Allan Little

Last updated

James Allan Stuart Little (born 11 October 1959) is a Special Correspondent for BBC News, based at New Broadcasting House, London.

Contents

Early life

Little was born on 11 October 1959 in Dunragit, a small village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. [1] [2] He attended Stranraer Academy before attending and graduating from the University of Edinburgh, where he read history and politics. [3]

Career

In 1983, Little joined BBC Scotland to work as a news and current affairs researcher, [4] and in 1985 transferred to London in order to train as a radio reporter. [5] After two years at BBC Radio Solent, Little moved to BBC Radio 4's Today programme in 1988. Here, he specialised in foreign reporting, including the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe. [5]

Between 1990 and 1995, Little worked as a BBC News reporter, during this period reported from Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf War and from Kuwait following the war, covering the Shia rebellions. [4] [5] From 1991 to 1995, he reported on the break-up of Yugoslavia. [4] He co-wrote (with Laura Silber) the book The Death of Yugoslavia, which accompanied the television series of the same name, produced by Norma Percy at Brook Lapping. In 1995, Little moved to Johannesburg as the BBC's South Africa correspondent. While based in Johannesburg, he reported on the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and the overthrow of Zaire's President Mobutu. [4] Between 1997 and 1999, he served as the BBC's Moscow correspondent during Boris Yeltsin's tenure as Russian president. [4] [5]

In early 1999, Little began work on a number of current affairs projects and to present the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. [5] He worked as the BBC's Africa correspondent from 2000 to 2001. He was then sent to be the BBC's correspondent in Paris, where he remained until 2005. [4] [5] Little's final role at the BBC was as a special correspondent. In this role, he reported on devolution and led the BBC's coverage of the Scottish independence referendum. [4] [6] The BBC announced in December 2014 that he would be leaving the broadcaster at the end of 2014. [4] Little stated: "I am leaving the staff of the BBC to pursue other projects and hope to continue working in broadcasting in the future". [6]

In June 2015, it was announced that he would succeed Susan Rice as the chair of the Edinburgh International Book Festival in October 2015. [7] He has continued to work as a freelance journalist, and in September 2022 led commentary from Westminster Abbey of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II for BBC Radio. [8]

Awards

Little has won several awards including a Gold Sony Radio Award for Reporter of the Year in 1992, Amnesty International Reporter of the Year in 1992, Bayeux-Calvados Radio War Correspondent of the Year in 1994, a Sony Documentary Gold Award in 2000, and the Grierson Premier TV Documentary Award in 2001. [1] In 2008 Little won the UACES/Thomson Reuters Reporting Europe prize. [9] In 2012 he was the fourth recipient of the Charles Wheeler Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcast Journalism.

Personal life

He married journalist and broadcaster Sheena McDonald on 21 June 2006.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Naughtie</span> British journalist (born 1951)

Alexander James Naughtie is a British radio and news presenter for the BBC.

<i>BBC Reporting Scotland</i> BBC television news programme for Scotland

BBC Reporting Scotland is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland in Pacific Quay, Glasgow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavin Esler</span> Scottish journalist and TV presenter

Gavin William James Esler is a Scottish journalist, television presenter and author. He was a main presenter on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, Newsnight, from January 2003 until January 2014, and presenter of BBC News at Five on the BBC News Channel. Since 2014 he has served as the Chancellor of the University of Kent. On 11 March 2017, Esler confirmed via his Twitter profile that he would be leaving the BBC at the end of the month to concentrate on his writing activities. He returned to the BBC later that year as host of Talking Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Mair</span> Scottish broadcaster

Eddie Mair is a Scottish former broadcaster who was a presenter on BBC radio and television. He presented his show on LBC between 4pm and 6pm every weekday until his last one, on 18 August 2022, after which he retired from broadcasting. He also hosted BBC Radio 4's daily news magazine PM, the Radio 4 Saturday iPM, and NewsPod. He occasionally presented Newsnight and Any Questions. Mair became a stand-in presenter for The Andrew Marr Show following Marr's stroke. Mair left the BBC in August 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fergal Keane</span> Irish journalist (born 1961)

Fergal Patrick Keane is an Irish foreign correspondent with BBC News, and an author. For some time, Keane was the BBC's correspondent in South Africa. He is a nephew of the Irish playwright, novelist and essayist John B. Keane.

