British journalism lost veteran war correspondent Anne Leslie today, Wednesday, at the age of 84. Since the 1960s, Leslie had traveled between conflict zones, following wars and strife. The correspondent for the Daily Mail was one of the few who did not know fear, allowing her to be present at critical moments in world history, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the release of South African activist Nelson Mandela.
Leslie won numerous awards over a career that spanned half a century, and her interviews with princes and presidents saw her embed herself in conflict areas around the world. She defied Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ban on Western journalists entering the country, entered under the surveillance of the intelligence service, and wore disguises to meet opposition figures in Iran.
She worked at the Daily Mail since the 1960s and contributed articles from over 70 countries, covering the Falklands War, the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia, and the famine in North Korea. Anne received 9 British journalism awards, two lifetime achievement awards, and the James Cameron Prize for International Reporting in 1999, and was titled "Captain" in 2007 for her services to journalism.
