Geoffrey Cox (journalist)

Sir Geoffrey Sandford Cox CNZM CBE (7 April 1910 – 2 April 2008) was a New Zealand-born newspaper and television journalist. He was a former editor and chief executive of ITN and a founder of News at Ten.[1]

Early life

Cox was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand, the son of Charles William Sandford Cox, a bank manager, and Mary Cox (née MacGregor).[2] He was educated at Southland Boys' High School, followed by the University of Otago and then a Rhodes scholarship to Oriel College, Oxford, from 1932 to 1935.

Career

His career in journalism began in 1935 when he joined the News Chronicle. He covered the Spanish Civil War from Madrid, then went to Vienna and Paris for the Daily Express in which he broke the news in 1939 that British troops had arrived in France. He then covered the Winter War from Finland. He was critical of the Soviet attack on Finland but foresaw that the Red Army would defeat the Germans.

He enlisted in the New Zealand Army, serving in Crete and North Africa as an Intelligence Officer on Freyberg's staff, then was First Secretary at the new New Zealand Embassy in Washington (when Walter Nash was Minister to the United States) before serving in Italy. In 1945, Cox was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division).[3]

In 1956 he joined ITN, the new commercial TV channel in Britain as News Editor of Independent Television News. In the 1959 New Year Honours, Cox was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire,[4] and in the 1966 New Year Honours he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor.[5] He started News at Ten in 1967. In 1977 Cox joined Yorkshire Television (YTV) as Ward Thomas' Deputy Chairman.[6]

In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Cox was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to New Zealand and New Zealand interests in the United Kingdom.[7]

Personal life

He married Cecily Turner in 1935; they had two sons and twin daughters; his wife died in 1993.

Bibliography
  • Defence of Madrid (1937, Victor Gollancz, London) ISBN 978-1-877372-38-4 (2006 Otago University Press edition) (reprinted 2006 review)
  • The Red Army Moves (1941, Victor Gollancz, London) (report from Finland on the Winter War)
  • The Road to Trieste (1947, Heinemann, London)
  • The Race for Trieste (1977, W. Kimber, London) & (1977, Whitcoulls, Christchurch) ISBN 0-7183-0375-X (revision of The Road to Trieste)
  • See It Happen (The Making of ITN) (1983, Bodley Head, London) ISBN 0-370-30950-2
  • A Tale of Two Battles (1987, W. Kimber, London) ISBN 0-7183-0642-2 (Greece & Crete, North Africa in World War II; Crete & Sidi Rezegh)
  • Countdown to War (1988, W. Kimber, London) ISBN 0-7183-0674-0
  • Pioneering Television News: a first hand report on a revolution in journalism (c1995, John Libbey, London) ISBN 0-86196-484-5
  • Eyewitness: A Memoir of Europe in the 1930s (1999, University of Otago, Dunedin) ISBN 1-877133-70-1
  • A New Zealand Boyhood (2004, Amadines Press, Gloucestershire, England) ISBN 0-948640-65-0
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References
  1. Dance of the Peacocks: New Zealanders in exile in the times of Hitler and Mao Tse Tung (Vintage Books, 2003) James McNeish, ISBN 1-86941-564-7
  2. Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 109. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
  3. "No. 37274". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 September 1945. p. 4671.
  4. "No. 41589". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1959. p. 10.
  5. "No. 43854". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1966. p. 1.
  6. Jeremy Potter. Independent Television in Britain VOL 4. p89
  7. "Queen's Birthday honours list 2000 (including special list for East Timor)". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 5 June 2000. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
Business positions
Preceded by
 Chairman of LBC Radio
1978 – 1981		 Succeeded by
Preceded by
 Chairman of Tyne Tees Television
1971 – 1974		 Succeeded by
Preceded by
 Deputy Chairman of Yorkshire Television
1968 – 1971		 Succeeded by
Preceded by
Aidan Crawley		 Editor and Chief Executive of Independent Television News
1956 – 1968		 Succeeded by
Sir David Nicholas


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