I was truly saddened this morning, to hear of the death of Roger Cook, aged 83, who I knew as a humble friend, principled journalist and TV sensation, and a man who understood moral injury, first hand.
During the 1980s and 1990s, like millions of others, I sat with my father to tune into the weekly edition of the Cook Report. The Cook Report, presented by Roger, eloquent New Zealander and investigative journalist, showed fraudsters and liars, confronted with their behaviour on national BBC TV.
For many years, Roger’s programme was talked about in schools, offices and houses up and down the land.
His straight talking approach seriously aggravated some characters, with one well known altercation, in 1981, when Mr Harris, antiques dealer in Brighton, physically assaulted Roger and his camera crew with an iron bar, after Roger faced up his shady dealings of selling fake antiques.
To me, Roger was the ultimate man of integrity, who tackled wrongdoing, without a risk assessment! He experienced heinous beatings, broken bones, and a tranche of false allegations, along with his dedicated team.
Imagine my surprise, when, in March 2025, and totally out of the blue, I received a personal message from Roger, who I discovered, lived just a few miles away from me.
We had had no contact before this time; I felt truly honoured.
Roger’s words flowed concerning personal views and experiences of his own institutional failures, ethical abuse and false tabloid allegations, which, I found enlightening and edifying.
Roger’s style resonated with me on so many levels. He had a uniquely deep intuition, sympathy, sensitivity and wisdom, that unfortunately is commonly lacking in so many, it seems, nowadays. Roger did not waste words; he was a remarkable journalist, who uncovered a breadth of institutional incompetence, injustice and blatant criminality.
Maybe this is why he became interested in my experience, and in Breached CIC.
It wouldn’t be right to divulge the whole content of our conversation. However, there are points that I feel it is necessary to share, as an addition to a piece I wrote last year about the post-truth era, concerning shadowy characters I have come across in the last few years, in charities and in academia, doing the bidding of a “rag”, as Roger puts it.
For additional information, please seek out Roger’s books, Dangerous Ground: The Inside Story of Britain’s Leading Investigative Journalist (1999) and Ten Greatest Conmen: True Stories of the World’s Most Outrageous Scams (2008).
Roger moved to Australia, from New Zealand, in the 1950s, with his family. He had a keen interest in the plight of the nuclear test veterans, who, including my father, as a young RAF aircraft weapons’ mechanic, were ordered to witness the Commonwealth atomic/thermonuclear bombs, by the British government.
Roger shared,
I have followed the nuclear test veterans story for some time and although it has wide coverage in other newspapers, it seems to me that one tabloid thinks it ‘owns’ the story, hence their efforts to see off anyone they view as threatening their position. As you might imagine, I have been trolled for years, by people who worked for tabloid newspapers. The News of the World published 16 pages of false stories over several months aimed at ensuring the supremacy of their ‘star investigator’, who was eventually gaoled for seeking to pervert the course of justice. I was eventually exonerated and the (by then defunct) rag had to accept in open court that all their allegations were false and should never have been published.
Roger continued to call out how the former Press Complaints Commission, precursor to IPSO, shared the same “corrupt” traits “as the creature of the major newspaper publishers.”
Roger spoke strongly of how IPSO was swiftly brought into being following the phone hacking scandal and subsequent Leveson Inquiry, and how we are no further down the line of stricter oversight. Roger was still furious that we still experience a rejection of any press regulation, which he believed should sit firmly under Royal Charter.
We had planned a coffee together, but Roger lived in a sea of medical appointments for long term health conditions. Sadly, we never met face to face, but his impact will always live on for me.
Despite his physical and unethical emotional beatings, Roger spoke truth, demonstrated integrity and stood up to his bullies. He bore the personal cost yet his conscience was clear. This meant so much to me.
Roger’s last words to me were,
You were betrayed and your enemies clearly benefited. I don’t know what to advise you, except to say that you should not let this debacle eat away at you. You clearly have talent. Deploy it elsewhere!
For the short time our paths crossed Roger, you made a real difference to my way forward. Thank you for your humility and words of wisdom. The world is already a sadder place without you, my friend.
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