Jonathan Dimbleby

Last updated

Jonathan Dimbleby
Jonathan Dimbleby.JPG
Dimbleby in 2016
Born (1944-07-31) 31 July 1944 (age 79)
Alma mater Royal Agricultural College
University College, London
Occupation(s)Writer, broadcaster
Years active1969–present
Spouses
(m. 1968;div. 2006)
Jessica Ray
(m. 2007)
Children4
Parent(s) Richard Dimbleby
Dilys Thomas
Relatives Dimbleby family

Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby.

Contents

Education

Dimbleby was educated at Charterhouse, a boys' independent school in Surrey. [1] He later studied farm management at the Royal Agricultural College and graduated in 1965.[ citation needed ] He then studied philosophy at University College, London. [1] He was later elected an honorary fellow but resigned in 2015 in protest at the forced resignation of Tim Hunt as an honorary fellow. [2]

In July 2007 he received an honorary degree from the University of Exeter. [3] He is an Honorary Fellow of Bath Spa University (2006) and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West of England (2018).[ citation needed ]

TV and radio career

Dimbleby presenting an Any Questions? broadcast on 15 January 2016 at the Nexus Methodist Church, Bath, during the church's 200th anniversary year Any Questions, Nexus Methodist Church, Bath.jpg
Dimbleby presenting an Any Questions? broadcast on 15 January 2016 at the Nexus Methodist Church, Bath, during the church's 200th anniversary year
Dimbleby presenting a World Question broadcast from Budapest BBC World Questions - Hungary.jpg
Dimbleby presenting a World Question broadcast from Budapest

Dimbleby began his career at the BBC in Bristol in 1969. In 1970 he joined The World at One as a reporter, where he also presented The World This Weekend . In 1972 he joined ITV's flagship current affairs programme This Week and over the following six years reported on crises in many parts of the world. His coverage of the 1973 Ethiopian famine, The Unknown Famine, was followed by TV and radio appeals which raised a record sum nationally and internationally. His report, for which he won the SFTA Richard Dimbleby Award, was used by the incoming regime to justify the overthrow of the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. [4]

In 1978 he wrote and presented the ITV series Jonathan Dimbleby in South America. In 1979 he joined Yorkshire Television, where he wrote and presented three ITV network series: Jonathan Dimbleby In Search of the American Dream (1976), The Bomb (1979), The Eagle and The Bear (1980) and The Cold War Game (1981). He also presented the ITV documentary series First Tuesday . In 1985 he joined TV-am as presenter of Jonathan Dimbleby on Sunday. In 1986 he returned to ITV as presenter of This Week.

In 1988 he joined the BBC to present the new flagship political programme On the Record (1988–1993). He wrote, presented and co-produced two documentary series: The Last Governor (BBC1 1997) about the final five years of British rule in Hong Kong, and Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role (ITV 1994), in which (the then) Prince Charles spoke about his first marriage and his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, [5] now his wife and Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Realms.

From 1994 to 2006 he presented ITV's political programme, Jonathan Dimbleby . He anchored ITV's general election coverage in 1997, 2001 and 2005. He wrote and presented Russia with Jonathan Dimbleby (BBC2, 2008), An African Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby (2010), and A South American Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby (2011). In 2013 he wrote and presented Churchill's Desert War (BBC2) based on his book, Destiny in The Desert. In 2015 he wrote and presented the two-part series The BBC At War (BBC2).

From 1987 to June 2019 he presented Any Questions? on BBC Radio 4. He presented Any Answers? from 1989 to 2012. [6] [7] From 2016 to 2019, he was the main presenter of the BBC World Service monthly series World Questions.

In April 2020, Dimbleby wrote and presented the ITV documentary Return to Belsen with Jonathan Dimbleby about the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

In 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Dimbleby wrote and presented the documentary Charles, the Monarch and the Man, which aired on ITV on 13 September 2022.

Other work

Dimbleby wanted to be a farmer when he left school and worked on the Royal Farm, Windsor, trained as a professional showjumper and studied at the Royal Agricultural College (now University) at Cirencester. From 1993 until 2004 he ran an organic farm near Bath, Somerset.

He is a past president of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), of the Soil Association and of the RSPB. He is chair of the Richard Dimbleby Cancer Fund, the charity established in 1966 in memory of his father. He was chairman of the Index on Censorship's Board of Trustees from 2008 until 2013, when he was succeeded by David Aaronovitch. [8] He is patron of several other charities.

Family

Dimbleby is the son of the Second World War war correspondent Richard Dimbleby, who was later to become presenter of the BBC TV current affairs programme Panorama . His elder brother David Dimbleby is also a commentator on current affairs and presenter of BBC programmes. Jonathan wrote a biography of his father in 1975.

Dimbleby married author, journalist, and broadcaster Bel Mooney in 1968. [6] They have two children: Kitty, a journalist; and Daniel, a television producer. In May 2003, Dimbleby began a relationship with the soprano Susan Chilcott, with whom he lived until her death from breast cancer in September 2003. Later that year Dimbleby and Mooney separated, and in 2006 they were divorced. [9] In 2007 Dimbleby married Jessica Ray. They have two daughters, Daisy and Gwendolen, and live in Bristol.

Awards and honours

Writing and other activities

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Norden</span> English writer

Denis Mostyn Norden was an English comedy writer and television presenter. After an early career working in cinemas, he began scriptwriting during the Second World War. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the BBC Radio comedy programme Take It from Here with Frank Muir. Muir and Norden remained associated for more than 50 years, appearing regularly together on the radio panel programmes My Word! and My Music after they stopped collaborating on scripts. He also wrote scripts for Hollywood films. He presented television programmes on ITV for many years, including the nostalgia quiz Looks Familiar and blooper shows It'll be Alright on the Night and Laughter File.

