Tanya Beckett

Education

Beckett was born in Maldon, Essex and educated at the independent Redland High School for Girls in Bristol, England, followed by Pembroke College, Oxford, where she gained a degree in metallurgy and materials science and a Blue in fencing.

Career

Beckett undertook research on the properties of carbon and glass fibres for Courtaulds. She spent four years working as an investment banker for Citibank in London and Commerzbank in Frankfurt, Germany; she resultantly speaks fluent German and French.

After training as a journalist, Beckett joined CNBC Europe in 1993 as a business and political reporter. She spent her career presenting business news for broadcasters including NBC Europe and CNBC Europe, News Direct Radio 97.3 in London, Sky News and CNN International.

Beckett joined the BBC in June 1998. Since then, she has been a presenter for programmes such as BBC Two's Working Lunch in 1998, BBC Breakfast, The World Today on BBC One and, from 2001, BBC News Channel and BBC World News. Beckett moved her young family to New York City while helping to present the World Business Report from an office in Times Square, but returned to London three years later. She presently works on the BBC World Service, and from June 2015 started to present Talking Business on the BBC News Channel. She also presents TV version of Witness a monthly highlights programme of stories told by the people who were there.

Personal life

After studying together, and the meeting at a college reunion in 1998, on 16 September 2001 Beckett married the Hon. Edward Charles d'Olier Gibson (born 31 December 1967), son of and heir apparent to Baron Ashbourne. The couple have three children: Edward Alexander (born 6 August 2002); Greta Florence Hazeland (born 5 December 2005) and another son. Her hobbies include tennis, long-distance running and the theatre.

In November 2013, d'Olier Gibson appeared in Oxford Magistrates' Court after allegedly assaulting Beckett at their farmhouse home in Lewknor near Watlington, Oxfordshire, during a discussion over their possible divorce. Beckett called police, who in trying to restrain d'Olier Gibson used pepper spray and struck him with a baton. Having discovered a missing shotgun, he was eventually restrained after armed police were called to the property. d'Olier Gibson was charged with assaulting both Beckett and arresting officer PC Aaron Walker; he denied both charges. Convicted for his "sustained and drunken" attack on PC Walker, he was ordered to wear an electronic tag for two months and given a curfew. On release, d'Olier Gibson started divorce proceedings.