Clive Augustus Myrie (born 25 August 1964) is an English journalist, newsreader and presenter who works for the BBC. He is one of the BBC's chief news presenters and correspondents.[1] Since August 2021 he has been the host of the long-running BBC quiz shows Mastermind and Celebrity Mastermind.[2]
Myrie joined the BBC in 1987 as a trainee local radio reporter,[8] on the corporation's graduate journalism programme.[6] His first assignment was as a reporter for Radio Bristol in 1988, returning to the BBC after a year with Independent Radio News. He then reported for Points West, and latterly BBC Television and Radio News.
In 1996 he became a BBC foreign correspondent and has since reported from more than 80 countries. He initially became the BBC's Tokyo correspondent, and was then the Los Angeles correspondent from 1997 to 1999. He was appointed BBC Asia Correspondent in 2002 and was Paris correspondent from 2006 to 2007. His career has encompassed major stories such as the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton, and wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. During the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces in March 2003, Myrie was an embedded correspondent with 40 Commando Royal Marines, joining them initially on HMS Ocean and subsequently during operations on the Al-Faw Peninsula. Myrie had to write a "goodbye" letter to his family, in case of his death due to the danger this particular assignment posed.[9]
After latterly serving as Europe correspondent based in Brussels,[6] he was appointed a presenter on the BBC News Channel in April 2009, replacing the retired Chris Lowe.[10] Since joining BBC News, Myrie has presented the BBC Weekend News and weekend editions of BBC News at Ten and BBC Breakfast, both on BBC One. In June 2014, he began presenting weekday bulletins on BBC One.
In September 2010 Myrie broke the story that ETA had declared a unilateral ceasefire after he met an ETA operative in Paris, who handed over a tape of the organisation's leaders making the declaration.[11]
He has presented the 18:30-to-midnight slot, Monday to Thursday, on the BBC News Channel. During the 2015 general election, he was the main presenter of Election Tonight at 19:30 and 21:30. Since 2019, Myrie has focused on BBC One network bulletins with the evening shift presented by a set of relief presenters.
Myrie reported extensively from Kathmandu on the earthquake that struck the city on 25 April 2015, including the rescues of two Nepali citizens who were found alive under two collapsed buildings on 30 April 2015.[12] In October 2017, Myrie visited Bangladesh to report on the Rohingya refugee crisis.[13]
Myrie hosted a documentary series on Jazz FM entitled The Definitive History of Jazz In Britain, broadcasting over ten weeks from 4 April to 6 June 2021.[17][18] He also occasionally presents classical music on BBC Radio 3.[19]
In February 2022 he travelled to Ukraine and was the anchor for BBC coverage of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[20][21] In one report on the invasion, Myrie stated that he and other journalists were staying in the city as "We all want to tell the story of this war, and we want to tell it accurately."[22][23] On 8 March, he announced his return to the UK but promised he would return to the warzone.[24]
On 16 June 2023, Myrie hosted Have I Got News for You, for the fourth time, and poked fun at the past seven days’ new stories, particularly around former prime minister Boris Johnson. It was later claimed that he was "pulled" from that night's BBC News At Ten as a result.[28] He later explained that the two shows had been just "too close" together.[29]
In July 2023, Myrie became the Pro Chancellor of the University of Bolton. He said "The University of Bolton in my home town is one of the most socially inclusive universities in the UK. ... In a world where trade, commerce and culture are becoming ever more connected, your experience of studying in a diverse environment will prove to be a source of strength for many years to come."[30]
Personal life
Myrie is married to Catherine Myrie, an upholsterer and furniture restorer.[6][31] Myrie met his wife, who then worked in publishing, at the 1992 London launch of a book about Swiss cheeses. According to Myrie, she "gave me the courage and space to pursue my dreams."[5] They live in Islington, North London.[32][7]
Myrie enjoys going to the cinema and his favourite music genre is jazz, which he discovered at university.[33] While at school, he learned to play the violin and the trumpet and played in the local youth orchestra; appearing on Saturday Live in February 2022 his Inheritance Tracks were "Welcome to My World" by Jim Reeves and "So What" by Miles Davis.[4] He is a supporter of Manchester City F.C.[34]
Myrie has experienced racist abuse, which has included death threats, and been the recipient of a card, with a gorilla on the front, which read: "We don't want people like you on our TV screens."[35] In October 2019, Ian Hargreaves, a 66-year-old man from Leeds, was jailed for 18 months at Leeds Crown Court for sending electronic death threats towards Myrie and motorsport commentator Jack Nicholls; Myrie said in a victim statement that he found the threats "deeply troubling".[36][37]
In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from Staffordshire University.[38] In 2019, the University of Sussex awarded him a "Doctor of the University" degree.[40] In 2022, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Social Science for his outstanding contribution to broadcasting, television and society from the University of Bolton, which he described as "an honour".[41][30]
In July 2023, Myrie received an honorary degree of Doctor of Arts (HonDA) from Edge Hill University.[42]
In the RTS Television Journalism Awards 2021, Myrie was named both "Television Journalist of the Year" and "Network Presenter of the Year",[43] winning the accolades "for his versatile, measured and compelling style".[44]
Books
Clive Myrie: The Biography (Independently published, July 2023) ISBN9798853934412[45]
Clive Stuart Anderson is an English television and radio presenter, comedy writer, and former barrister. Winner of a British Comedy Award in 1991, Anderson began experimenting with comedy and writing comedic scripts during his 15-year legal career, before becoming host of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, initially a radio show on BBC Radio 4 in 1988, before moving to television on Channel 4 from 1988 to 1999. He was also host of his own chat show Clive Anderson Talks Back, which changed its name to Clive Anderson All Talk in 1996, from 1989 to 2001. He has also hosted many radio programmes, and made guest appearances on Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week and QI.
