Though 95 years is a nice long age for anyone to reach, I'm still sad that Alistair Cooke has died. He was an intelligent, clever man. I enjoyed listening to him and reading his writings when I had a chance. He was self-made in many ways, coming from a rather common background.

Please check out his obituary here:
http:// http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/letter_from_america/3581657.stm

I'd highly recommend listening to the World Service tribute audio link on the upper right of the page.

And you can listen to his last Letter From America here:
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1764472