EQUALLY at home covering the ups and downs of international politics or the quieter concerns of his native parish of St Clement, Alan Le Breton, who has died at the age of 78, was one of the most distinguished journalists Jersey has produced.
In a long, successful career with the BBC, he reported from around the world and rose to senior positions in the broadcaster’s World Service. In retirement, he was happy to return to Jersey and take on less dramatic challenges, including a weekly opinion column for this newspaper, the editorship of the St Clement parish magazine and the chairmanship of the old Jersey Arts Trust.
Combining a searching intellect with an affable approach, his accolades ranged from a Sony Radio Award for the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme to one for “Outstanding Contribution to the Parish” after his return to the Island with his wife and soulmate, Isabelle. At the 50th anniversary celebrations for his old school, Hautlieu, he was honoured with a “Charlie” (named after founder head Charles Brown) for the school’s greatest cultural achievement.
Alan John Le Breton was born to John and Hilda in October 1946 and grew up at the family home, Beauvais, on St Clement’s Coast Road, near St Nicholas’ Church, where his father, a lay preacher, played the organ.
At Hautlieu, where his academic inclination earned him the nickname “Prof”, the young Alan developed both his love of the English language and, as an active member of the debating society and winner of the first solo inter-schools debating championship, the analytical skills that helped to lay the foundations for his career.
He was talent-spotted by the BBC while studying English and journalism at Leeds University, leading to his 40-year career at Bush House in London and on assignment around the world, including spells in Russia, China, Canada and Alaska, among other countries and often in makeshift, secret offices. Alan Le Breton was a passionate believer in the importance of good journalism and the unique value of the World Service, reporting objectively to countries where other sources may be silenced and contributing to cross-cultural understanding. A natural communicator and a perfectionist with an unwavering dedication to accuracy, he rose from junior reporter to news and current affairs editor before retiring back home to Beauvais in 2006.
He and his French future wife Isabelle Kovacic met by chance in 1984 when she arrived in London on a scholarship and attended an interview at Bush House. They were married in Charente in 1992 after three postponements caused by Alan’s reporting on the Gulf War.
Back in Jersey, they worked as a team on the parish social and twinning committees, while Alan, described at his funeral as a proud Jerseyman with a strong sense of community and a “vrai St Clementais”, took on the editorship of the parish magazine, L’Amarrage, and also, for a period, of the more widely distributed Islander magazine from the same stable.
He brought his international experience and insight to bear on Island issues with a weekly comment column in the JEP and took an active role in its cultural landscape as a board member and then, from 2010 to 2017, chairman of the Jersey Arts Trust, paving the way for its evolution to ArtHouse Jersey. ArtHouse director Tom Dingle paid tribute to “a kind and caring man with a dry sense of humour and a keen eye for detail” and added: “I could not have asked for a more dedicated or supportive chair.”
A great music-lover as well as a fluent French speaker, Alan also served as vice-president of the Jersey Eisteddfod. Meanwhile, his renowned attention to detail also found an outlet in an esoteric passion for studying the history of Jersey bus companies, as well as London Transport vehicles, and researching the amphibious vehicles on the Elizabeth Castle route.
Alan Le Breton died on 8 September, having been cared for by Isabelle at Beauvais through several years of illness. A tribute at his funeral said: “We think of the incredible work that Alan has left us, recorded and etched in history, the service he has provided the world using his talent, his thirst for knowledge and his inquisitive mind. We remember his love for his parish community and the Island. Alan wasn’t just a journalist. He truly cared. He loved, he took risks and he always had a purpose.”
