John Humphrys

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Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a Welsh broadcaster and journalist. He has been a presenter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme since 1987, and has worked as a correspondent and presenter for the Nine O'Clock News.

He is considered to be a tough interviewer and has occasionally attracted criticism for his abrasive style: for example, former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken accused him in March 1995 of "poisoning the well of democratic debate", though Aitken was subsequently found to have been guilty of perjury.

[edit] Early life

Humphrys was born in Splott, a poor working-class district of central Cardiff, the son of Winifred Mary (Matthews), a hairdresser, and Edward George Humphrys, a french polisher.^[1] He was one of five children and educated at Cardiff High School (then a grammar school), leaving aged 15 to become a teenage reporter on the Penarth Times. He later joined the Western Mail. His brother, Bob Humphrys, is a television presenter on BBC Wales sport programmes. Another of his brothers runs a market stall in the Dorset town, made famous by Thomas Hardy, Sturminster Newton.

[edit] Career

Humphrys joined TWW, a commercial television channel based in Wales, before going to the BBC in 1966 in Liverpool. He worked as a foreign correspondent in both the United States and Africa. Based in South Africa in 1977 he covered the transformation of Rhodesia into Zimbabwe and returned to London in 1980 to take up the post of BBC Diplomatic Correspondent.

He became the main presenter of the BBC's flagship Nine O'Clock News in 1981. This appointment marked a change in the BBC's approach to news broadcasting. With the appointment of Humphrys and John Simpson, the presenters of the news became part of the process of preparing the broadcast, rather than just reading a prepared script as with previous presenters. He joined the Today programme in 1987, when it was still spearheaded by Brian Redhead, although he still made occasional appearances fronting BBC TV news bulletins in the 1990s. During the 1991 Gulf War he was a volunteer presenter on the BBC Radio 4 News FM service.^[2] From 1993 he presented the weekly On The Record political TV show until its demise in 2002.

He made the headlines on 28 August 2004, after scathing criticism of the 'dumbing down' of British television. He criticised reality shows such as Big Brother, as well as the increasing violence in British soap operas. Ironically, Humphrys is also the presenter of the revived version of Mastermind, which has also been accused of 'dumbing down'. After his criticism of reality television, Humphrys appeared the following year in Art School, a show which followed a celebrity reality format.

Humphrys attracted further controversy in September 2005 when he allegedly branded all politicians as liars and made comments about Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and John Prescott in an after-dinner speech which was subsequently leaked to The Times by Tim Allan, a former aide to the Prime Minister.^[3]. On 6 September 2005, Humphrys was censured by the Corporation for his use of "inappropriate and misguided" language.^[4]

Humphrys has also presented Panorama. He has won many industry awards, including being named Journalist of the Year in February 2000 at an awards ceremony organised by The House Magazine and Channel 4; the Gold Sony Radio Award in 2003; and a silver platter for Crystal Clear Broadcasting from the Plain English Campaign.

John Humphrys has written several books, including Lost for Words, in which he criticizes what he sees as the widespread misuse of the English language, plus 'Devil's Advocate', 'Beyond Words' and 'The Great Food Gamble'.

Humphrys is an agnostic, but has a curiosity to test his agnosticism and challenge established religions to see if they can restore his childhood belief in God. In 2006, he presented a BBC Radio 4 programme, titled "Humphrys in Search of God" where he spoke to leading British authorities on Christianity, Judaism and Islam to try and restore his faith.^[5]

Humphrys has been criticised for receiving shares in the poll organisation YouGov for which he wrote a column. Humphrys denied that there was a conflict of interest between his role as newscaster and that of shareholder of a company, the reports of which are often cited in the news on the BBC.

Despite his ferocious reputation, Humphrys is prepared to send himself up: for example, when he appeared^[6] on the light entertainment programme Top Gear driving a Peel P50 around Broadcasting House.

[edit] Personal life

On June 2 2000, aged 56, Humphrys became a father again[1] (a son, Owen James) with his partner Valerie Sanderson (born c. 1962) who was a newsreader with Spotlight then BBC News 24 and now a radio producer, his partner since c. 1987. He had a reverse vasectomy (vasovasostomy). He refers to these facts on 31 October 2006 on BBC Radio 4 in the programme Humphrys in Search of God. He has a son and daughter, born c. 1967 and c. 1969 from his first marriage in 1964 to Edna Wilding (born August 1942), who died of cancer in September 1997 in Glamorgan. In 2005 he founded the Kitchen Table Charities Trust, a charity that funds projects to help some of the poorest people on the planet (see www.kitchentablecharities.org).

[edit] Publications

• Devil's Advocate. London: Arrow Books Ltd. (2000). ISBN 0099279657
• The Great Food Gamble. London: Coronet Books. (2002). ISBN 0340770465
• Lost For Words: The Mangling and Manipulating of the English Language. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. (2004). ISBN 034083658X.
• Beyond Words: How Language Reveals the Way We Live Now. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. (2006). ISBN 034092375X.
• In God We Doubt: Confessions of a Failed Atheist. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. (2007). ISBN 0340951265.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• John Humphrys - Today profile
• Telegraph October 2006
• Independent October 2005
• Independent March 2005