Gary O'Donoghue

Early life

Gary O'Donoghue's father was a semi-professional Association football player who also worked as a taxi driver, and his mother taught ballroom dancing. O'Donoghue was born partially sighted, but went totally blind by the time he was eight. He was educated at Worcester College for the Blind (then a boys' boarding school though it has since merged with the similar girls' school), where he played blind football for England. O'Donoghue then attended Christ Church at Oxford University, where he read philosophy and modern languages.

Career

Given work experience at the BBC, his first job was working for a braille production department, where he was asked to operate the photocopier.

O'Donoghue joined the BBC on graduation, becoming a junior reporter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme; at one time, he was asked to bungee jump off Chelsea Bridge. During his career, he has covered stories for BBC News in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the U.S. In 2004, O'Donoghue became a political correspondent based at Westminster, reporting across the media of radio, television, and internet. From October 2011, O'Donoghue was the Chief Political Correspondent for BBC Radio 4 replacing Norman Smith, primarily reporting for the Today and PM programmes.

In 2007, he broke the story that new UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was returning early from holiday to deal with an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey. However, BBC Ten O'Clock News deputy editor Daniel Pearl handed the story to June Kelly, which, in 2008, resulted in an out-of-court five-figure payment to O'Donoghue on grounds of disability discrimination.

At the 2014 BBC News Festival, it was revealed that O'Donoghue would be moving to Washington DC, as a reporter for BBC News. Between assignments, in summer 2014 he toured UK universities, telling journalism students about his time in the business.

Personal life

O'Donoghue and his partner, Sarah Lewthwaite, have a home in Yorkshire, and one daughter.