Former Watchdog host Lynn Faulds Wood dies aged 72

Former Watchdog host Lynn Faulds Wood dies aged 72

Postby dutchman » Fri Apr 24, 2020 5:05 pm

Former BBC Watchdog presenter and campaigning journalist Lynn Faulds Wood has died at the age of 72

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A statement from her family said she died peacefully on Friday, "having suffered a massive stroke last night and a subsequent bleed on the brain".

The cancer campaigner was best known for hosting the consumer investigation programme from 1985 to 1993, alongside her husband John Stapleton.

She was diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer while working the show.

Faulds Wood, who was born in Glasgow and grew up near Loch Lomondside, began her career working on stories and campaigns for newspapers including the Daily Mail and The Sun.

She then moved into breakfast TV, before helping to turn Watchdog into a primetime BBC One series.

Her investigations on the ITV show World In Action helped to create the world's first evidence-based guide to symptoms of her cancer.

In 1990, she appeared in an episode of French and Saunders as herself. Another comedian Rory Bremner noted on Friday how "she loved our Watchdog" impressions.

The broadcast journalist went on to co-found the European Cancer Patient Coalition in 2002, which she chaired for seven years, and also helped to set up MEPs Against Cancer - pushing the case to raise awareness of the disease in Europe.

In the mid-noughties she teamed up with Rantzen to present the BBC consumer investigation series Old Dogs, New Tricks, and later seriously considered entering politics in 2010, but decided to remain a campaigner.

She returned to Watchdog's new daytime series Watchdog Test House, alongside Raworth in 2014.

Two years later, Faulds Woods rejected an MBE, saying the honours system needs to be dragged "into the 21st Century".

The activist said she would be a "hypocrite" to accept the award for her work on consumer safety.

Her nomination came after she chaired a government independent review into the UK's system for the recall of dangerous products which she feared had been "kicked into the long grass".

She later called on the government to do more to protect consumers from faulty products that can cause fires, in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.

Her husband and son Nick were at her bedside when she died.

:bbc_news:
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Re: Former Watchdog host Lynn Faulds Wood dies aged 72

Postby Melisandre » Sat Apr 25, 2020 11:18 am

R.I.P
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