely believed that everything we did on The World At One mattered, inspiring all of us to think more rigorously and chase harder.

"Our listeners rightly saw WATO as Nick's programme. They, his colleagues and public service broadcasting have suffered a great loss.

"Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Barbara and the family."