Simon McCoy

Last updated

Simon McCoy
Simon McCoy (44095497630) (cropped).jpg
McCoy in 2018
Born (1961-10-07) 7 October 1961 (age 62)
Hammersmith, London, England
Education Sherborne School
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • newsreader
Notable credits
Spouses
Victoria Graham
​
​
(m. 2007;div. 2019)​
​
(m. 2021)​
Children1

Simon McCoy (born 7 October 1961) is a British journalist and former newsreader on BBC News and Sky News and presenter at GB News.

Contents

Early life

McCoy was born on 7 October 1961 in Hammersmith. He was educated at the private Sherborne School in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England.

Career

McCoy started his journalism career at the Fleet Street News Agency in London [1] before joining Thames TV as a researcher for Thames News in 1983. After time as a scriptwriter at Thames TV, in 1986 he joined the breakfast TV station TV-am as a news editor. [1] In 1988, McCoy left to go to new satellite channel Sky – initially as a producer on the Sky News breakfast programme Sunrise .

In 2003, McCoy co-anchored Sky's coverage of the Iraq War on location in Kuwait and Basra. He was on air for five hours every day of the conflict. [2]

In January 2004, McCoy joined the BBC, and could be seen on BBC Breakfast and BBC News 24, initially as a cover presenter for both. [1] In September 2005, he took over the morning slot on BBC News alongside Kate Silverton following Phillip Hayton's sudden departure after Hayton fell out with Silverton. When reviewing the papers the following day, McCoy tried to point out the story, but was prevented by Silverton. [3] In December 2007, Silverton left the shift to host the 8pm Update .

On 9 March 2012, McCoy was apparently caught asleep face-down at the newsdesk as BBC Breakfast handed over to the BBC News channel at 8:30 am. McCoy joked that he had "just been told the Queen wanted me to cover her next visit". [4]

Shortly before 1pm GMT on 18 March 2013, McCoy and co-presenter Sophie Long read the final BBC News bulletin from BBC Television Centre, with BBC News moving to Broadcasting House in the West End of London for the BBC News at One .

On 22 July, McCoy was on the roster for coverage of the birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who a few days later was named Prince George of Cambridge. Stationed outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital with often little or no news to share, McCoy's comments concerning the value of the news coverage made for (often sympathetic) headlines. He said: "The news is there is no news". [5] [6]

In September 2013, a live broadcast by McCoy went viral after he inadvertently picked up a refill pack of A4 printer paper instead of his iPad while presenting to camera. [7] [ unreliable source? ] A BBC spokeswoman said: "This morning as Simon McCoy was preparing to introduce this story, instead of picking up his tablet to hold as he went to air, he mistakenly picked up a ream of paper that was sitting next to it. In the rush of live news, he didn't have an opportunity to swap the items, so simply went with it." [8]

McCoy presented the weekday 2–5 pm slot, now titled Afternoon Live , on BBC News. [9]

On 25 March 2021, McCoy announced it was his last day working for the BBC. It was later announced he was moving to GB News to present an afternoon show alongside Alex Phillips titled McCoy & Phillips. [10] [11] On his reason for leaving the BBC and joining GB News, he said he wanted a new challenge. [12] He also said he was "not a leftie BBC journalist" and voted 'Leave' in the 2016 EU referendum. [12] [13] In July 2021, he moved to present the breakfast show, The Great British Breakfast, alongside Kirsty Gallacher. [14] In December 2021, McCoy left GB News citing personal reasons. [15] The GB News morning show direct replacement for McCoy was veteran broadcaster Eamonn Holmes who joined the breakfast team from ITV, on the 3 January 2022. [16] [17]

Personal life

On 28 September 2007, he married Victoria Graham of BBC South West. [18] They announced their divorce in January 2019. [19] In 2020 McCoy was reported as being in a relationship with the actress Emma Samms. [20] They married on 9 October 2021 [21] and live in the Cotswolds near Stroud. [22] [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Radcliffe (radio broadcaster)</span> British DJ (born 1958)

Mark Radcliffe is an English radio broadcaster, musician and writer. He is best known for his broadcasting work for the BBC, for which he has worked in various roles since the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirsty Gallacher</span> British television presenter and model (born 1976)

Kirsty Jane Gallacher is a British television presenter and model. She began her career at Sky Sports News in 1998 and hosted Kirsty's Home Videos, RI:SE and Simply the Best before returning to Sky Sports News from 2011–2018. From June 2021 until December 2021, Gallacher co-presented The Great British Breakfast on the news channel GB News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dermot Murnaghan</span> British broadcaster (born 1957)

Dermot John Murnaghan is a British media personality, notable as a journalist, news reporter and television host. He has been a presenter for numerous networks including at Channel 4, a news presenter at CNBC Europe, Independent Television News and BBC News. He has presented news programmes in a variety of time slots since joining Sky News in 2007, until the end of February 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Mayo</span> English radio presenter and author

Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022.

Robert Jeffrey Stelling is an English television presenter. He presented Gillette Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports from 1994 until 2023 and hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Silverton</span> English child therapist and former journalist

Kate Silverton is an English child therapist. She formerly worked as a broadcaster and newsreader for the BBC. Silverton was a regular presenter of BBC News at One and BBC Weekend News, as well as making occasional appearances on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. In 2018 she participated in series 16 of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, where she was paired with professional dancer Aljaž Škorjanec and finished in 8th place. She became a qualified child therapist in 2023.

<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, Jane Hill or Reeta Chakrabarti.

<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, produced by BBC News and 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.

Philip Hayton is an English television news presenter, reporter and former international correspondent for BBC News. He worked for the BBC from 1968 until 2005.

