LONDON, July 7 (UPI) -- BBC journalist Alan Johnston arrived safely in the United Kingdom Saturday after being held hostage in Gaza for 114 days by a radical Islamic group.
The BBC said Johnston, 45, touched down at London's Heathrow Airport about midnight aboard a flight from Tel Aviv and was to continue on to Scotland to be reunited with his family later in the day.
The plucky reporter, who had been held in chains, roughed up and made sick by the bad food served while in captivity, said the first thing he did after his release was to visit a barbershop for a shave to "get rid of that just-kidnapped look."
Rallies were held around the world calling for Johnston's release; there also was an online petition signed by about 200,000 Internet users. Johnston told his colleagues at the BBC he was "comforted by efforts to free" him, which he was well aware of since he was able to listen to the network on a radio during much of his confinement.
