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TV legend Alastair Stewart, 71, reveals he has vascular dementia months after retiring following 50-year career on air
TV legend Alastair Stewart has revealed he has vascular dementia just months after retiring following a 50-year career on air.
The former ITV newsreader and journalist, 71, said today his "very short-term memory" had become ";tricky" and his motor skills "very tricky".
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Stewart told GB News he visited his GP after beginning to feel "discombulated" six to nine months ago.
Scans suggested he had suffered a series of strokes before being diagnosed with vascular dementia, which he described as "incurable".
He said: "It was like a scene from Casualty or Emergency Ward 10 because the results came back and I had indeed had a series of minor strokes.
"Not the big one where your face falls down and your arm goes doolally, but it's like pepper shots and the cumulative affect of that is that I had a diagnosis of early onset vascular dementia."
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Stewart said he was trying to alleviate the effects by giving up smoking and keeping his brain active with puzzles and dog walks.
The NHS says the disease affects more than 944,000 people in Britain.
His final day in work came in March after he announced his retirement.
He said at the time: "I'm nearly 71 and I still get the most tremendous lift from live television – it’s the best job in the world.
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“However, the rigours of preparing for two live interview shows a week, and commuting from Hampshire to London for them, are considerable.
“I want to reduce my commitment while I’m still ahead as an old broadcaster, rather than an ancient one.
"Thankfully the timing is mine - I just want to spend more of it with my family, my horses, and the charities that have meant so much to me over the years."
He and his wife Sally, married since 1978, have four children together - Freddie, Clemmie, Oscar and Alexander.
Stewart was one of the last journalists to interview Lord Mountbatten before he was assassinated by the IRA in 1979.
After starting at Southern Television in Southampton in 1976, he went on to join ITN in 1980 as an industrial correspondent before swiftly becoming a regular newsreader.
He was awarded an OBE in 2006.
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