HONG KONG (AFP) – Veteran British war correspondent Clare Hollingworth, who broke the news that World War II had started, died Tuesday aged 105.
Family friend Cathy Hilborn Feng confirmed to AFP that Hollingworth had died in Hong Kong, which had been her home for over 30 years.
The family released a short statement on the Facebook page “Celebrate Clare Hollingworth”.
“We are sad to announce that after an illustrious career spanning a century of news, celebrated war correspondent Clare Hollingworth died this evening in Hong Kong,” the statement read.
Hollingworth witnessed the horrors of war in Vietnam, Algeria, the Middle East, India and Pakistan, as well as the Cultural Revolution in China.
But she is best remembered for her scoop on World War II in 1939, when she was just a rookie reporter. She broke the story of Germany’s invasion of Poland during her first week working as a journalist there for The Daily Telegraph.