Chris Morgan

Christopher Morgan - who was born on July 29th, 1952, in Cardiff, Wales, U.K. - was a Welsh journalist and television- and radio-presenter. Educated at Cardiff High School, and at Atlantic College in the Vale of Glamorgan, he was the oldest of four children born to parents who were both bank cashiers. Following sixth-form, Morgan attended the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where he stood as a Labour Party candidate for the local authority, as well as becoming treasurer of the National Union of Students. After graduating with a Master of Theology degree in 1976, he moved into the media the following year by joining the BBC's Religious department. In 1978, he began training as a journalist at BBC Wales, working as a reporter and presenter on both radio and television, eventually becoming one of the main presenters on the flagship BBC Wales news programme, Wales Today. A committed Anglo-Catholic Christian, Morgan was a close friend of the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and was best man at Williams's wedding in 1981. Moving to London in 1990, Morgan became a reporter for Thames News and TV-AM; whilst also, for seven years between 1990 and 1997, presenting the Radio 4 Sunday-morning programme, Sunday, which focused on religious and moral issues. Morgan was appointed Religious Affairs correspondent for The Sunday Times in 1997, a post he held until his death. From the year 2000, he began contributing to a number of television news programmes on religious affairs, and appeared regularly on BBC News 24, Sky News, and CNN. In 2005, Morgan's mother - to whom he was very close, and whom he telephoned at least three times a day - passed away. Without a wife or children to depend on for support (Morgan never married), he began to become quite depressed, although he seemed to keep much of his sadness to himself, and managed to maintain a facade of competent professionalism. However, by 2007, Morgan began to suffer from bouts of depression, for which he sought psychiatric help, even being sectioned at one point. He became more reclusive, often not returning phone calls or e-mails. In the Spring of 2008, Morgan contributed a couple of articles to The Sunday Times, this return to productivity leading friends to believe he was returning to some measure of good health. Sadly, his recovery was shortlived, as - on the afternoon of Friday, May 30th, 2008 - Morgan's body was found by British Transport Police on the track at Kings Langley railway station in Hertfordshire, having been in collision with a Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston train. His death was ruled a suicide. Chris Morgan was 55 years old.