Tim Willcox

Last updated

Tim Willcox
Tim Wilcox at Westminster 2011c.jpg
Willcox at Westminster in 2011
Born
Timothy Melton Willcox

(1963-05-28) 28 May 1963 (age 60)
Wellington, Somerset, England
NationalityBritish
Alma mater St Chad's College, Durham
Occupation(s) Journalist, News presenter
Employer BBC
Spouses
Sarah
​
​
(m. 1995,divorced)​
Najah al-Otaibi
​
(m. 2019)​
Children3

Timothy Melton Willcox (born 28 May 1963 in Wellington, Somerset) is a British journalist who formerly worked as a presenter for BBC News. He presents news programmes on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. He is probably most recognisable for presenting the BBC's live coverage from Chile during events surrounding the Copiapó mining accident [1] and anchoring the BBC's live daytime coverage during the early days of the Cairo January 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Contents

Early life

Willcox was born on 28 May 1963. He grew up in Norton Fitzwarren, in south-west Somerset. [2] He was educated at Taunton School, an independent school in Somerset, and St Chad's College, Durham University where he studied Spanish. [3] Willcox was a member of the British Youth Orchestra, playing the trumpet. He had been awarded a Cambridge choral scholarship.

Career

Willcox started in newspaper journalism, working for Mirror Group Newspapers and Fleet Street News Agency). [3]

As a broadcast journalist, Willcox worked for ITN for many years as a presenter and correspondent. He was the network's Arts and Media Correspondent, and after joining the news team presented the network's live reports from New York City during the 11 September terrorist attacks. [3] Willcox also presented the ITN Morning News in the 1990s, and was the first ITN journalist to break the news of the Paris car crash in 1997 that led to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. [4]

Since joining the BBC, Willcox has been an anchor on the BBC's news channels and used to present bulletins at weekends on BBC One. He served as regular Friday presenter on World News Today on BBC Four, BBC World News and the BBC News Channel.

In September 2010, Willcox travelled to Chile to report for BBC News on the attempts to rescue the miners trapped underground after the Copiapó mining accident. [5] In October 2010 he did extensive live coverage of the operation to bring the trapped miners back to the surface, and interviewed Chilean President Sebastián Piñera. [6] He is to play himself in a film about the Copiapó mining accident and began filming in February 2014.

In March 2011, Willcox played a significant role in reporting the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, reporting live for the BBC from the disaster zone and then just a few weeks later reporting from Libya on the 2011 Libyan civil war. [7]

He presented regular programmes on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel including the Papers (the nightly paper review) as well as news bulletins. More recently he was found on the overnight slot on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel between 02:00 and 05:00 local UK time, as well as weekend afternoons (12:00 to 16:00).

On 2 February 2023, it was confirmed that Wilcox – alongside many other presenters of the domestic BBC News Channel – would lose their presenting roles as part of the BBC's relaunched news channel. [8]

Other work

Willcox has written, produced and presented a number of documentaries for Channel 4 and Channel 5. These include:

In addition to his work as a journalist, Willcox has made cameo acting appearances in a number of television dramas and films. These include roles in Sex Traffic , State of Play , Jonathan Creek , 102 Dalmatians , The 33 , Clueless [3] and the BAFTA winning documentary How to Start a Revolution .

Allegations of antisemitism

Willcox has twice been accused of antisemitism for his on-air comments.

On 8 November 2014, Willcox stated that the Labour Party would lose funding from Jewish sources because "a lot of these prominent Jewish faces will be very much against the mansion tax". The tax refers to a Labour proposal for an additional tax on properties worth $3.5 million or more. [9]

At a unity rally on 11 January 2015 after 17 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Paris, many of them Jews, Willcox, while interviewing a Jewish woman who was explaining that Jews live in fear in France, interrupted her saying that "Many, many, many, many critics though, of Israel’s policy would suggest that the Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well". [10] This question was criticised by many including historian and BBC presenter Simon Schama, Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard and the Campaign Against Antisemitism as antisemitic for assigning collective responsibility of Israel's actions to all Jews. [11] [12] The woman was later identified as the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Willcox apologised the next day on Twitter, saying his question had been "poorly phrased". [10]

