Bill Turnbull honoured with annual prize for Cambridge medical students

A monetary prize to support Selwyn College medical students has been created in honour of the late broadcaster Bill Turnbull

An annual prize in honour of the late broadcaster Bill Turnbull has been set up for medical students at a Cambridge University college.

The former BBC Breakfast presenter died at his home in Suffolk in August, aged 66, after a battle with prostate cancer, first diagnosed in 2017.

The Bill Turnbull Prize for Clinical Medicine will be given to a Selwyn College student in the fourth to sixth years of their medical degree.

His family said he would be "honoured".

The prize has been supported by an "initial five-figure donation" from private donors in Turnbull's name.

Bill Turnbull discussed living with cancer in a 2019 Channel 4 documentary Staying Alive

Many of Selwyn College's students are based for some of their training at Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk, which was one of the places where Turnbull received care while being treated for prostate cancer.

A travel scholarship will also be established at the college, in recognition of Turnbull's love of the United States, where he served as a BBC correspondent in New York and then Washington.

It will give £1,000 each summer to students wanting to travel to the USA for the benefit of their academic work.

As a Washington correspondent, Bill Turnbull reported on the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the OJ Simpson trial

Turnbull's widow, Sesi Turnbull, said: "Bill would be so honoured to be remembered with this prize and scholarship from Selwyn College.

"Throughout his life he had a strong connection with America, where we lived as a family for some years while he was working as a BBC correspondent.

"Towards the end of his life, after moving to Suffolk, Bill received outstanding care from Ipswich Hospital, for which we will always be grateful.

"It is wonderful to know that others will get the opportunity to broaden their studies in places which were so close to Bill's heart."

Mr Turnbull was a former colleague of BBC broadcaster Roger Mosey, who is now master of Selwyn College.

He attended a number of events at the college over the years, giving talks about the media and his career.

Mr Mosey, said: "I'm delighted that his name will now be permanently associated with a prize and with support for future generations of students."

The former BBC Breakfast presenter had a lifelong passion for Wycombe Wanderers Football Club