Rory Peck
Encyclopedia
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
freelance war cameraman
Camera operator
A camera operator or cameraman is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In filmmaking, the leading cameraman is usually called a cinematographer, while a cameraman in a video production may be known as a television camera operator, video camera operator, or videographer, depending on...
who was killed while covering the events of the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993
Russian constitutional crisis of 1993
The constitutional crisis of 1993 was a political stand-off between the Russian president and the Russian parliament that was resolved by using military force. The relations between the president and the parliament had been deteriorating for a while...
.
Work
Rory Peck covered the first Gulf War; the wars in Bosnia and AfghanistanSoviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
, the many armed conflicts that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was one of the founders of the independent Frontline Television News
Frontline Television News
Frontline Television News was a cooperative of freelance cameramen formed during the chaos of the Romanian revolution in 1989. Founded by Vaughan Smith, Peter Jouvenal, Rory Peck and Nicholas della Casa, during the next 15 years they went on to film some of the most memorable images of modern...
agency.
Rory was killed in a crossfire while filming the battle for Ostankino
Ostankino Tower
Ostankino Tower is a free-standing television and radio tower in Moscow, Russia. Standing tall, Ostankino was designed by Nikolai Nikitin. It is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers, currently the tallest in Europe and 4th tallest in the world. The tower was the first free-standing...
TV Centre in Moscow between Vityaz
Vityaz (MVD)
Vityaz was a Russian Spetsnaz unit of the MVD, a unit in the Independent Operative Purpose Division of the Internal Troops.Vityaz was assigned specifically to counter-terrorism duties. Vityaz unit regularly conducts counter-terrorism patrols in Chechnya and along the Caucasus border...
special forces and oppositional gunmen led by Albert Makashov
Albert Makashov
Colonel General Albert Mikhailovich Makashov is Russian officer and a nationalist-communist politician....
, during Russian constitutional crisis of 1993
Russian constitutional crisis of 1993
The constitutional crisis of 1993 was a political stand-off between the Russian president and the Russian parliament that was resolved by using military force. The relations between the president and the parliament had been deteriorating for a while...
. He was posthumously awarded the order "For Personal Courage
Order for Personal Courage
The Order for Personal Courage was established by Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on December 28, 1988.This decoration could be awarded to any USSR citizen showing outstanding courage and bravery during life-saving, keeping of public order and safeguard of State property, as well as for...
" by Russian President Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
.
Personal life
He was born in the US in 1956, and grew up in north county Dublin, Ireland. He was educated mainly in Dublin, and also briefly in Monaco and the US. On his father's side the Pecks were from Glasgow, Scotland; his mother's family, Titcomb, were from Maine and New York City. His maternal grandmother was from a French-speaking family in New Orleans of French and Spanish descent. There were journalists and many writers in his late father Julian Peck's family. After school his first interest was ocean engineering; he started at the Florida Institute of Technology, then transferred to Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh - leaving there for travel, then military training, and eventually journalism. He was gifted in mathematics and spoke Russian, French and Persian. He had one sister, a photographer, and one brother, Colin Peck, also a TV journalist - known for his coverage of the first Chechen war and for locating the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq during the US-led invasion of Iraq. Both brothers worked and filmed together in Moscow.His first marriage, in 1981, was to Jane Alexander, daughter of Denis Alexander, 6th Earl of Caledon
Denis Alexander, 6th Earl of Caledon
Denis James Alexander, 6th Earl of Caledon was a soldier and landownerHe was the son of Lt.-Col. Hon. Herbrand Charles Alexander and Millicent Valla Meredyth and grandson of James Alexander, 4th Earl of Caledon. He was educated at Eton College and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst...
, and they had two sons, James and Alexander. The marriage was dissolved in 1987. His second marriage, in 1991, was to Juliet Elizabeth Crawley. They had a daughter, Lettice.
Rory Peck Trust and Rory Peck Award
There are a charitable trustCharitable trust
A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...
and an award named after Rory Peck. The Rory Peck Trust is a charity which supports cameramen injured in the line of duty. The Rory Peck Award
Rory Peck Award
The Rory Peck Award is an award given to freelance camera operators who have risked their lives to report on newsworthy events. It was set up in 1995 and is named after the Northern Irish freelance cameraman Rory Peck, who was killed while reporting on the siege of the Moscow White House in 1993....
is given to camera operators who have risked their lives to report on newsworthy events.
External links
- Frontline: The True Story of the British Mavericks Who Changed the Face of War Reporting, by David Loyn
- The Rory Peck Trust offers discretionary grants to the families of freelance newsgatherers killed whilst on assignment, and crisis support to freelancers who are unable to continue their work due to severe injury, disablement or imprisonment
- Рецензия на: В. Снегирев. Рыжий. Посвящено Рори Пеку. 28 марта 2004 г. Д. Верхотуров.