Just over a week ago (though if that feels like another era, it was) a colleague held a leaving do at the Yorkshire Grey pub in Farringdon. I was about to leave when I was shown a text that sent me into a panic.
It suggested the Queen was close to the end of her life, and we’d better get ready for one of the biggest news stories in living memory.
My first thought was whether I could lay my hands on the laminated crib-sheets that were set aside for this eventuality. Having established their whereabouts, I went home, safe in the knowledge that most previous tip-offs about Operation London Bridge had proved premature.
The next morning, Thursday, as we all got our heads round the new prime minister’s energy policy, it very soon became apparent that one of the biggest economic interventions in peacetime Britain would only form part of our news bulletin that night.
The ominous statement from Buckingham Palace that the Queen was under “medical supervision” prompted an immediate change to the Channel 4 News running order – and a wardrobe change too, from a bright fuchsia to a sober navy.
A few hours later, even that seemed too optimistic and I swapped to a black blouse. A black tie was sent down to correspondent Matt Frei, who’d diverted to Buckingham Palace.
And then, at 6.31pm, came the words we were all prepared for, and yet the enormity of the moment still took us by surprise. “Buckingham Palace has announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II.” The veteran BBC presenter Huw Edwards apparently rehearsed the statement in front of his bathroom mirror. His delivery was word perfect.
At Channel 4, we’d practised too, of course, substituting the Queen’s real name for “Mrs Robinson”, lest anyone stumbling across the rehearsal raised a false alarm. But only as I heard the countdown in my ear did “Mrs Robinson’s” death become shockingly real.
Our correspondent Andy Davies found people in tears at Windsor Castle, stunned that someone who’d been with them all their lives had, as Edwards memorably put it, “left us”. Their upset brought tears to my eyes too. Grief is infectious after all.
At the end of my Times Radio show the next day, the national anthem played after Charles III’s inaugural King’s Speech. My co-presenter Michael Portillo had come into the studio ready for his programme, and as soon as the anthem began, he stood respectfully. I got to my feet too, and sang heartily, replacing Queen for King for the first time.
I was unprepared for the strength of feeling during that first 24 hours. Covering the story is all-consuming. Participating in it, even more so. Personally, I have a low tolerance for the national pastime of queueing, so I marvel at the hundreds of thousands lining the embankment, bound for Westminster Hall, or the thousands who filed past Buckingham Palace at the beginning of the week, their flowers tidily arranged in mini mountains of mourning around Green Park. The tidiness is the visible representation of years of invisible work by officials.
To enable media from across the world to cover the story, a gazebo tent city has sprung up behind the Palace. Rows of portaloos, a myriad of lanyards and coloured wristbands. Today’s wristband is plastic – an upgrade on yesterday’s paper one. Our planning supremo Stuart McTeer informs us what shade of bracelet is required in his invaluable morning email.
To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here
Some of our viewers wish this wasn’t the only story in town. And certainly we made sure we gave airtime to the global reaction to the royal death, anti-monarchy protests, not to mention crucial developments in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis. I look forward to scrutinising Liz Truss’ “fiscal event” too.
Standing under our Channel 4 News gazebo as the Queen’s coffin returned to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday night, I felt sure I wouldn’t be one of those people intent on capturing a fleeting moment of history on their mobile phones. But – like the narrator of Philip Larkin’s Church Going, who’s not usually devout, but nevertheless takes off his cycle-clips in “awkward reverence” when he happens upon a church – I too found myself snatching a video.
As the hearse glided through the palace gates, a colleague burst into tears.
It was the constitutional historian Walter Bagehot who warned not to “let in daylight upon magic”. Of course, a new day will dawn, but for now, the thousands queuing and the millions watching on TV are entranced.
