And goodbye to a TV legend: Heart attack kills newsman Gardner

VETERAN newscaster Andrew Gardner has died after suffering a massive heart attack.

He was on board an aircraft heading off for a Easter sunshine break in Madeira on Good Friday when he collapsed. He was 66.

Gardner, who presented the first News At Ten for ITN, accepted an award last week for the programme's contributions to television news from the Broadcast Press Guild together with Sir Alastair Burnet.

Last night ITN chief executive Stewart Purvis said: "Andrew was a great professional and one of the nicest people who ever worked in the stressful world of television news.

"Many will remember him most for his partnership with Reginald Bosanquet."

Gardner's fellow newsreader Trevor McDonald said: "Andrew was the voice of News At Ten's authority and the custodian of its values. He never lost his enthusiasm for what News At Ten became and no programme could have had a better ambassador."

Gardner, who lived in Benenden, Kent, later worked for Thames Television. He leaves a wife, Margaret, and four sons, Mark, Adrian, Maxwell and Adam.

His death comes just weeks after the death of his former ITN colleague Jeremy Hands.

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