Martyn Lewis

Early life

Lewis was born in Swansea, West Glamorgan, though was educated at the co-educational Dalriada School in Northern Ireland and graduated with a BA degree from Trinity College, Dublin. He then joined BBC Northern Ireland in 1967. Lewis also holds an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Ulster and is a Freeman of the City of London, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Member of the Garrick Club and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Television news

He was a news presenter and reporter on HTV and ITN, before joining the BBC in 1986 to present BBC News bulletins until the major relaunch of all output in 1999–2000.

Lewis became the first presenter of the One O'Clock News on BBC One on 27 October 1986 when it was launched as part of the introduction of the channel's daytime schedule, replacing News After Noon. Subsequently, he presented other bulletins including the Six O'Clock News and Nine O'Clock News.

He created a modicum of controversy in 1993 when he claimed that television should feature more "good news". He subsequently stated that he had been misunderstood on the matter.

Lewis played a prominent role in the announcement of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on Sunday 31 August 1997. He was called into the BBC in the early hours of that morning to present short national bulletins about the car accident in Paris. He returned home afterwards to get some sleep – expecting the Princess to pull through – only to be drafted in again in time for the special 6am bulletin covering Diana's death.

During the marathon coverage which was simulcast on BBC1, BBC World as well as broadcasters around the world which took in the BBC news feed, Lewis was almost brought to tears following Tony Blair's "People's Princess" statement. His uninterrupted presenting stint ended mid-afternoon when Peter Sissons took over.

On 26 April 1999, a few weeks before the BBC relaunched its news programmes, he presented the Six O'Clock news bulletin with Jennie Bond on the day his co-host Jill Dando was murdered outside her home in West London. He also appeared on rival ITN that evening to pay tribute to his dead colleague.

He presented his last bulletin at the start of May 1999 from Edinburgh, reporting on Scottish devolution, signing off with, "And from me, it's goodbye."

Other television

As part of the celebrations for ITN's 50th anniversary, he returned to television news to present a special edition of the ITV Evening News with Mary Nightingale in September 2005.

Lewis was the long-running host, from 1993, of the BBC news-based quiz show Today's the Day and the primetime BBC TV series Crimebeat.

He retired from newsreading in 1999 and since then has presented occasional programmes on ITV including Dateline Jerusalem and Ultimate Questions.

He played himself in brief cameo roles in several films, appearing as a newsreader in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, in The Bill and The Vicar of Dibley in 2000, and in archive footage featured in the 2006 film The Queen, as well as Argo, Senna and The James Bond Story.

In 2008, he appeared in the video on board the Heathrow Express as a guide to the airport security.

In 2013, he appeared as the presenter in television commercials for Calgon, acting out interviews with 'experts' in a series entitled "Smart Washing with Calgon".

Other business

Lewis was chairman and co-founder of Teliris, one of the first telepresence systems developed. He was actively involved in the marketing of this solution through personal contacts, speaking engagements and "Telepresence Times", his vlog launched in 2009. He retired as chairman in 2012.

Charity work

Lewis is a vice-president of Hospice UK, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Macmillan Cancer Support, East Anglia Children’s Hospices (EACH) and Demelza Children’s Hospice.

He is president of United Response, a charity supporting people with learning disabilities or mental health needs to live in the community, in England and in Wales.

He founded the youth charity YouthNet in 1995 (now known as The Mix), and stayed as chairman until stepping down in July 2014, though he remains an advisor. The charity provides advice, information and support through websites aimed at young people.

In 2010 he became chair of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, an umbrella body for charities in England and Wales with over 11,000 members. He is also chairman of the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. He was chairman of Families of the Fallen 2010–15; trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust 2001–10, and is currently deputy chair of the Lord Mayor of London's Dragon Awards.

He is a patron of The Patchwork Foundation, the quarterly broadsheet Positive News, and Dementia UK.

In September 2015, it was announced that Lewis had become the first ambassador of Pennies, a fintech charity that enables charitable micro-donations.

Personal life

His first marriage was to the former model Liz Carse, daughter of the Antarctic explorer and former BBC radio newsreader Duncan Carse. They met while working at HTV Wales in the late sixties – she as a continuity announcer and model, he as a reporter and presenter. Liz died in early 2012 after spending ten years in a nursing home suffering from a degenerative brain disease. Martyn and Liz have two daughters, Kate Lewis who works in the film industry, and singer-songwriter Sylvie Lewis.

He remarried after Liz's death. Martyn is now married to Patsy Baker (née Wallis) who is a partner at the public relations company Bell Pottinger. Patsy is the mother of three children.

Honours

Lewis was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1997 for his services to young people and the hospice movement and was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for voluntary and charitable work, especially for the hospice movement.