George Alagiah
George Alagiah | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Maxwell Alagiah 22 November 1955 |
| Education | Durham University |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, Presenter |
| Notable credit | BBC News |
| Spouse | Frances Robathan (1984-present) |
George Maxwell Alagiah OBE (born 22 November 1955) is an English journalist and presenter.
Since 3 December 2007, he has been the sole presenter of the BBC Six O'Clock News. He has been the main presenter of BBC World's World News Today programme since its launch.
Background
The Alagiah family were originally from Sri Lanka, where George was born and are Tamils, but his parents moved to Ghana in Africa, where George grew up from the age of five. Later, George attended a Catholic boarding school, St John's College, at Southsea in Hampshire, England before going to university.
George read politics at Van Mildert College, Durham University.[1] Whilst at Durham he wrote for and became editor of the student newspaper Palatinate and was a sabbatical officer of Durham Students' Union. He worked on South Magazine from 1982 until joining the BBC, where he was the Developing World correspondent based in London and then Southern Africa correspondent in Johannesburg.[2]
He returned to his grandfather's original home in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami to survey the damage left.[3] The home had been destroyed, though an old well George recalled playing around with his sisters as a child was still recognisable, though unsalvagable.
He is married to Frances Robathan.
Broadcasting career
Alagiah joined the BBC in 1989 after seven years in print journalism with South Magazine.[4]
In 2000 he was part of the BBC team which collected a Bafta award for its coverage of the Kosovo conflict.
He was the presenter of BBC Four News from its launch in 2002; the programme was later relaunched as The World.
George Alagiah joined the BBC Six O'Clock News in January 2003, which he co-presented with Sophie Raworth until October 2005, and then Natasha Kaplinsky until October 2007. Since 3 December 2007 he has been the sole presenter of the BBC Six O'Clock News. Prior to this he was the deputy anchor of the BBC One O'Clock News from 1999. Since 3 July 2006, he has also presented an hour long analytical news programme, World News Today, on BBC World. He has also presented relief shift on the BBC Nine O'Clock News and Ten O'Clock News
Before going behind the studio desk, George was one of the BBC's leading foreign correspondents, reporting on events ranging from the genocide in Rwanda, the plight of the marsh Arabs in southern Iraq and civil wars in Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Somalia.[5]
He is a specialist on Africa and the developing world and has interviewed among others Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.[6]
His documentaries and features include reports on why affirmative action in America is a 'Lost Cause' for the Assignment programme, Saddam Hussein's genocidal campaign against the Kurds of northern Iraq for the BBC's Newsnight programme and reported on the last reunion of the veterans of Dunkirk.[7]
Alagiah has won numerous awards including Best International Report at the Royal Television Society in 1993 and Amnesty International's Best TV Journalist award in 1994. He has also been a member of the board of trustees of the UK-based human rights organisation, ARTICLE 19 since 2003.[8]
He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.
References
- ^ "BBC Press Office: George Alagiah". Retrieved 2006-12-28.
- ^ "BBC Press Office: George Alagiah". Retrieved 2006-12-28.
- ^ "BBC Press Office: George Alagiah". Retrieved 2006-12-28.
- ^ "NewsWatch: George Alagiah". Retrieved 2006-12-28.
- ^ "BBC Press Office: George Alagiah". Retrieved 2006-12-28.
- ^ "BBC Press Office: George Alagiah". Retrieved 2006-12-28.
- ^ "NewsWatch: George Alagiah". Retrieved 2006-12-28.
- ^ "Article 19 - Staff". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
External links
- Profile from BBC Newswatch
- Career (from World People's Blog)
- BBC World: George Alagiah joins BBC World to present new peak-time news programme
See also
- Elise Lucet, anchor for the Journal de 13 Heures, a French equivalent to the BBC One O'Clock News, and shown at 1:00 pm Central European Time in Metropolitan France