Cathy Newman is presenter and investigations editor at Channel 4 News
Outlook ‘uniquely uncertain’, says Partnership as it announces cost of living support for staff
The BBC was forced to suspend a live broadcast of Queen Elizabeth II's lying in state at Westminster Hall on Wednesday after one of the royal guards protecting Her Majesty's coffin suddenly collapsed. READ: Exclusive: Queen Elizabeth II's personal glove maker pays tribute to Her Majesty The guard was standing at the foot of the late monarch's casket when he lost consciousness. Footage of the guard's sudden collapse, which happened around 1am, quickly circulated on social media. Viewers were left
Former prime minister and conservative party leader Theresa May queued to pay her respect to Queen Elizabeth II's coffinSky News
Prince Edward and Sophie have lit candles at Manchester Cathedral in memory of the Queen. The Earl and Countess of Wessex were also shown photographs of the Queen's last visit to the cathedral, to mark the 600th anniversary celebration of the collegiate church in July 2021.
European Union lawmakers say Hungary’s nationalist government is deliberately trying to undermine the bloc’s democratic values
The new monarch was having a day of reflection at his Gloucestershire estate after a whirlwind of public appearances since Queen Elizabeth II died a week ago
In seven full decades of opening buildings and gladhanding crowds, you really do rack up the numbers
Sweden’s Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has handed in her resignation after a right-wing bloc that includes a nationalist, anti-immigration party won a narrow majority in Sweden’s parliament
ALBUMS by Mercury Prize nominated C Duncan and Scots jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie are among those that have been picked as among the nation's 20 best for 2022.
Attorneys for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz have asked for the judge in his murder case to remove herself two days after she scolded them when they abruptly rested their case
THE Commons Speaker has barred the official Chinese delegation from the Queen’s lying in state because of Beijing’s sanctioning parliamentarians who criticised it.
The government is considering introducing a fixed discount for businesses on the amount they are charged per kilowatt hour for energy as part of its plans to tackle soaring prices, reports suggest. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy did not deny the policy was on the table ahead of the government's mini budget, set to be announced on Friday. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will be holding a meeting with the Bank of England and some energy firm bosses on Saturday to discuss the schemes already confirmed by the government amid the cost of living crisis, a Treasury source told Sky News.
Two patients -- of the same age and from the same nursing home -- were misidentified in hospital, according to reports.
From an all-black opening look to models holding a picture of Queen Elizabeth, London Fashion Week began with tributes to the late monarch as fashionistas paid their respects during the period of national mourning. Organisers announced last week that London Fashion Week would go ahead as a "business-to-business event" while observing royal protocol and holding tributes for the 96-year-old queen who died on Sept. 8. While bigger brands such as Burberry and Raf Simons, among the most-anticipated highlights this season, pulled out of the Sept 16-20 event, for smaller labels doing so is tricker.
He woke Queen Elizabeth II on her final morning, playing below her window at Balmoral as he had done every day.
MICROGUIDES: From retro 1940s movie theatres to beachside art, Los Angeles’ coastal sidekick is more than worth a side trip, says <strong>Ellie Seymour </strong>
Wage a war on fine lines and dullness with one of these radiance-boosting formulas
Humanitarian aid was delivered to residents of Balaklia in Kharkiv Oblast after the city was recaptured from Russian forces earlier in the month.“Since the de-occupation of the city of Balaklia and nearby populated areas, the community has been delivering and distributing humanitarian aid every day,” the Balaklia City Council said on Thursday, September 15.The council posted a video on its official Telegram channel showing humanitarian aid distribution. Some of the trucks have the logo for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on them, and the council said the Red Cross Society of Ukraine, the United Nations World Food Programme, the council, Izyum and Kharkiv administrations, and “other charitable funds” were cooperating to deliver aid to residents in the city and nearby villages.Balaklia was captured in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Credit: Balaklia City Council via Storyful
“It’s something you will tell your kids and your grandkids about, and it’s a moment in the history books,” the student said.
The world champion boxer follows in the footsteps of Tony Bellew, who starred in 2015’s Creed – the first instalment of the Rocky spin-off franchise