PHOTOGRAPHER Priya Ramrakha, whose pictures have illustrated many of TIME's stories-- most recently those about the Nigerian civil war and the occupation of Czechoslovakia-- was anxious to get out of Africa. He was a British citizen born of Indian parents, and he no longer felt wholly welcome in his native Kenya, which lately has turned against people of Asian origin. More important, he was determined to demonstrate that his camera could capture subjects more subtle than the violence he had been covering. But before he moved on, he wanted to finish one more assignment for TIME: another look at the fighting in Nigeria.

For days he tried to hitch a plane ride to the Biafran battle zone. Finally, he talked himself onto a decrepit DC-4 that took him to Port Harcourt. Along with CBS correspondent Morley Safer and 20 federal troops, Priya went looking for action. On a road outside Owerri, Biafran soldiers opened up from ambush, and Priya was hit in the arm and back. Safer and some of the Nigerian troopers carried him to an aid station, but he died an hour later.

All week, messages of condolence have been coming from Priya's colleagues and friends all over the world. "He was a very brave man and a good friend," Jonathan Randal of the New York Times cabled from Warsaw. "An excellent traveling companion in dodgy places," said Safer. "Priya," explained TIME's London bureau chief Jim Bell, "was one of those quiet guys whom everyone liked. I never heard anyone say an unkind word about Priya, and I never heard Priya say an unkind word about anyone else."

The very first time he turned up at the taping of a Rowan and Martin show to begin reporting for this week's cover story, Los Angeles Correspondent Jim Brodhead was struck by the friendliness of everyone on the set. Even the guest stars acted like old buddies. Actor Van Johnson threw an arm over Jim's shoulders and asked: "When do you think I'll be wrapped up tonight?"

"Better ask someone who knows," Brodhead advised him.

"Aw, George, cut the nonsense," said Johnson. "I have to know if we're going to work late."

With that, Jim understood his unexpected popularity. People were mistaking him for Producer George Schlatter. And with good reason. Both men are built along the lines of a barrel; both have dark brown hair and mustaches and beards. So the case of mistaken identity persisted. There are more than 200 people involved in each Laugh-In, and every now and then, some of them would come to Jim to discuss their problems--personal and production. With that kind of help, Jim managed to deliver more than 140 pages of copy.

The mountain of material was no laugh-in for Associate Editor Ray Kennedy, who wrote the cover story, or for Researcher Pat Gordon, or for Senior Editor Jesse Birnbaum. "By the time we worked our way through 6,600 gags," says Kennedy, "we were all punch-line drunk."

The Cover: papier-mache sculpture by Gerald Scarfe.

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