Born in Chelsea, Christopher Chataway spent his childhood in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, where his father served in the Sudan Political Service.
…Graham, Natalie
Natalie Graham was born in Worthing in 1972.
…Wellings, Bob
Bob Wellings was born in Jerusalem.
…Ewart, Tim
Tim Ewart was born in Suffolk and began his journalistic career in 1967 at the Bury Free Press, his local newspaper.
…Nelson, Wendy
Wendy Nelson was born in Birmingham and began her journalistic career in 1968 through the IPC training scheme in Devon.
…Trethowan, Ian
Sir Ian was born in High Wycombe. He left at school at 16 and joined the Daily Sketch as an office boy. He began his career as a journalist and parliamentary lobby correspondent.
…Wolfenden, Rich
Rich was born in 1992 (date unknown). He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in environmental science from the University of Central Lancashire (2013). He gained a Masters in radio production from the University of Chester (2018).
…Buchanan, Emily
Emily was born in London. She gained a diploma in radio journalism from City University in 1982.
…Langley, Bob
Bob was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland. He worked in insurance and served in the RAF, before travelling around America, He later worked as a lumberjack in Canada.
…Preston, Rich
Rich was born on 4th April (year unknown). He grew up in Aberdeenshire.
…Brown, Ben
Ben was born in Ashford, Kent. He is the son of former ITN newscaster Antony Brown.
…Croxall, Martine
Martine was born in Stoke Golding, Leicestershire. She has a BA in geography from the University of Leeds (1990).
…Chakrabarti, Reeta
Reeta was born in London to an Indian Bengali family and was raised in Birmingham.
…Gopal, Luxmy
Luxmy graduated with a BA Hons in history and English literature from the University of Durham. She was a journalism student at the London College of Communication (2010 – 2011) and began her career as an investigative journalist for Exaro News (August – December 2011).
…Ian White bids farewell to Look North viewers
Ian White – a familiar face for many years on BBC Look North – has completed his final shift with the BBC after 29 years at the corporation.
…Parker, Bruce
Bruce was brought up in Guernsey. He was educated at Elizabeth College, followed by the University of Wales. He has a postgraduate degree from Reading University.
…Haycocks, Paddy
Paddy was born in Portsmouth. He worked at BFBS radio (British Forces Broadcasting Service) in Cyprus (1966 – 1968). He performed various roles including tape editing, reporting, presenting and studio management (1966 – 1968).
…Frank Mitchell and Ken Reid depart UTV
Long-standing UTV presenters, Frank Mitchell and Ken Reid today retired from their respective roles with the station.
…Gaynor Barnes and John Shires exit ITV News Calendar
Gaynor Barnes and John Shires have presented their final edition of ITV News Calendar.
…Arthur, Toni
Toni was born Antoinette Alice Priscilla, in Oxford. She won a music scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at the age of nine and gave a concert at the Wigmore Hall in the same year. She trained as a nurse at University College Hospital. She was a folk music singer and was married to fellow musician Dave Arthur (1963 – 1977). They released several folk music albums (1964 – 1975).
…Buchan, Josephine
Josephine was born in London in 1955. She presented various programmes for the BBC, including: Take Two (BBC One, 1984 – 1985); Pebble Mill at One (BBC One, 1984 – 1986); Rock Around the Clock (BBC Two, 25th August 1984); A Song for Christmas (BBC One, 1985). She was a reporter for Did You See…? (BBC Two, 1985) and Off the Record (BBC Two, 1985), and guest-supported on Best of Brass (BBC Two, 1986). She also appeared on Canned Carrot (BBC One, 1990).
…Cowan, Barry
Barry Cowan was one of the leading faces of BBC Northern Ireland news and current affairs during the worst of The Troubles in the 1970s and 1980s.
…Coverdale, Frances
Frances was born in London. She is a former newspaper journalist.
…Priestland, Gerald
Gerald was educated at Charterhouse and New College, Oxford. He joined the BBC in 1949 as a news sub-editor. He spent his first six months on a contract, writing obituaries.
…Chalmers, Judith
Judith was born in Stockport, Cheshire. She began broadcasting for the BBC when she was only 13, after being selected for BBC Northern Children’s Hour by producer Trevor Hill.
…Thomas, Guy
Guy was born in May 1931. He was invited to join Television Wales and West (TWW) in 1959 as the first newsreader/interviewer at their newly opened Bristol studio before becoming anchorman of the nightly news magazine TWW Reports, covering Wales and the West Country.
