Tom Brook | |
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![]() Tom Brook in 2013 | |
Born | London, United Kingdom | 16 June 1953
Alma mater | Cambridge University |
Occupation | News reporter |
Years active | 1976 – present |
Tom Brook (born 16 June 1953) is a New York–based journalist working primarily for BBC News. He is mainly seen on BBC World News, and also the BBC News Channel. [1] He is the main presenter of its flagship cinema programme Talking Movies , and has presented every episode since it was first broadcast in February 1999. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association. [2]
Brook was born in Ladbroke Grove in London, but went to primary school in Hertfordshire. He completed his secondary education at William Ellis School in north London before going on to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in economics in 1975. Brook's parents were Caspar Brook, the first director of the Consumers’ Association in Britain, and Dinah, a former education correspondent of The Observer .
![]() | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(June 2020) |
Brook joined the BBC in April 1976 as a news trainee and, after working attachments in Belfast, Birmingham, and Manchester, he was appointed as a producer on Radio 4's Today programme in 1978. In January 1980, he was posted to the BBC's office in New York as a news and current affairs producer. On the night of 8 December 1980, he was the first British journalist to report live from outside the home of John Lennon in the Dakota Apartment building on New York's Upper West Side, following the murder of the former the former Beatle. [3]
Since 1985, he has reported on the US film industry for the BBC. From 1985 to 1998, Brook was BBC One's US correspondent for the top-rated Film series presented by Barry Norman. [4] In 1999, he began presenting and producing the cinema news programme Talking Movies for the BBC, which, as of 2020 has surpassed 500 episodes. He has an international following among movie fans and key figures in the global film industry.
The programme covers cinema news from around the world, as well as delivering reviews of the latest films and exclusive interviews with top Hollywood and international talent. The longevity of the series has also allowed Brook to report from some of the world's top film festivals, including Cannes, [5] Sundance, [6] Toronto [7] and London. [8]
In 2019 [9] the programme marked a significant milestone with its twentieth anniversary on the air. Special anniversary editions of the show were recorded in front of a live audience in New York and Mumbai in which Sir Kenneth Branagh [10] and Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan [11] were guests of honour.
He has also covered the Academy Awards for BBC News every year since 1985, frequently reporting live from the red carpet. [12]
Brook has interviewed some of the most celebrated names in international cinema including such Twentieth Century greats as James Cagney [13] and Bette Davis. [14] He has also interviewed some of America's most influential personalities from CBS veteran anchorman Walter Cronkite on his last day of presenting at the network as well as former President's Carter and Ford. More recently, some of the big names he has interviewed include Adam Driver, [15] Cynthia Erivo, [16] Dev Patel, [17] Renee Zellweger [18] and Barry Jenkins, [19]
Over the years, Brook has also contributed to numerous additional BBC programmes and outlets, including Breakfast , Correspondent, Front Row , The Late Show , The Six O'Clock News , BBC America, BBC News Channel, Hard Talk Extra , and Today on BBC Radio 4.
He has been a frequent online contributor. In 2013 he started writing The Reel World column for BBC Culture on new developments on the big screen. [20]
Tom Brook holds both UK and US passports. He has lived in New York for more than four decades. His home is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He is married to Samuel Wahl MD, chair, Department of Pathology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York who has been his partner since January 1990.[ citation needed ]
The Public Enemy is a 1931 American pre-Code gangster film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The film was directed by William A. Wellman and stars James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Donald Cook and Joan Blondell. The film relates the story of a young man's rise in the criminal underworld in Prohibition-era urban America. The supporting players include Beryl Mercer, Murray Kinnell, and Mae Clarke. The screenplay is based on an unpublished novel—Beer and Blood by two former newspapermen, John Bright and Kubec Glasmon—who had witnessed some of Al Capone's murderous gang rivalries in Chicago.
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. His accolades include an Academy Award, four BAFTAs, two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Olivier Award. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours, and was given Freedom of the City in his native Belfast in 2018. In 2020, he was ranked in 20th place on The Irish Times' list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Broadcast News is a 1987 American romantic comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by James L. Brooks. The film concerns a virtuoso television news producer who has daily emotional breakdowns, a brilliant yet prickly reporter, and the latter's charismatic but far less seasoned rival. It also stars Robert Prosky, Lois Chiles, Joan Cusack, and Jack Nicholson.
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, she was one of the world's highest-paid actresses by 2007.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, also known by the initialism DDLJ, is a 1995 Indian Hindi-language musical romance film written and directed by Aditya Chopra in his directorial debut and produced by his father Yash Chopra. Released on 20 October 1995, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol as Raj and Simran, two young non-resident Indians, who fall in love during a vacation through Europe with their friends. Raj tries to win over Simran's family so the couple can marry, but Simran's father has long since promised her hand to his friend's son. The film was shot in India, London, and Switzerland, from September 1994 to August 1995.
Shah Rukh Khan, also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the "Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has appeared in more than 100 films, and earned numerous accolades, including 14 Filmfare Awards. He has been awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India, as well as the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Legion of Honour by the Government of France. Khan has a significant following in Asia and the Indian diaspora worldwide. In terms of audience size and income, several media outlets have described him as one of the most successful film stars in the world. Many of his films thematise Indian national identity and connections with diaspora communities, or gender, racial, social and religious differences and grievances.
