Peter Jackson and the Dalai Lama - 50 years on

Half a century after the event, Peter Jackson has been recollecting one of his scoops: the escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet to India in 1959. 

Jackson and his wife, fellow correspondent Adrienne Farrell, had met the Dalai Lama in November 1956 when he visited India for the celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the birth of the Buddha.

“At a reception we introduced our four-month-old daughter, Paddy, to him, and she gave him a chrysanthemum. He signed a photograph of the meeting for us.”

Three years later, Jackson gave Reuters a world beat on the Dalai Lama’s escape.

“At around 11 p.m. we flashed a report to Reuters that the Dalai Lama had crossed into India and would receive political asylum.

“No other agencies had the news, nor had the Indian press. In parliament the next day, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced that the Dalai Lama had arrived in India and would be granted political asylum.

“Excited members asked why Reuters had the news, but the Indian press had not been told. Nehru smiled and said the Reuters report had been ‘an intelligent guess’.” ■