…Constantinis, Jayne
Jayne was born in Yorkshire. She has an acting diploma from the Royal Academy of Music and a modern languages degree from Cambridge. She studied journalism at the LCP and has written for publications including Condé Nast Traveller and Good Housekeeping.
…Hailes, Anne
Anne has been working in the media all her working life. She began her broadcasting career with BBC Northern Ireland in the 1980s, contributing to radio programmes, before establishing her own sixty-minute weekly magazine, At Home with Anne Hailes. She was also involved in programmes for the BBC World Service.
…Raworth, Sophie
Born in Surrey and after completing a degree in French and German at the University of Manchester, Sophie spent a year teaching English to teenagers in Toulouse before studying for a postgraduate course in broadcasting and journalism at City University, London.
…Edwards, Huw
Huw was born in Bridgend, Glamorgan and graduated from University College, Cardiff with a first-class degree in French. He joined the BBC as a news trainee in 1984 and originally worked for BBC Wales and S4C, but then moved to become a reporter for BBC TV’s Panorama (1993). Some of Huw’s later roles: parliamentary correspondent, BBC Wales (1986 – 1988); political correspondent, BBC TV News (1988 – 1997); chief political correspondent, BBC News 24 (1997 – 1999).
…Winton, Nan
Born Nancy Wigginton, Nan was co-presenter on BBC TV’s Information Desk (1955 – 1956) and Mainly for Women (1957).
…Finighan, Adrian
Adrian is a Welsh journalist. He joined the BBC in 1988, working in local radio as a reporter and producer.
…Parkin, Leonard
Born in Thurnscoe, West Riding of Yorkshire, Leonard began his career as a reporter on the Wakefield Express series of weekly papers, then Yorkshire Observer, Bradford Telegraph and Argus and Yorkshire Evening Post. He was one of the BBC’s early television news reporters in the BBC News division (1954 – 1960) and was later BBC Radio News Canada correspondent (1960 – 1965) and Washington correspondent (1963 – 1965). In November 1963, as deputy correspondent in Washington, his Radio Newsreel report on the assassination of John F. Kennedy proved to be an historic recording. He also worked as a reporter on BBC TV’s Panorama (1965 – 1967). He was involved in coverage of five general elections: BBC reporter (1966); ITN reporter (1970, February 1974, 1983) and ITN presenter 1979.
…Muncaster, Martin
Martin was born in Tillington, near Petworth, Sussex and was educated at Stowe.
…Morris, Christopher
Chris was born in Luton. His career in broadcasting and journalism spanned 60 years.
…Whitmore, Richard
Richard was born in Hitchin. He began his professional career in journalism as a reporter for the local newspaper in Hertfordshire.
…Buckley, Bill
Bill was born in Burton-on-Trent. He’s a radio/TV presenter, journalist, songwriter and former actor.
…Mandell, Barbara
Born Allada Barbara Grenville-Wells in London, Barbara moved with her family to South Africa in 1924. She followed her late father into journalism and worked for the Rand Daily Mail, where he had been deputy editor.
…Neil, Andrew
Andrew was born in Paisley and attended Glasgow University, where he edited the student newspaper, the Glasgow University Guardian; he also dabbled in student television.
…Guru-Murthy, Krishnan
Liverpool-born and educated at Oxford University, Krishnan’s broadcasting career began in 1988, when he presented discussion programme Open to Question (BBC Two, 1988 – 1989); he was also a reporter on youth current affairs programme Reportage (BBC Two, 1988 – 1989).
…Andrew, John
John’s broadcasting career began at ILR station Radio Tees. He then joined BBC Newcastle before moving to London as a reporter/presenter on BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat programme. He presented Thames News with Andrew Gardener during the 1980s.
John is currently a correspondent/presenter for BBC Network News. He occasionally presents on the BBC News Channel. During his career at the BBC, he initially specialised in local government, covering the rise and fall of the poll tax and the Westminster gerrymandering scandal. He has since covered general news too, including the Harold Shipman murders and the war in Kosovo.
Woods, Peter
Peter was born in Romford, Essex. He began in print journalism writing for the Yorkshire Post, Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, with only a break for military service as a commissioned officer in the Royal Horse Guards.
…Caine, John
John was a zany Southern Television reporter (1979 – 1981). He joined Central in 1982 to present the Newshound slot on Central News. He was also a continuity announcer at Central.
Austin, Wendy
Wendy joined BBC Northern Ireland in November 1976, fresh from her presenting duties on Downtown Radio. She joined the commercial radio station earlier in 1976, following four years as a newspaper journalist: initially with the East Antrim Times (1972 – 1974) and then the Belfast Telegraph (1974 – 1976). Wendy’s BBC career began as a TV reporter but by the 1980s, she was also presenting on Scene Around Six and later, Inside Ulster. She co-presented the BBC NI opt-outs during Children in Need and was also the face of a local supermarket chain’s advertising campaign in the 1980s.
