Wayne Lovell and Ann Turner obituary

Wayne Lovell and Ann Turner, who have died within a couple of weeks of each other, aged 65 and 67 respectively, were normally referred to by their friends as “WayneandAnn”. Wayne, an intrepid television cameraman and news producer, and Ann, an entertainment news reporter and producer, met while working for the broadcaster NBC in London in the late 1980s, and thereafter were inseparable, marrying in 2000.

Wayne was born in Camberwell, south-east London, the elder son of Doreen Lovell Miles, a secretary. On leaving school he took a temporary job at NBC as a telex operator, got the news bug and worked his way up to become one of a handful of go-to guys in international television news.

Then, as a cameraman, fixer and producer at Reuters Television (formerly Visnews), Wayne immersed himself in conflict zones, including the first Gulf war in 1991, Bosnia in 1992-95, and Kosovo in 1998-99. He demanded to be in the team sent to cover the exhumation of mass graves in Srebrenica. It was a story that left a lasting impression on even a hardened journalist such as Wayne.

By his own admission, Wayne was a pretty irascible character, driven by the story. An adrenaline junkie, he loved working in war zones. He was the man you wanted on your team in a crisis – or at a party.

Ann was born in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, one of three children of Alan Turner, a compositor at the Guardian, and his wife, Audrey. She was a clever child – reading by four and taking on adults when she felt they were wrong.

She had a lifelong obsession with animals and quickly built a menagerie wherever she lived. She went from Cheadle grammar school to Ciba-Geigy Laboratories, Wythenshawe, at 16, then became an advertising copywriter at the Guardian. She quit when she was 19, and worked her way across Europe, including as a go-go dancer in France and Belgium, before living in Italy for five years with her sister’s family.

She worked at CBS and NBC in Rome before transferring in the 80s to London. She met Wayne within weeks of arriving back. Ann had grown into a respected, tenacious entertainment news reporter/producer. Her highlights included interviewing Tina Turner in Paris – with Bruce Willis butting in – and an exclusive interview with Robbie Williams.

From NBC Ann and Wayne progressed together to Visnews and Reuters Television. When not playing mother hen to most of the London media community or hosting outrageous parties for friends (ourselves among them) at their home in Shepherd’s Bush, Ann liked nothing better than to tend to her extraordinary garden, which blossomed against all odds at the back of their basement flat.

As the millennium neared, Wayne and Ann decided to go on a new adventure. The couple left their news jobs, qualified as diving instructors, married, packed up their flat and headed to the south seas, to set up a diving school in East Timor (which became Timor-Leste in 2002). Free Flow diving attracted locals and tourists eager to experience unspoiled diving – in crystal clear waters full of exotic sea creatures.

Wayne’s reputation as an underwater photographer and cameraman grew, and he also worked as a stringer for global media outlets. With her communications experience and a knack for languages (including French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Tetum, one of the languages of Timor-Leste), Ann set up Timor Connection, providing PR, corporate communications and social media expertise. She acted as concierge for visiting officials, and even the president, José Manuel Ramos-Horta, called on Ann to help the newly independent government get its messages out to the world.

After Wayne was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2022, he and Ann spent four months in Bali for his treatment, but reluctantly left their southern paradise and returned to the UK in November, to discover Wayne’s illness was in fact lymphoma. He was also subsequently diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Ann’s unexpected death came shortly after Wayne’s.

They are survived by Wayne’s brother, and Ann’s sister and brother.

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