Mr Stephen William Fox Wright

On August 31st. Stephen Wright passed away peacefully in his sleep at home aged 94 years. Devoted husband to Christine and dearly loved by his children of Yvette: Dominique, Vivian, Marc, Tim and Louis. He will be missed by his grandchildren Roberta, Eleanor, Madeleine, William, James, Milly, David, Michael and Jonathan as well as great grandchildren Cadie, Stanley, Cora and Lewis. Although limited in his mobility in later years he was always cheerful and cared about the village and surrounding nature that was so important to him after he retired from a life in national and international journalism. His funeral and thanksgiving for a life well lived will be on Saturday 26th September at 3pm at St. Mary's Church, Ilmington. Any donations to the Wednesday Club very welcome. Any donations may be made by clicking the 'Donate' button below.

A Small Biography of Stephen's Life

Stephen William Fox Wright was born in West London in 1932 but his family soon moved to Northampton where his maternal side could trace their ancestors back to the 14th Century. The Foxes were a line of Butchers and Mayors for over 500 years.But Wright did not fancy butchering although he was drawn to politics,  As an undergraduate at Oxford he edited the Cherwell and started writing for the Oxford Mail before even graduating. There then followed stints at the Liverpool Post and Echo (where he remained their Film Critic for many years), Through the late ‘50s and early 60s he climbed the greasy pole of journalism with sub-editing jobs at the Birmingham Post, the Oxford Mail , the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian.Then in 1962 he joined the television news channel ITN, when it was challenging the BBC for the nation’s ears and eyes.   He was part of a team that made news less stuffy and more accessible to a wider audience, He worked with iconoclastic presenters like Reginald Bosanquet and later, Trevor McDonald and Peter Sissons to build News at Ten into the UK’s most popular news programme with its winning combination of in-depth, analytical news coverage and populist stories. Wright was also responsible for creating the iconic opening sequence with its use of Big Ben's chimes to separate news headlines, a signature tune that has reverberated though Britain’s living rooms for decades. In his 12 years at ITN Wright produced more than 2,000 news programmes, heading up coverage of four general elections, 14 budgets, five spaceshots including the first moon landing and three US presidential elections and of course the Watergate scandal that dominated the news agenda in the early 70s.In 1974 Wright left ITN to take up the role of Head of TV and Radio at the European Parliament where he continued to offer support to news producers and reporters as they covered EU affairs (including a certain Telegraph hack called Boris Johnson). He was tireless in his promotion of the European Parliament, shuttling between the EU centres of Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Brussels. He retired from the European Parliament in 1987 and spent the last third of his life with his second wife Christine travelling abroad and building a home in Ilmington. In the early 90s he found time to strengthen the communications function of Rotary International in Alcester at a time of dramatic expansion in Eastern Europe.  He was also Chair of the BBC’s Advisory Council for Coventry and Warwickshire. Wright enjoyed walking: he led hikes around the UK and Europe and was Vice Chair of the North Cotswolds Voluntary Wardens pursuing a passion for preserving the footpaths in his beloved part of the Cotswolds. He leaves five children from his first wife Yvette, nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Many of them work in today’s fragmented media landscape and are in awe of their father and grandfather who would broadcast each night to an audience of some 15 million viewers.