Kate was born in Northumberland and adopted as a baby by a couple in Sunderland.
She gained a BA from Newcastle University, where she read Swedish.
Her career with the BBC began in 1968, initially as a station assistant at BBC Radio Durham. She later worked as a producer for Radio Bristol.
She switched to television, directing outside broadcasts. She also reported for regional TV news in Plymouth (Spotlight, 1978) and Southampton (South Today).
In 1976, Kate joined the national news team and held the following posts:
- Home reporter (1979 – 1983);
- Special correspondent (1982 – 1989);
- Court correspondent (1983 – 1985);
- Chief news correspondent (1989 – 2003), during which time she reported from many war zones.
Kate’s big break was the SAS lifting of the Iran Embassy Siege in London (30th April – 5th May 1980).
Two BBC TV News employees who were getting press accreditation were amongst those held hostage: Chris Cramer (news organiser) who was released after two days due to illness; and Sim Harris (sound recordist), who was held until the siege ended.
Jan Leeming was duty newsreader on Bank Holiday Monday when she introduced a newsflash on BBC Two, interrupting snooker coverage. It became the longest ever newsflash, with Adie the main reporter at the scene, delivering live reports unscripted whilst crouching behind a car door.
Kate carried out numerous assignments in Northern Ireland throughout The Troubles, as well as reporting on the referendum to ratify the Good Friday Agreement.
She worked on three General Elections as a reporter (1983, 1992 and 1997).
Kate’s memorable assignments included:
- Bologna railway station bombing (August 1980);
- Reported from Libya after the London Embassy siege (1984);
- Bombing of Tripoli by the US (1986);
- Herald of Free Enterprise disaster at Zeebrugge (March 1987);
- Lockerbie bombing (December 1988);
- Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing (1989);
- Both Gulf Wars (1990 – 1991);
- Four years of war in the Balkans;
- Rwandan Genocide (July 1994);
- Massacre at Dunblane Primary School (March 1996);
- Final NATO intervention in Kosovo and elections (2000);
- Selby rail crash (February 2001);
- British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War.
Her close-to-the-action approach once caused her to be shot at by an “irate Libyan”. The shot nicked her collar bone, but she did not suffer permanent harm.
Indeed, it was this approach that elicited the wry adage that “a good decision is getting on a plane at an airport where Kate Adie is getting off.”
Kate was a relief BBC TV newsreader on News after Noon and Six o’Clock News (c. 1982 and c. 1987). She also reported for Panorama (BBC One, 1988).
From 1998, Kate presented BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent.
Kate retired from BBC News in 2003 and went on to work as a freelance journalist and public speaker.
Awards include:
- Royal Television Society Reporter of the Year 1980, for her coverage of the SAS end to the Iranian Embassy siege;
- Monte Carlo International Golden Nymph Award (1981 and 1990);
- BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award (1989);
- BAFTA Fellowship (2018).
Kate is the author of several bestselling books – the first The Kindness of Strangers, was published by Headline in 2002.
She served as a judge for the Orange Prize for Fiction (now the Bailey’s) and the Whitbread (now the Costa Prize) and recently, the RSL Ondaatje Prize.
She has served as a trustee of the Imperial War Museum and is a trustee of Sunderland Football Foundation.
Kate has honorary degrees from universities including Newcastle, Bath, Nottingham, Cardiff and St Andrews and is Honorary Professor of Journalism at Sunderland University.
In 1993, Kate was awarded the OBE and was upgraded to a CBE in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Personal information
Clips of Kate on The TV Room
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Online presence
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: Kate Adie. COPYRIGHT: Kate Adie.
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