Personal life

Willcox was married to Sarah, and the couple had four children together. [13] In November 2012, it was widely reported that Willcox was having an affair with BBC colleague Sophie Long. [14] [15] [16]

He has lived in the village of Wootton, West Oxfordshire, also known as Wootton by Woodstock, near the River Glyme. [17]

In September 2019, Willcox was among three BBC employees who lost a tax avoidance case involving several hundred thousand pounds of taxes the payment of which the British government claimed had been wrongfully evaded. [18] [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Sissons</span> English journalist and broadcaster (1942–2019)

Peter George Sissons was an English journalist and broadcaster. He was a newscaster for ITN, providing bulletins on ITV and Channel 4, before becoming the presenter of the BBC's Question Time between 1989 and 1993, and a presenter of the BBC Nine O'Clock News and Ten O'Clock News between 1993 and 2003. He retired from the BBC in 2009 and died in 2019 from leukaemia at the age of 77.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV News Channel</span> Television channel

The ITV News Channel was a 24-hour television news channel in the United Kingdom which broadcast from 1 August 2000 to 23 December 2005. It was available on Sky, NTL:Telewest, and analogue cable. It was also available during the morning on ITV Digital. The channel was carried by its replacement Freeview, although the launch of ITV4 saw its hours on that platform reduced to 6:00 am to 6:00 pm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Snow (journalist)</span> English journalist and television presenter

Jonathan George Snow HonFRIBA is an English journalist and television presenter. He is best known as the longest-running presenter of Channel 4 News, which he presented from 1989 to 2021. On 29 April 2021, Snow announced his retirement from the role; his final programme aired on 23 December 2021. Although Channel 4's news programming is produced by ITN, Snow was employed directly by the broadcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sian Williams</span> Welsh journalist and television presenter

Sian Mary Williams is a Welsh journalist, current affairs presenter, and psychologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Ford</span> British journalist and television presenter

Anna Ford is an English former journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She first worked as a researcher, news reporter and later newsreader for Granada Television, ITN, and the BBC. Ford helped launch the British breakfast television broadcaster TV-am. She retired from broadcast news presenting in April 2006 and was a non-executive director of Sainsbury's until the end of 2012. Ford now lives in her home town of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since continued to produce all news programmes on ITV. The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the ITV Evening News held the title of "RTS News Programme of the Year". The flagship ITV News at Ten has won numerous BAFTA awards, and also being named "RTS News Programme of the Year" in 2011, 2015, 2021 and 2022.

<i>BBC News at Six</i> British TV series or programme

The BBC News at Six is the BBC's evening news programme on British television channels BBC One and BBC News, broadcast weeknights at 6:00pm and produced by BBC News. It is normally broadcast for 30 minutes, except on bank holidays when it may be shorter and only shown on BBC One. For a long period, the BBC News at Six was the most watched news programme in the UK but since 2006 it has been overtaken by the BBC News at Ten. On average it is watched by four million viewers.

<i>BBC News at One</i> Daily news programme on BBC News

The BBC News at One is the BBC's afternoon news programme on British television channels BBC One and BBC News, broadcast weekdays at 1:00pm and produced by BBC News. It is normally broadcast for 30 minutes, except on bank holidays when it may be shorter and only shown on BBC One. On the weekends, it is replaced by a shorter bulletin branded as BBC Weekend News. The programme is currently presented by Ben Brown and Jane Hill.

<i>BBC Breakfast</i> Breakfast television programme on BBC One and BBC News channels in the United Kingdom

BBC Breakfast is a British television breakfast news programme on the BBC. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel every morning from 6:00am. The simulcast is presented live, originally from the BBC Television Centre, London before moving in 2012 to MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester. The programme is broadcast daily and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Owen (journalist)</span> British journalist

Nicholas David Arundel Owen is an English journalist, television presenter and radio presenter. He previously presented on the BBC News channel and BBC One, and hosts a weekly programme on Classic FM radio.

Stephen James Young Scott is a multi award-winning British journalist and presenter employed by ITN as the sports editor and newscaster for ITV News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Suchet</span> British news presenter

John Aleck Suchet is an English author, television news journalist and presenter of classical music on Classic FM.