The Sarah-Jane Mee Show was a weekday news programme in the United Kingdom on Sky News, presented by Sarah-Jane Mee. The slot had been part of the Sky News schedule since 2005, most notably with Kay Burley as presenter until October 2019. It combined rolling-news coverage with debates and interviews on the day's issues plus human interest stories. The show aired between 2 pm–5 pm Monday to Friday. On Fridays, the show title was not used on air, however the same show format was used and presented by Belle Donati.

Sky News Today is a live news programme on Sky News which usually runs between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm on weekdays. The programme was presented by two anchors, however following on from the social distancing measures due to COVID-19, and the departure of Colin Brazier from Sky News, the programme is now solo anchored. Jayne Secker is the main presenter of the programme from Monday to Thursday with Samantha Washington usually presenting the Friday edition.

Sky News has about 600 staff, of whom about 50 speak on camera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Brazier</span> British journalist and news presenter

Colin Brazier is an English journalist, having previously worked for GB News between 2021 and 2022, and Sky News between 1997 and 2021. He presented Sky News Today on the channel alongside Jayne Secker from September 2014, alongside other programmes on the channel. Between 2005 and 2011, Brazier presented Saturday Live on the channel. In September 2022, in a shakeup of the GB News schedule, it was announced that his show, Brazier, was to be replaced and Brazier himself was to leave the channel.

Sunday Morning Live is a religious and current affairs discussion programme. The first series aired on BBC One from July 2010 to November 2010 after the end of the third series of The Big Questions. Thereafter it has continued to air each year between June and November.

Isabel Webster is a British television presenter and newsreader, who currently co-hosts GB News Breakfast alongside Eamonn Holmes. Until December 2017, Webster co-hosted Sunrise on Sky News, alongside Stephen Dixon.

A timeline of notable events relating to BBC Radio 5 Live, and its predecessor BBC Radio 5.

Alexandra Lesley Phillips is a British journalist and former politician. She served as a Brexit Party member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South East England constituency from 2019 to 2020. She was the second candidate on the party's list for the constituency after party leader Nigel Farage. Phillips was previously head of media at the UK Independence Party (UKIP), which she left in September 2016. She was a GB News presenter between June 2021 and September 2022. In February 2023, Phillips joined Reform UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GB News</span> British television news channel

GB News is a British free-to-air, right-wing oriented news television and radio channel. The channel is available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet on Samsung TV Plus and YouTube. An audio simulcast of the station is also available on DAB+ radio.

This is a timeline of the history of GB News, a free-to-air television and radio news channel in the United Kingdom.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Simon McCoy joins the BBC. BBC Press Office. 18 November 2003.
  2. ↑ "BBC Press Office – Simon McCoy". 25 July 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  3. ↑ Silverton Sparkles With New Co-host McCoy. . The Daily Telegraph.
  4. ↑ Plumb, Alastair (9 March 2012). "BBC Breakfast Presenter Simon McCoy Caught Sleeping On His Desk". Huffington Post UK. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  5. ↑ Morse, Felicity (25 July 2013). "Royal baby watch: BBC Reporter Simon McCoy admits Duchess of Cambridge labour coverage is 'not news'". The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  6. ↑ Deacon, Michael (22 July 2013). "Royal baby sketch: 'Breaking news: we have no news!'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  7. ↑ Tamplin, Harley (20 September 2017). "It's four years since a BBC presenter held A4 paper instead of a tablet". Metro. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  8. ↑ Halliday, Josh (18 September 2013). "BBC presenter does live broadcast clutching stack of paper instead of iPad". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  9. ↑ BBC News Channel - Afternoon Live. BBC.
  10. ↑ Sherwin, Adam (25 March 2021). "Simon McCoy leaving BBC News to join GB News - taking sarcasm and viral gaffes with him". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  11. ↑ Sherwin, Adam (11 June 2021). "Simon McCoy: 'Why I quit the BBC for GB News – and no more waiting for Royal babies'". i. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  12. 1 2 Singh, Anita (11 June 2021). "Simon McCoy: 'I'm not a leftie BBC journalist – I voted Leave'" . The Telegraph . ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  13. ↑ Waterson, Jim (15 July 2021). "GB News shows attracted zero viewers after boycott over taking the knee". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  14. ↑ Adam, Sherwin; Butterworth, Benjamin (16 July 2021). "GB News director of programmes quits as Simon McCoy leaves afternoon show for breakfast slot". i. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  15. ↑ "Simon McCoy becomes latest presenter to leave GB News". BBC News. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  16. ↑ "Simon McCoy becomes latest presenter to depart GB News, citing 'personal reasons'". The Independent. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  17. ↑ Badshah, Nadeem (10 December 2021). "Simon McCoy becomes latest presenter to depart GB News". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  18. ↑ "Biography – Victoria Graham". BBC Press Office. September 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
  19. ↑ Pearce, Tilly (26 January 2019). "BBC News anchor Simon McCoy ends 12-year marriage to Victoria Graham". Metro. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  20. ↑ Carter, Helen (14 March 2020). "BBC news presenter Simon McCoy is dating a Dynasty star". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  21. ↑ Samms, Emma [@EmmaSamms1] (10 October 2021). "Yesterday was a very good day ❤️ @SimonMcCoyTV #MrandMrs" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 October 2021– via Twitter.
  22. ↑ Bennett, Geoffrey (10 October 2021). "Gloucestershire-based celebrities Emma Samms and Simon McCoy tie the knot". Gloucestershire Live. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  23. ↑ Correspondent, Will Humphries, Southwest. "Actress Emma Samms suffers six-month hell of Covid fatigue". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 22 April 2023.{{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.