Sir James William Alexander Burnet (12 July 192820 July 2012), known as Alastair Burnet, was a British journalist and broadcaster, best known for his work in news and current affairs programmes, including a long career with ITN as chief presenter of the flagship News at Ten; Sir Robin Day described Burnet as "the booster rocket that put ITN into orbit". Burnet was also a prominent print journalist who edited The Economist and the Daily Express. Early life Burnet was born to Scottish parents in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 12 July 1928. He was educated at the Leys School, a boys' independent school in Cambridge, before reading history at Worcester College, Oxford. Career in journalism Upon graduating, Burnet began work as a reporter for the Glasgow Herald, before joining The Economist in 1958 as a sub-editor, leader writer, and subsequently, associate editor. He switched to television in 1963, becoming political editor for ITN. While reporting, he became a relief newscaster and worked on ITN's current affairs programmes including Roving Report, Dateline and Dateline Westminster. He was also the main anchor for the ITV network's coverage of the 1964, 1966 and 1970 general elections and the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969. Burnet left ITN in 1965 to rejoin The Economist as editor, but continued broadcasting as a reporter and interviewer for Associated-Rediffusion's weekly current affairs programme This Week. He returned part-time to ITN in 1967 to launch News at Ten, presenting the first programme (during the show's thirteen-week pilot phase) on 3 July alongside Andrew Gardner, and also presented the short-lived topical interview series Man in the News in 1970. He switched to the BBC in 1972 to report and present for Panorama and Midweek and to anchor coverage of the February and October 1974 general election programmes, also covering the wedding of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips. He continued to edit The Economist until 1974, where he raised the circulation by 60%. He then joined the Daily Express as editor, but resigned 18 months later. He rejoined ITN in June 1976, initially for a brief stint back on News at Ten, but in September 1976 he became the main presenter for the newly relaunched early evening bulletin News at 5:45. He returned to News at Ten in March 1978. Four years later, Burnet became an associate editor for the programme and joined the ITN board of directors. He