Name Nicholas Witchell Partner(s) Maria Staples Role Journalist | Children 2 TV shows Breakfast News Website BBC Profile | |
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Full Name Nicholas Newton Henshall Witchell Books The Loch Ness Story, The Loch Ness Story Counter Display Education | ||
Nicholas witchell
Nicholas Newton Henshall Witchell (born 23 September 1953) is an English journalist. He is a newscaster and diplomatic and royal correspondent for BBC News.
Contents
- Nicholas witchell
- Bbc reporter nicholas witchell describes independence as break up
- Early life and career
- Royal correspondent
- Life outside journalism
- References
Bbc reporter nicholas witchell describes independence as break up
Early life and career
Witchell was born in Shropshire. He was educated at Epsom College, a British public school in Surrey, and at Leeds University, where he read Law and edited the Leeds Student newspaper. In 1974 Terence Dalton Limited published Witchell's book The Loch Ness Story, a history of alleged sightings of the Loch Ness Monster.
Witchell has worked for the BBC since 1976. Witchell, along with Sue Lawley, became the first newsreader of the BBC Six O'Clock News when the programme was launched on 3 September 1984 (replacing the early evening news magazine Sixty Minutes). In 1988, the Six O'Clock News studio was invaded during a live broadcast by a group of women protesting against Britain's Section 28 (which sought to prevent councils from "promoting" homosexuality). Witchell grappled with the protesters and is said to have sat on one woman, provoking the ambiguous frontpage headline in the Daily Mirror, "Beeb man sits on lesbian". During the 1989 journalist strike, Witchell was one of the few newsreaders to turn up to work. He was branded a "scab" for this action.
In 1989 he moved from the evening to the breakfast news slot, where he remained for five years. During the 1991 Gulf War he was a volunteer presenter on the BBC Radio 4 News FM service.
He was the first reporter to relay the news of the 1979 death of Lord Mountbatten, the Lockerbie disaster, the Zeebrugge ferry disaster and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Royal correspondent
In 1998, Witchell became a royal and diplomatic correspondent. In 2002, his obituary of The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, recorded some time before her death but screened immediately after the announcement of her death, was reportedly not well received at Buckingham Palace, as it mentioned her lovers and "copious" consumption of whisky.
Witchell provoked royal displeasure again in 2005. At a press conference at the Swiss ski resort of Klosters, Witchell asked The Prince of Wales how he and his sons were feeling about his forthcoming marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles. After a response from his son Prince William, the Prince of Wales said under his breath, and referring to Witchell, "These bloody people. I can't bear that man. I mean, he's so awful, he really is." Witchell himself was then in the headlines. The BBC defended their reporter saying: "He is one of our finest. His question was perfectly reasonable under the circumstances".
Life outside journalism
Witchell is a Governor of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation for Disabled People, an Officer of the Order of St John and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He has two daughters from a previous relationship with designer Carolyn Stephenson and currently lives in Central London with his long term partner Maria Staples.
Witchell appeared as himself in the Doctor Who Christmas Special "Voyage of the Damned", broadcast on Christmas Day 2007.