ONE of America’s most famous news anchormen returned to Pendle for the first time since he was born to learn about his roots.

Ted Koppel is a household name in the United States, having presented ABC’s Nightline programme for 25 years, but he was actually born in Barrowford in 1940.

ABOVE: A video showing Ted Koppel's work on Nightline

The 73-year-old made his first visit to the street he was born on since his family left the area when he was less than eight months old.

After collecting his birth certificate from the registration office in Preston, which revealed he was born at Oak Villas in Carr Hall Road, Ted, and his wife Grace Anne, went to visit the town.

He said: “I have proudly claimed Nelson for the last 70-odd years and I thought I would come back and take a look and see where I was born and it’s nice to be home.

“I left when I was around six or eight months old. I was so young I have no memory of the place whatsoever.

“I think my mum and dad picked a pretty snazzy part of town.

“It’s emotional to come back and see where I was born. I’m very proud to be Lancashire born.”

Ted’s parents were Jewish immigrants from Germany and his father, Erwin, was on the Isle of Man when the war broke out, and as a result he was interned. They held him for a year before releasing him and Edwin and his wife, Alice, then moved to Nelson, where Ted was born.

Within a year of his birth, in February 1940, the family had moved to London, and in his teenage years Ted moved to the United States. Ted was anchor of Nightline, which was the US version of the UK’s Newsnight programme, from its inception in 1980 until 2005.