Valerie Singleton is an English television and radio presenter best known as a regular presenter of the popular children's series Blue Peter from 1962 to 1972. She also presented the BBC Radio 4 PM programme for ten years as well as a series of radio and television programmes on financial and business issues including BBC's The Money Programme from 1980 to 1988.

Michael Terence Aspel is a retired English television presenter and newsreader. He hosted programmes such as Crackerjack, Ask Aspel, Aspel & Company, Give Us a Clue, This is Your Life, Strange but True? and Antiques Roadshow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melvyn Bragg</span> British broadcaster and author (born 1939)

Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is the editor and presenter of The South Bank Show, and made the BBC Radio 4 documentary series In Our Time.

The Hessell-Tiltman History Prize is awarded to the best work of non-fiction of historical content covering a period up to and including World War II, and published in the year of the award. The books are to be of high literary merit, but not primarily academic. The prize is organized by the English PEN. Marjorie Hessell-Tiltman was a member of PEN during the 1960s and 1970s; on her death in 1999 she bequeathed £100,000 to the PEN Literary Foundation to found a prize in her name. Each year's winner receives £2,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Norman</span> British film critic

Barry Leslie Norman was a British film critic, television presenter and journalist. He presented the BBC's cinema review programme, Film..., from 1972 to 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Dimbleby</span> British commentator and presenter (born 1938)

David Dimbleby is an English journalist and former presenter of current affairs and political programmes, best known for having presented the BBC topical debate programme Question Time. He is the son of broadcaster Richard Dimbleby and elder brother of Jonathan Dimbleby, of the Dimbleby family. Long involved in the coverage of national events, Dimbleby hosted the BBC Election Night coverage from 1979 to 2017, as well as United States presidential elections on the BBC until 2016. He has also presented and narrated documentary series on architecture and history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Dimbleby</span> English journalist and broadcaster (1913–1965)

Frederick Richard Dimbleby was an English journalist and broadcaster, who became the BBC's first war correspondent, and then its leading TV news commentator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Stewart</span> English former journalist and newscaster

Alastair James Stewart OBE is an English journalist and newscaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Taylor (journalist)</span> British journalist and documentary-maker

Peter Taylor, is a British journalist and documentary-maker. He is best known for his coverage of the political and armed conflict in Northern Ireland, widely known as the Troubles, and for his investigation of Al Qaeda and Islamist extremism in the wake of 9/11. He also covers the issue of smoking and health and the politics of tobacco for which he was awarded the WHO Gold Medal for Services to Public Health. He has written books and researched, written and presented television documentaries over a period of more than forty years. In 2014, Taylor was awarded both a Royal Television Society lifetime achievement award and a BAFTA special award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald Priestland</span> British journalist

Gerald Francis Priestland was a foreign correspondent, presenter and, later, a religious commentator for the BBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anita Anand (journalist)</span> British radio and television presenter and journalist

Anita Anand is a British radio and television presenter, journalist, and author.

24 Hours or Twenty-Four Hours was a long-running, late-evening, weekdaily news magazine programme that aired on BBC1. It focused on analysis and criticism of current affairs, and featured in-depth short documentary films that set the style for current-affairs magazine programmes. 24 Hours launched on 4 October 1965 and focused on investigative journalism. The programme's main presenter was Cliff Michelmore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Buerk</span> British journalist and newsreader

Michael Duncan Buerk is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama 999 from 1992 to 2003. From 2017, Buerk also presented the TV programme Royal Recipes which ran for two series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Reynolds (historian)</span> British historian

David Reynolds, is a British historian. He is Emeritus Professor of International History at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. He attended school at Dulwich College on a scholarship and studied at Cambridge and Harvard Universities. He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Nebraska and Oklahoma, as well as at Nihon University in Tokyo and Sciences Po in Paris.

This is a list of British television related events from 1965.

Stephen Grenfell was a writer and BBC Radio broadcaster. He presented BBC programmes including Sports Report. He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 10 August 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Olusoga</span> British historian and television presenter (born 1970)

David Adetayo Olusoga is a British historian, writer, broadcaster, presenter and filmmaker. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester. He has presented historical documentaries on the BBC and contributed to The One Show and The Guardian.

References

  1. 1 2 Matthewman, Hester (24 January 1993). "How we met: Jonathan Dimbleby and Bel Mooney". The Independent. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  2. Meikle, James (30 June 2015). "Dimbleby resigns from UCL in protest at 'disgraceful' treatment of Sir Tim Hunt". The Guardian.
  3. "Wednesday 11 July 2007 afternoon ceremony – Jonathan Dimbleby LLD". Exeter University. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  4. Alexander De Waal (1991), Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch, p. 58, ISBN   9781564320384
  5. Alderson, Andrew. "Prince vows to keep silent about his private life". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 "DIMBLEBY, Jonathan". www.ukwhoswho.com. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  7. "Jonathan Dimbleby hands Any Answers? baton to Anita Anand on Radio 4". BBC Media Centre. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  8. "Winners – Index Awards 2013". Index on Censorship . 21 March 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  9. "Jonathan Dimbleby on his marriage break-up". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  10. Capon, Felicity (8 April 2013). "Keith Lowe awarded the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for history". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 7 June 2014.