Bill Turnbull, the perfect BBC presenter

Not unexpected - he’d been ill with prostate cancer for some time - but very sad news nonetheless.

At risk of making this sound all about me, me, me, Bill Turnbull was one of the nicest TV presenters I have ever met, unfailingly friendly and unflustered, even on a live programme with guests coming and going and producers squawking in his ear.

I appreciated his welcoming smile because there were times when I walked in to the BBC Breakfast studio feeling extremely nervous but he always put me at ease because he not only said "hello" and made eye contact (not something all presenters do when you walk on set), there wasn’t an ounce of hostility in his manner.

For a brief moment, especially if you were a returning guest, he almost made you feel like a friend, or a friendly acquaintance at least.

That said he was never a soft touch. There was a bit of steel within that affable exterior so I’m pretty sure he would have been as good on Newsnight as he was on BBC Breakfast, and his less abrasive approach may have got more out of his guests than certain other presenters.

Based on his BBC Breakfast role, which he stood down from a few years ago, I have absolutely no idea what his views were on political and cultural issues, including smoking, because unlike many broadcasters he never let on, publicly at least.

Unlike some past and present BBC presenters he understood the need for strict impartiality and in that regard he was the perfect BBC anchorman, a role model even, that those with far larger egos might study and learn from.