Cooke, (Alfred) Alistair

British-born US journalist. He is best known for his writings interpreting US history and culture and for his role as television host of Omnibus and Masterpiece Theater. He presented his weekly Letter from America on radio for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from 1947 until his retirement in 2004.

Cooke studied theatre at Yale and Harvard universities and returned to the USA as a BBC correspondent in 1938; he became a US citizen in 1941. He was Guardian correspondent in the USA 1948–72. During the 1970s, he hosted the BBC-produced television series America 1972–73 and followed this with the best-selling book Alistair Cooke's America (1973), based on the series.