As a reporter working for Reuters, Sandy Gall was sent with his young family to South Africa. He recounted that in 1960 Nigel Ryan, an eventual editor and chief executive of ITN, but in those early days also working for Reuters, rang him from the Congo. Ryan asked Sandy to join him there, without giving any further explanation.

As Sandy stepped off the plane, he realised that he was in the middle of a full-scale revolution. When he met up with Ryan, he said: “It’s ridiculous, you reporting this all on your own.”

“Actually, I wasn’t,” said Ryan. “There was this other chap but when he sat down at his typewriter a couple of days ago, he froze with his hands above the keys. Nervous breakdown. Had to be carried off to hospital, but now you’re here.”