Veteran British journalist and broadcaster Sir David Frost has died from a suspected heart attack while aboard a luxury cruise ship. He was 74.
The Guardian and The Daily Mail both report that Frost was giving a speech aboard the Queen Elizabeth II, en route from Southampton to Lisbon, when he collapsed.
Frost, whose programs included That Was The Week That Was, which ran for two years on the BBC before being picked up by American television, and The Frost Report, conducted hundreds of high-profile interviews over the years. His most famous was a 1977 talk with Richard Nixon in which the former president for the first time acknowledged some fault over the Watergate scandal.
The Mail says Frost "probably interviewed more world figures from royalty, politics, the Church, show-business and virtually everywhere else, than any other living broadcaster [and] was the most illustrious TV inquisitor of his generation."
Larry Miller, reporting for NPR from London, says, "David Frost trained as a preacher before heading to Cambridge University where he edited the student newspaper. He rose to fame as a satirist on the classic 1960s British current affairs show, That Was The Week That Was. During his career, he was equally at home with light entertainment and tough high-profile interviews."
The BBC's Barney Jones, who edited the Breakfast with Frost program for more than 10 years, said: "David loved broadcasting, did it brilliantly for more than 50 years and was eagerly looking forward to a host of projects - including interviewing the prime minister next week - before his sudden and tragic death. We will all miss him enormously."
The BBC reported a statement saying "His family are devastated and ask for privacy at a difficult time."
Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted his condolences: "My heart goes out to David Frost's family. He could be - and certainly was with me - both a friend and a fearsome interviewer."
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