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language musical romance film written and directed by Karan Johar and produced by his father Yash Johar under Dharma Productions. It stars Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Rani Mukherji, along with Salman Khan in an extended special appearance. It also features Sana Saeed in a supporting role. The plot combines two love triangles set years apart. The first half covers friends on a college campus, while the second tells the story of a widower's young daughter who tries to reunite her dad with his old best friend.
Deewana is a 1992 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Raj Kanwar and written by Sagar Sarhadi. It stars Rishi Kapoor, Divya Bharti, and Shah Rukh Khan in his debut. The film revolves around an effervescent girl Kaajal (Bharti), depicting her travails as a widow after the disappearance of her husband Ravi (Kapoor) and how her obsessive lover Raja (Khan) wins her over.
Dil Se.. is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language romantic thriller film written and directed by Mani Ratnam who produced it with Ram Gopal Varma and Shekhar Kapur. Set against the backdrop of Insurgency in Assam, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala, while Preity Zinta makes her film debut in a supporting role. An example of parallel cinema, it is noted as the final installment in Ratnam's trilogy consisting of Roja (1992) and Bombay (1995). The film's soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, sold six million units in India.
Talking Movies is a top-rated film news programme broadcast on the BBC, which covers cinema around the world, including delivering reviews of the latest films and exclusive interviews with top Hollywood and international talent. The half-hour flagship programme, with a format conceived by BBC TV Executive Producer, Martin Everard, jointly with presenter journalist Tom Brook premiered in 1999 with the demise of the BBC's Barry Norman film programme, and is broadcast on BBC World News, while shorter Talking Movies reports are broadcast during the week and carried in the mornings on BBC America. At one time, the programme was carried on BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC News 24 as well as to the 200 million homes on BBC World. An edited version was/is also shown on a number of international airlines' inflight channels.
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.
Patrick Doyle is a Scottish composer and occasional actor best known for his film scores. During his 50-year career in film, television and theatre, he has composed the scores for over 60 feature films. A longtime collaborator of actor-director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work on films such as Henry V, Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, Carlito's Way, Quest for Camelot, and Gosford Park, as well as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Thor, Brave, Cinderella,Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.
Red Chillies Entertainments Private Limited, doing business as Red Chillies Entertainment is an Indian visual effects, production and distribution company established by actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan in 2002. It was transformed from the defunct Dreamz Unlimited. Based in Mumbai, the studio's activities span across creative development, production, marketing, distribution, licensing, merchandising and syndication of films in India and worldwide. They are also a visual effects company. Throughout the last several years, Red Chillies has acquired the rights to several Hindi films.
Beeban Tania Kidron, Baroness Kidron,, is a British politician. She is an advocate for children's rights in the digital world and has played a role in establishing standards for online safety and privacy across the world.
Anupama Chopra (née Chandra) is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who serves as the director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written several books on Indian cinema and has been a film critic for NDTV, India Today, as well as the Hindustan Times. She also hosted a weekly film review show The Front Row With Anupama Chopra, on Star World. She won the 2000 National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema for her first book Sholay: The Making of a Classic. She presently critiques movies and interviews celebrities for Film Companion.
My Name Is Khan is a 2010 social drama film directed by Karan Johar and co-written by Shibani Bathija and Niranjan Iyengar. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in lead roles, and is a co-production between India, the United Arab Emirates and China. The film narrates a fictional story where Rizwan Khan (Khan), an autistic Muslim, sets out on a journey across the United States to meet the President after Mandira Rathod Khan (Kajol), his Hindu wife, suffers from Islamophobic discrimination after the September 11 attacks.
Alan Jones is a film critic, broadcaster, and reporter primarily focused on movies in production, especially in the horror fantasy genre. His first assignment was on Star Wars in 1977, after which he became the London correspondent for Cinefantastique magazine from 1977 to 2002 and reviewed for the British magazine Starburst from 1980 until 2008. A film critic for Film Review and Radio Times, he has made contributions to the Radio Times Guide to Films, the Radio Times Guide to Science Fiction, and Halliwell's Film Guide. He has also been a film critic for BBC News 24, Front Row on BBC Radio 4, and Sky News programme Sunrise. He has worked for Empire, Première, and Total Film. An article of his in the latter coined the term for the Splat Pack.
Cynthia Erivo is an English actress and singer. She gained recognition for starring in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple from 2015 to 2017, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Erivo ventured into films in 2018, playing roles in the heist film Widows and the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. For her portrayal of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet (2019), Erivo received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she also wrote and performed the song "Stand Up" on its soundtrack, which garnered her a nomination in the Best Original Song category.
This is a timeline of the history of Sky Television.
King of Bollywood is a biography by the film critic and journalist Anupama Chopra, chronicling the life and career of Shah Rukh Khan. The book describes his personal life such as his birth in 1965 in New Delhi and his marriage to Gauri Chibber in 1991. The book also outlines his career as an actor, film producer, and television presenter. It was published by Grand Central Publishing on 9 August 2007 and became a commercial success. Its critical reception was positive, with Chopra's writing garnering appreciation.