The World Tonight is a British current affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, every weekday evening, which started out as an extension of the 10 pm news. It is produced by BBC News and features news, analysis and comment on domestic and world issues. Ritula Shah was the main presenter until February 27, 2023, usually presenting the first three days of the week. The programme utilises other BBC broadcasters including David Eades, Carolyn Quinn, James Coomarasamy, Roger Hearing, Samira Ahmed and Felicity Evans to regularly present on Thursdays, Fridays and in Shah's absence. Between 1989 and 2012, the main presenter was Robin Lustig.

Jeremy Gordon Thompson is an English journalist and former news presenter for Sky News, the 24-hour UK television news service operated by Sky UK. He was based at Sky News Centre in west London. He started out as a journalist on the Cambridge Evening News in 1967. In 1971 he joined the BBC as a reporter on Radio Sheffield, moving on to become a reporter on BBC Look North Leeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyse Doucet</span> Canadian journalist and television presenter

Lyse Marie Doucet is a Canadian journalist who is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and senior presenter. She presents on BBC World Service radio and BBC World News television, and also reports for BBC Radio 4 and BBC News in the United Kingdom. She also makes and presents documentaries.

Stephen Jardine is a Scottish journalist, broadcaster and presenter. He has worked for the BBC, Scottish Television, GMTV and Radio Tay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Lustig</span> British journalist and radio broadcaster (born 1948)

Robin Francis Lustig is a British journalist and radio broadcaster, who has presented programmes for the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4.

Matthew William Price is a British journalist who currently works as Chief Correspondent for the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Alan Fisher is a Scottish broadcast journalist and war correspondent.

Alan Graham Johnston is a British journalist working for the BBC. He has been the BBC's correspondent in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip and Italy. He is based in London.

Carolina (Carla) Romano is a Scottish journalist and producer of Italian descent. Romano studied French and politics at the University of Dundee and has a postgraduate diploma in journalism from the University of Strathclyde.

Stephen Wrench, known professionally as Nigel Wrench, is a British radio presenter and reporter. In the 1980s, he reported extensively from South Africa, and later in London enjoyed a successful 20-year career with the BBC. Wrench is the only journalist known to have interviewed both the artist known as Banksy and the South African activist Winnie Mandela, and continued his journalistic work despite a close brush with death from AIDS-related illness.

Catriona Shearer is a Scottish broadcast journalist and producer, who was a presenter on BBC Scotland's national news programme Reporting Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faisal Islam</span> British political and economics journalist (born 1977)

Faisal Islam is a British political and economics journalist who is the economics editor of BBC News and the occasional presenter of Newsnight. He was the political editor of Sky News from 2014 to 2019, and from May 2004 was business correspondent and later economics editor of Channel 4 News until June 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC News Ukrainian</span> Ukrainian service of the BBC

BBC News Ukrainian is the Ukrainian service of BBC News which conveys the latest political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Ukraine and the world. It started broadcasts in 1992. Its headquarters are in London, United Kingdom. The first BBC Ukrainian program was aired on 1 June 1992. It featured President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk and UK Prime Minister John Major. It has had an office in Kyiv since 1993 with around ten staff, in 1993 the office was staffed by one correspondent. BBC Ukrainian has a few dozen reporters - both in Ukraine and abroad.

Ben McGrail is a British broadcast journalist, best known for his work at ITV News West Country as their Somerset Correspondent.

References

  1. 1 2 "(James) Allan Stuart LITTLE". People of Today. Debretts. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "Birthdays". The Guardian . Guardian News & Media. 11 October 2014. p. 55.
  3. ↑ "Scots journalist Allan Little to leave BBC". The Herald. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Veteran reporter Allan Little to leave the BBC". BBC News. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Allan Little". Newswatch. BBC News. 14 July 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  6. 1 2 "'Iconic' BBC reporter Allan Little leaves corporation after 30 years to 'pursue other projects'". Press Gazette. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  7. ↑ Ferguson, Brian (30 June 2015). "Allan Little to be new Edinburgh book festival chair". The Scotsman. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  8. ↑ BBC confirms plans for the Queen's funeral, TV Zone, 15 September 2022
  9. ↑ "2008". Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2022– via Time Back Machine.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.