Dimbleby, Richard Frederick (1913–1965)

English broadcaster. He was the leading commentator on royal and state occasions on radio and television. He began as a journalist, working on the family newspaper, the Richmond and Twickenham Times, before joining the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1936 as its first news observer. He was the first BBC war correspondent, with the British Expeditionary Force in France in World War II in 1939, and went on to cover campaigns in 15 countries.

He was subsequently the first war correspondent to fly with Bomber Command, in 1943; he directed the BBC War Reporting Unit from D-Day onwards; and he entered Berlin with the British army in 1945. After the war, while continuing as a radio broadcaster, presenting such programmes as Twenty Questions and Down Your Way, he began commentating for television, and covered the Queen's coronation in 1953. He commentated on the Royal Tour of the Commonwealth in 1954, and other occasions covered by him included the first televised state opening of Parliament in 1958, the wedding of Princess Margaret in 1960, the funeral of President Kennedy in 1963, and the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. He presented Panorama for many years. He is commemorated in the annual Dimbleby Lecture.