ITN World News was a newscast shown during the late 1980s and most of the 1990s. It was either shown on cable or satellite television, or shown internationally. The newscast was broadcast from London, England, and was produced by Independent Television News. A domestic national version was also shown in the United Kingdom on terrestrial television.

Geraint V. Vincent is a British journalist, currently employed by ITN as a Correspondent for ITV News.

Sophie Rebecca Long is an English journalist who works for BBC News, mainly appearing as a presenter on the BBC News Channel.

<i>BBC News at Five</i> Hour-long daily news programme broadcast at 17:00 on BBC News

The BBC News at Five was an hour-long daily news programme broadcast at 5:00 pm on BBC News. The programme was fronted by Huw Edwards, the BBC's lead presenter for major breaking news. The show includes a detailed look at the news, as well as analysis with guests and sport and weather updates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Copiapó mining accident</span> Cave-in and miner rescue at a mine in Atacama Region, Chile

The 2010 Copiapó mining accident, also known then as the "Chilean mining accident", began on 5 August 2010, with a cave-in at the San José copper–gold mine, located in the Atacama Desert 45 kilometers (28 mi) north of the regional capital of Copiapó, in northern Chile. Thirty-three men were trapped 700 meters (2,300 ft) underground and 5 kilometers (3 mi) from the mine's entrance, and were rescued after 69 days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reaction to the 2010 Copiapó mining accident</span>

The 2010 Copiapó mining accident occurred when the San Jose Mine near to Copiapó, Chile, collapsed, leaving 33 miners of Chilean nationality and one Bolivian miner trapped inside about 700 metres below the surface. The men were trapped in the mine for 69 days before being rescued. The discovery of the miners and their eventual rescue received global attention, with over 2000 members of the media reporting from the San Jose Mine. Global leaders expressed good wishes for the rescue and congratulations upon its successful completion.

References

  1. ↑ Lydall, Ross (14 October 2010). "BBC's £100,000 on Chile rescue leaves it short to cover G20". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Bristol Evening Post Wednesday 19 November 1980, page 3
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Profile – Tim Willcox Newswatch, BBC News, 7 July 2006
  4. ↑ "ITN Newsflash: Diana injured". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
  5. ↑ The camp that has sprung up above trapped Chile miners BBC News, 25 September 2010
  6. ↑ "All 33 Chilean miners rescued". The Washington Post. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
  7. ↑ Willcox, Tim (16 March 2011). "Designing buildings to survive natural disasters". BBC News. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  8. ↑ "BBC Cuts 10 Top Presenter Jobs Ahead of News Channel Merger". 2 February 2023.
  9. ↑ "BBC Panel Discussion of Wealthy Jews Ripped Over Anti-Semitic Stereotypes". Algemeiner.
  10. 1 2 Selby, Jenn (12 January 2015). "Tim Willcox apologises to daughter of Holocaust survivor at Paris rally for saying 'Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well'" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
  11. ↑ Bernstein, David (12 January 2015). "The BBC's Tim Willcox projects the last two hundred years of European anti-Jewish ideology on an elderly French woman". The Washington Post.
  12. ↑ Wilson, Tom (12 January 2015). "BBC Reporter Blames Jews for European Anti-Semitism". Commentary.
  13. ↑ Rodger, James (24 January 2022). "BBC News' Tim Willcox 'dumped' by new wife after two years of marriage". Birmingham Mail. Birmingham. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  14. ↑ "Husband of newsreader 'devastated' after she dumps him for co-presenter". Telegraph Online. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013
  15. ↑ Davies, Barbara (1 December 2012). "Pictured on her wedding day: Sophie Long, her BBC lover and his unsuspecting wife" Nigeria News. Retrieved 16 August 2013
  16. ↑ "Sophie Long keeps up the low profile on Tim Willcox affair", Standard Online, 2012, retrieved 16 August 2013
  17. ↑ "Village Hall Talks - Wootton By Woodstock, Oxfordshire". woottontalks.co.uk.
  18. ↑ Agyemang, Emma (19 September 2019). "BBC presenters forced into 'disguised employment' lose tax case". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  19. ↑ Reporter, Paul Morgan-Bentley, Head of Investigations | Billy Kenber, Investigations. "MPs may be avoiding big tax bills on second jobs". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 7 December 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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.