FRIENDS and family of the late BBC broadcaster Salford-born Alistair Cooke said a final farewell to the Radio 4 presenter at a memorial service at Westminster Abbey.

A recording of Cooke, who presented the programme Letter From America for 58 years before he died aged 95 in March, was broadcast in the London church.

More than 2,000 attended the service, including BBC chairman Michael Grade and Sir David Frost.

The Abbey choir sang one of Cooke's favourite pieces from Handel's Messiah.