As well as appearing on screen, Wendy was also involved with BBC Radio Ulster’s breakfast programme Good Morning Ulster, from the early 1980s. Since the late-1980s, Wendy has mostly stayed with radio. She has been one of the main presenters on BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster and between 1988 and 1998, she presented nationally on BBC Radio 4, on programmes such as PM, Pick of the Week and Woman’s Hour. However, she did pop up on TV screens occasionally – she took over from former colleague Sean Rafferty as presenter of The DIY Show.
…Hookey, Russell
Russell moved to Channel TV from the Chrysalis Group in London where he had been newsreading on London radio stations Heart 106.2 and LBC 97.3 (often heard as a regular member of Sandi Toksvig’s team) and also presenting on LBC News 1152. Prior to that he worked in commercial and BBC radio in the regions for more than twelve years as a newsreader, producer and reporter and occasionally popped up covering stories for television with BBC South Today.
At Channel TV, Russell was initially a stand-in presenter on Channel Report; he later became one of the programme’s regular presenters. He also provided continuity announcements at Channel TV.
Russell later moved to ITV Border, where he presented bulletins and filled in on the main Lookaround programme.
Escolme, John
John obtained a BA (Hons) in communication, cultural studies and public media from the University of Leeds.
…Mangold, Tom
Tom worked in BBC TV News and Current Affairs since 1964, working initially as a war reporter and later as an investigative journalist, on programmes such as Panorama. He is an international best-selling author and an award-winning travel writer.
…Elwes, Polly
Born Mary Freya Elwes and known as Polly. She attended the Central School of Speech and Drama, now part of the University of London.
…Willis, Simon
Simon was a Central TV continuity announcer (dates TBC). He moved to BBC Newcastle’s Look North (1983). By the early 2000s, Simon was a correspondent for BBC Scotland’s Newsnight Scotland.
Armstrong, Fiona
Fiona began her career as a reporter/presenter for Border Television in the early 1980s before becoming one of ITN’s main newscasters (March 1987 – 1992). She was the first co-anchor on GMTV in 1993, and later returned to Border TV as one of the anchors of the relaunched Lookaround news programme.
She also fronted a cookery series called Easy as Pie for Carlton Food Network where she demonstrated her skills in the kitchen. Fiona has also featured in a series of programmes for Granada TV on Health and Slimming. She also regularly chairs major conferences and award ceremonies.
Matheson, Rob
Rob was a continuity director/announcer with BBC Scotland (1995 – July 2008), covering TV and radio. He was also involved in managing the transition from analogue to digital transmission systems. Currently, Rob is a news presenter and reporter for BBC Scotland TV and radio.
He has also worked as a freelance reporter at Westsound FM and presented for QFM. Other posts include: reporter for Stirling Sports Agency, Glasgow; reporter for Slough, Windsor and Eton Observer; reporter/financial editor for Drapers Record business-to-business magazine.
Barbet, Matt
Matt trained at Cardiff’s journalism school. His first broadcasting experience was as a freelance at Red Dragon FM in Cardiff.
In 1999, he joined ITN where he spent two years working for Independent Radio News. In June 2001, Matt moved to the BBC, starting as a reporter on BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat and later moving to a newsreading role on the Sara Cox Breakfast Show. He was also a reporter for the BBC’s Liquid News.
Matt joined BBC London in 2003. He became a high-profile presenter there, fronting coverage of the July 2007 bombings from King’s Cross. In summer 2007, he made his presenting debut on the BBC Breakfast programme.
On 20th August 2007, it was announced that Matt would be joining Five News as a presenter and correspondent. His first Five News was in November 2007. In February 2011, he was announced as the new presenter of the main 5pm programme, following Natasha Kaplinsky’s departure. On 11th June 2012 came the news that Matt was to leave 5 News to join ITV’s Daybreak. His last day with 5 News was 26th July 2012. He made his debut with Daybreak on 3rd September 2012. On 3rd March 2014, ITV announced that Daybreak would be axed later in the year and replaced by a new programme, Good Morning Britain. Matt finished up with Daybreak on 4th April 2014.
Matt returned as host of 5 News on 28th April 2014. He presented the 6.30pm edition. He also presented The Cycle Show on ITV 4 (2014 – 2015) and The Saturday Show on Channel 5 (2015 – 2016).
In late-2017, Matt departed from 5 News. He presented his final edition on 15th December 2017.

