Veteran BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen today reveals how cancer made him optimistic again.

The broadcaster, who often reports from on the front line of war, said his 2019 diagnosis for bowel cancer helped him find a new sense of perspective on life.

Speaking on Desert Island Discs, the BBC’s 63-year-old international editor says: ‘There have been some very difficult moments. I ended up a few years ago with very severe depression. I took time off work. I took meds.

‘I had cancer a few years ago and, touch wood, I have been in remission now for four-and-a-half years and it was quite a serious tumour.

‘So I think that has also helped me get a sense of perspective on life because I have always been a glass half-full rather than a half-empty person, and that maybe changed for a while. I think actually having had cancer brought back the more optimistic Jeremy.’

The BBC's 63-year-old international editor Jeremy Bowen said his 2019 diagnosis for bowel cancer helped him find a new sense of perspective

The BBC's 63-year-old international editor Jeremy Bowen said his 2019 diagnosis for bowel cancer helped him find a new sense of perspective

The BBC’s 63-year-old international editor Jeremy Bowen said his 2019 diagnosis for bowel cancer helped him find a new sense of perspective

Bowen also says he felt responsible for the death of his friend and driver Abed Takkoush in Lebanon in 2000 when the car he was sitting in was shelled by an Israeli tank (pictured reporting from a war zone)

Bowen also says he felt responsible for the death of his friend and driver Abed Takkoush in Lebanon in 2000 when the car he was sitting in was shelled by an Israeli tank (pictured reporting from a war zone)

Bowen also says he felt responsible for the death of his friend and driver Abed Takkoush in Lebanon in 2000 when the car he was sitting in was shelled by an Israeli tank (pictured reporting from a war zone)

Doctors discovered Bowen’s tumour after he noticed what he called ‘funny pains in my legs and in my back’. 

He had surgery before a successful course of chemotherapy and his decision to speak out about his diagnosis encouraged thousands of people to undergo tests.

In his Radio 4 interview, Bowen also says he felt responsible for the death of his friend and driver Abed Takkoush in Lebanon in 2000 when the car he was sitting in was shelled by an Israeli tank. 

Just minutes beforehand, Bowen had asked Takkoush to stop the vehicle so he and his cameraman could get out to film Israeli soldiers.

Bowen says: There was this enormous explosion. He [Abed] somehow forced his way out – he was on fire; his clothes were on fire – out of the car and slumped down on to the road.

‘It was an awful, awful day and I feel I bear some responsibility. I can’t help thinking that maybe I made a bad mistake… but that is something I have got to deal with.’

Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 today at 11.15am

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