Broadcasters including Sian Williams, Charlie Stayt, Susanna Reid and Naga Munchetty were among those celebrating the life and legacy of Bill Turnbull at his funeral. The former BBC Breakfast presenter died on August 31 aged 66 after a “challenging and committed fight against prostate cancer”, which was diagnosed in November 2017.
Family and close friends, including his BBC Breakfast co-hosts, attended a private ceremony at Holy Trinity church in Blythburgh, Suffolk, on Friday afternoon.
Williams, who anchored BBC Breakfast with Turnbull for more than a decade, told the PA news agency: “I think it is a day of sadness and reflection, and I hope sometime today there will also be time to celebrate his life because he was a great friend and a great man.
“And he has so many different connections to so many different people who cherish him that I hope we can have that time together where we can share those memories. I wish he were able to understand how much he was valued, and I think it is incredible the number of people here who just wanted to come and celebrate and pay their respects to him.
“Bill made a lot of friends and he was a very loyal friend and he was great to work with as a professional, but when you’re sitting alongside someone like that there is a lot of trust that goes with that. I think the reason that so many people have turned out today to pay their respects – to think about him and share memories of him and to celebrate him – is because he was a good man.
“He was a great bloke, he was great to work with, he was a great friend and you see that here with the number of people who wanted to express that.”
Williams said she will remember Turnbull “with a smile”. Other famous names to attend include Martha Kearney, Mike Bushell, Louise Minchin, Charlotte Hawkins and Nick Robinson.
BBC Breakfast presenter Munchetty, who shared the red sofa with Turnbull for several years, told the PA news agency: “Bill was the grammar hammer; he was so on top of his grammar plurals, singulars… He was all over it. He was passionate about the job and passionate about the journalism and passionate about the audience.
“The audience was all that mattered and all that does matter and Bill never forgot that – he was a joy to sit beside. To sit next to Bill was always an experience, it was always fun, it was always focused, but it was also about the audience.
“It was telling the story, being part of the story, which is always a privilege, and hearing people’s experiences and helping to relay those to our audience. It was the audience – that’s what Bill was about.”
Munchetty said she will remember Turnbull as a “funny, charming, cheeky guy”. Turnbull’s two sons and son-in-law were among the six pallbearers carrying his oak coffin, adorned with a red rose and purple bouquet, into the church.
