Something happened at Patrick Worsnip's farewell party

The farewells had been toasted, the champagne bottles emptied, but his nose for news remained sharp enough to pick up the scent of a breaking story. Patrick Worsnip, retiring from a 40-year career as a Reuters correspondent, had a nagging suspicion that “something’s going to happen” on the day of his farewell party in New York, and that most likely it would concern Syria.

Sure enough, it did and Worsnip, 63, and Louis Charbonneau, his successor as UN bureau chief, found themselves quickly back on the phones to confirm that Kofi Annan, former secretary-general, would be the joint UN-Arab League special envoy on the Syrian conflict.

The French ambassador had just told a small group of reporters at a briefing that Kofi Annan and Martti Ahtisaari were the top candidates.

“Fortunately, one of the French officials sitting in on the briefing, who knew we wouldn’t be able to make it because of Patrick's retirement party, called me up and told me about Annan and Ahtisaari,” Charbonneau said. Riding a Manhattan cross-town bus, they quickly confirmed the French comments and colleague Andy Quinn offered to write the story.

At Times Square, editor-in-chief Stephen Adler led a large contingent of Reuters people past and present gathered to bid Worsnip farewell.

“I read out the tributes to Patrick we’d received and he was visibly moved. I passed around a print-out of a 1970s-era snapshot of Patrick in the Soviet Union surrounded by dissidents,” Charbonneau recounted. “Patrick said a few words about leaving Reuters at a time of great uncertainty in both the world and the news industry.

“Jim Gaines [Americas editor] picked up on that theme in his tribute to Patrick and his four decades of stellar service to the Baron, saying uncertain times were actually good for the news business.”

After cake at the office, the issue of Kofi Annan's imminent return to the UN arose again. “Someone in the UN spokesman’s office alerted us to the fact that Annan would indeed get the Syria envoy job and an announcement would come out later that evening, most likely while we were planning to be at a cafe sipping Belgian beer. (Patrick’s reaction: ‘I knew it. I knew this would happen.’)

“Fortunately the UN hurried things along - that was a first - and issued its statement shortly thereafter. With the help of Dan Bases, we were able to bang out a snap, urgent and update 1 in time to leave the issue aside and head to the pub.

“There was a good turnout at the pub. In addition to Patrick and the current Reuters crowd, Paul Holmes, Evelyn Leopold, Irwin Arieff and AP's UN bureau chief Edie Lederer were among those who made appearances.”

On the following day, at a party organised by UN Correspondents Association president Giampaolo Pioli, Worsnip thanked a number of people at the UN, including secretary-general Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman, former Reuters correspondent Martin Nesirky.

PHOTO: Patrick Worsnip (L) and Louis Charbonneau at Times Square checking on the UN story. ■