Jonathan George SnowHonFRIBA 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.
Sian Mary Williams is a Welsh journalist, current affairs presenter, and psychologist.
Desmond John Humphrys is a Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter of the Nine O'Clock News, the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until 2019 he presented on the BBC Radio 4 breakfast programme Today. He was the host of the BBC Two television quiz show Mastermind from 2003 to 2021, for a total of 735 episodes. Humphrys now presents a regular Sunday afternoon show on Classic FM, where he also sometimes fills in on the weekday More Music Breakfast show.
Alastair James Stewart OBE is an English journalist and newscaster.
Samira Ahmed is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she presents Front Row on Radio 4 and Newswatch on the BBC News channel and BBC One during BBC Breakfast, and regularly presents radio documentaries. Her recent documentaries include Disgusted, Mary Whitehouse(March 2022). She has presented Radio 3's Night Waves and Radio 4's PM, The World Tonight, Today, Sunday and has presented the Proms for BBC Four.
William Robert Jolyon Turnbull was a television and radio presenter and journalist whose broadcasting career spanned over 4 decades. He began his career working for some radio stations including Radio Clyde and BBC Radio 4's Today. He presented BBC News 24 and BBC Radio 5 Live before taking on his most notable role as one of the main presenters of BBC Breakfast, a position he held for 15 years between 2001 and 2016. Later in his career, he presented the religious series Songs of Praise and game show Think Tank, as well as being a presenter on the radio station Classic FM.
John Christopher Lowe is a Scottish-born former news presenter who worked for BBC News for 37 years until his retirement on 4 January 2009.
Mark Mardell is a British journalist, formerly the presenter of The World This Weekend on BBC Radio 4. He had previously served as BBC News's Europe editor, and provided coverage for each United Kingdom general election between 1992 and 2005, before he became North America editor.
Jonathan B. Sopel is a British journalist, television presenter and a former correspondent for BBC News. He was formerly the BBC's North America editor; chief political correspondent for the domestic news channel BBC News; a presenter on the Politics Show on BBC One and the BBC News channel; and from 2013 to 2014, the main presenter of Global on BBC World News.
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.
Robin Francis Lustig is a British journalist and radio broadcaster, who has presented programmes for the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4.
Stephen John Sackur is an English journalist who presents HARDtalk, a current affairs interview programme on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. He was also the main Friday presenter of GMT on BBC World News. For fifteen years, he was a BBC foreign correspondent.
Reeta Chakrabarti is a British journalist, newsreader and correspondent for BBC News. She is known for presenting BBC News at One, BBC News at Six, BBC News at Ten and BBC Weekend News, and presenting regularly on the BBC News Channel and occasionally BBC World News.
Dateline London is a weekly BBC News discussion programme. A panel of four leading journalists, lecturers, and foreign correspondents discussed top news stories from an international perspective. The last episode made was on 15 October 2022.
Mark Longhurst is a British news presenter and journalist. For 20 years, he worked at Sky News, joining in 1996 as its business correspondent and later becoming a senior presenter. He hosted various programmes on the channel including Sunrise and Sky News at Ten, until his departure in 2016. Longhurst presented ITV's regional news programme ITV News West Country from March 2017 to October 2017.
Annabel Tiffin is an English broadcast journalist and presenter, currently working as a main presenter and producer for the BBC One regional television news programme North West Tonight.
↑ Singh, Anita (23 August 2021). "Mastermind is in safe hands with new host Clive Myrie". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 August 2021– via www.telegraph.co.uk. Myrie did a fine job in his first show since taking over from former presenter John Humphrys
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.
