Career
Mair's professional career began after he rejected a university place in order to present on Radio Tay, a local Dundee station. [6]
Mair joined the BBC in 1987 as a sub-editor for Radio Scotland. [7] He moved on to present Good Morning Scotland and Reporting Scotland , then Eddie Mair Live in the mid-morning slot for Radio Scotland. In 1993, he hosted Breakaway , the weekly 'travel and leisure' programme on BBC Radio 4. He then joined BBC Radio 5 Live when it began in 1994 presenting the Midday with Mair news show. [7] From 1996 to 2000, he presented the BBC/PRI programme The World. [8]
Mair was the host of the Sunday current affairs programme Broadcasting House from its launch in April 1998, until 2003, when he took over PM and Fi Glover became presenter of the weekly show. On both programmes, Mair mixed serious journalism with witty and satirical commentary. After reading out the weather forecast, he would invariably encourage listeners with a jaunty "Do wrap up", whether the forecast was cold or warm. [9]
After Nick Clarke died in 2006, Mair substituted for Jonathan Dimbleby as the presenter of Any Questions . Standing in for Andrew Marr on his Sunday morning show on 24 March 2013, Mair interviewed London Mayor Boris Johnson asking critical questions about past known misdeeds such as lying to a minister and commenting: "you're a nasty piece of work". Patrick Wintour in The Guardian commented that "Johnson's reputation had taken a severe pounding", [10] while Dan Hodges in his Telegraph blog thought Mair's approach was a "disgrace". [11] Johnson himself said that Mair had done a "splendid job". [12]
Mair has also presented Newsnight on BBC Two and The 7 O'Clock News on BBC Three. [7]
On PM, Mair had a long-running on-air feud – real or simulated – with Robert Peston, the BBC's former Economics Editor. [13] For leap day in 2012, Peston co-hosted the PM programme with Mair, [14] and, in 2015, they co-hosted the show "The Robert Peston Interview Show (With Eddie Mair)" [15]
Mair was the original host of the 2003 BBC Two series Time Commanders . From 27 to 30 October 2014, Mair guest presented four editions of The One Show with Alex Jones on BBC One. [16]
On 29 February 2016, to the accompaniment of Nat 'King' Cole playing Let There Be Love, Valerie Singleton proposed marriage to Mair live on Radio 4's PM programme, in line with the tradition that women may propose marriage on one day only – 29 February. In the same spirit of gentle humour, he promised to think about it and give her an answer in 2020. [17]
Mair's BBC earnings were between £300,000 and £350,000 for the 2016-17 financial year. [18] The Guardian reported that he refused to take an earnings cut as part of the BBC's gender equality adjustments made in 2017 and 2018. [3] Mair denied this, writing in Radio Times , "None of my thinking has been influenced by the BBC's pay problems. I'd offered, in writing, to take a cut. It tickled me to read sometimes that I was apparently refusing. The first article appeared before we'd even discussed pay, and later it was said I was staying off work in some kind of protest: in fact, as RT [Radio Times] readers know, I was in hospital trying to avoid sepsis." [19] His autobiography A Good Face for Radio : Confessions of a Radio Head was first published in 2017. [1]
Mair was also the initial presenter of the BBC's podcast about the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, up until part 48 of the podcast, [20] which in May 2021 was still reporting on the inquiry about the fire in Grenfell Tower in London. Starting from part 49, Mair was no longer presenting this podcast. [21]
On 1 July 2018, Mair announced that he would depart the BBC, presenting his last PM show on 17 August 2018. [3] [22] On the following day it was announced that Mair would be joining LBC, and that his first show for the station would be broadcast in September 2018. [23] In fact, Mair presented his final PM show on 8 August 2018, although he did not acknowledge this during the broadcast. [2] The next day, Mair emailed the PM team to say:
"[...] I want to tell you about what happened just after PM finished last night. As you may know, we finished the show with a full rendition by Willie Nelson of 'Bring Me Sunshine'. It was, in keeping with the tradition of PM, a suggestion by a listener. Making the show yesterday had been tortuous for everyone on a quiet news day but in the end, I think we made something pretty good. Eloise and I looked at each other after the meeting and agreed that there was no way to match that for a last Eddie programme. So, that's what it was…my last PM. It felt right then and it feels right now. No fuss or faff, just as I wanted. Genuinely unplanned, and with its origins in a listener idea. Perfect. Or as close to perfect as we're likely to get. I hate saying goodboo. Sorry…goodbee. No…goodbiy. Dammit. I still can't say it." [2]
In August 2018 it was announced Mair was to take over the drivetime show on LBC from Iain Dale after he moved to evenings in a new autumn schedule for the station. On 3 September 2018, he started to present the show, Monday – Friday 4–6pm.
On 24 March 2022, Mair announced his intention to retire from LBC that coming August. He presented his last LBC show on 18 August 2022. [24]
