British Journalist, Ludovic Kennedy, Dies at 89
Ludovic Kennedy, a British author, broadcaster and investigative journalist who campaigned against miscarriages of justice and religious dogmatism and in support of euthanasia and independence for his native Scotland, died Sunday in Salisbury, England. He was 89.
His family said he died in a nursing home, British news organizations reported.
One of Britain’s most prominent television commentators and reporters, Mr. Kennedy wrote 25 books on a wide range of subjects, including naval warfare and maritime history, the royal family, religion, travel, politics and crime, as well as television documentaries, newspaper and magazine columns and a play.
But he was perhaps best known for his attacks on miscarriages of justice. One campaign won a posthumous pardon for a wrongly executed man and freedom for a number of other men serving life sentences for murders they did not commit. His efforts helped overturn the death penalty in Britain.
Mr. Kennedy also campaigned, unsuccessfully, for overturning the verdict against Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was electrocuted in 1936 for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s baby in 1932. In his 1982 BBC documentary, “Who Killed the Lindbergh Baby?” and his 1985 book, “The Airman and the Carpenter,” Mr. Kennedy argued that Hauptmann, a German immigrant carpenter arrested more than two years after the abduction, had been railroaded by the police and prosecutors because America needed a scapegoat for the crime. The book was made into a 1996 HBO film, “Crime of the Century.”
Mr. Kennedy, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 for contributions to journalism, was a familiar face on British television for decades. His BBC productions covered current events, profiled celebrities, introduced writers like Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, and examined issues from euthanasia and the nature of prejudice to trends in crime and literature.
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His family said he died in a nursing home, British news organizations reported.
One of Britain’s most prominent television commentators and reporters, Mr. Kennedy wrote 25 books on a wide range of subjects, including naval warfare and maritime history, the royal family, religion, travel, politics and crime, as well as television documentaries, newspaper and magazine columns and a play.
But he was perhaps best known for his attacks on miscarriages of justice. One campaign won a posthumous pardon for a wrongly executed man and freedom for a number of other men serving life sentences for murders they did not commit. His efforts helped overturn the death penalty in Britain.
Mr. Kennedy also campaigned, unsuccessfully, for overturning the verdict against Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was electrocuted in 1936 for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s baby in 1932. In his 1982 BBC documentary, “Who Killed the Lindbergh Baby?” and his 1985 book, “The Airman and the Carpenter,” Mr. Kennedy argued that Hauptmann, a German immigrant carpenter arrested more than two years after the abduction, had been railroaded by the police and prosecutors because America needed a scapegoat for the crime. The book was made into a 1996 HBO film, “Crime of the Century.”
Mr. Kennedy, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 for contributions to journalism, was a familiar face on British television for decades. His BBC productions covered current events, profiled celebrities, introduced writers like Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, and examined issues from euthanasia and the nature of prejudice to trends in crime and literature.