NEWS

John Suchet wins RTS Lifetime Achievement Award 2008

The Royal Television Society has awarded John Suchet its highest honour - a Lifetime Achievement Award. At the RTS's 2008 annual awards for excellence in television news, the judges praised John's 35 years as a television journalist, as both reporter and newscaster. They particularly commended him for his willingness to pass on his knowledge and experience to a new generation of television journalists.

John was described as a genuinely modest man with a boundless enthusiasm for his job. A short video was shown at the awards ceremony, showing highlights of John's long career. This included his live commentary on the funeral of Princess Diana, which was described as the most outstanding coverage of a live event in ITN's history. The audience also enjoyed seeing an excerpt from John's camera test in 1975, complete with long sideburns, wide lapels, and tinted glasses.

Memorable and emotional

In his acceptance speech, John stressed that for him the essence of television news is teamwork, and he expressed his gratitude for the help shown to him over the years by camera teams he had worked with as a reporter, and programme editors he had collaborated with as a newscaster. As a surprise, the RTS had invited some of John's old colleagues from his ITN days, and the evening was a memorable and emotional occasion, full of reminiscences and laughter.  

John is a frequent contributor to BBC radio and television programmes about Beethoven. He has taken part in numerous programmes on BBC Radio 4, and read from his trilogy, The Last Master, in BBC Radio 3's ground-breaking Beethoven Experience, in which the station played every note that Beethoven composed. He was Series Consultant to BBC Television's three part drama on Beethoven's life, The Genius of Beethoven.

Presenting Fidelio at BBC Proms In the summer of 2009, BBC Television asked John to present the live performance of a concert version of Beethoven's opera Fidelio at the BBC Proms, in front of an audience of 3000 at London's Royal Albert Hall, and a television audience of several million.

John & Zoe Lucker win £150,000 In November 2008 John appeared on Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? with the Footballers' Wives actress Zoe Lucker. Together they raised £150,000 for charity, and were only three questions away from winning a £1 million. John donated his £75,000 to Dementia UK, the charity which supports and provides Admiral Nurses, and of which John was Honorary President 2010-11.