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Giles Tristan John Dilnot (born 7 January 1971), is a former

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

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television presenter and reporter. He is now the Director of Communications and External Affairs for the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England.

Early life

Dilnot was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire in 1971, and grew up in the village of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

(five miles east of the county town of

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

) in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, where his father was the vicar.

Education

Dilnot was educated on a son-of-clergy bursary at St. John's School, a boarding independent school for boys (now co-educational) in the town of

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leathe ...

in Surrey, followed by

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, from whence he graduated in 1993.

Life and career

Dilnot first worked at

Chiltern Radio Heart Dunstable (formerly 97.6 Chiltern FM) was an Independent Local Radio station based in Chiltern Road in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. History Together with sister stations 96.9 Chiltern FM, Northants 96 and Horizon Radio, the station formed th ...

, a commercial radio station in the Chilterns area of

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

and at Mercia FM radio station in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, followed by the BBC's former radio station GLR (since renamed

BBC London 94.9 BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the Lond ...

), for which he reported, produced and presented. He moved to

BBC Southern Counties Radio BBC Southern Counties Radio was a BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Surrey and Sussex. The station also covered a large part of north-east Hampshire. It was the first BBC local radio station to introduce an all-speech format. ...

in Guildford, in the same county as his former senior school, and then joined the television launch of BBC ''South East Today'' in 2001, becoming a co-presenter of the programme a year later. In November 2004 an effigy of Dilnot was burned at the

Lewes bonfire Lewes Bonfire, or Bonfire for short, describes a set of celebrations held in the town of Lewes, Sussex, England, that constitute the United Kingdom's largest and most famous Bonfire Night festivities, with Lewes being called the bonfire capi ...

celebrations. BBC ''South East Today'' had angered some members of Sussex bonfire societies by its reporting of an allegedly racist display at the nearby

Firle Firle (; Sussex dialect: ''Furrel'' ) is a village and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England. Firle refers to an old-English/Anglo-Saxon word ''fierol'' meaning overgrown with oak. Although the original division of East ...

bonfire night in 2003, where an effigy of a

Gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

family in a caravan was burned. In November 2004, Dilnot joined BBC2's ''

Daily Politics ''Daily Politics'' was a BBC Television programme which aired between 6 January, 2003 and 24 July, 2018, presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. ''Daily Politics'' took an in-depth review of the daily events in both Westminster and other areas ...

'' programme as a regular reporter and co-presenter, regularly interviewing members of the public on current political and social issues. He has also appeared on a variety of programmes such as the ''

Politics Show ''Politics Show'' is an hour-long BBC One television political programme which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays between 2003 and 2011, broadcasting usually at midday. ''Politics Show'' was superseded by ''Sunday Politics'', a week ...

'' (the forerunner of the current ''Sunday Politics'') on BBC1 and the early morning news magazine programme '' BBC Breakfast.'' He has stood in for regular presenters on BBC Radio 5 Live and has made three radio documentaries for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. Chris Marsden, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), accused Dilnot of issuing "politically slanderous" commentary during a live interview claiming his comment "crossed accepted journalistic boundaries", a complaint that was later rejected. While interviewing Marsden for BBC 2's ''

'' on 21 May 2014 during the campaign for the European election, Dilnot, referring to Marsden's claim that existing news media would be removed in a revolution, said "Please tell me I am not first up against the wall when it comes." According to Marsden, who officially complained to the BBC, he could only reply "Of course not" before the item ended and was handed back to the studio. Marsden's complaint was not upheld, and on the programme a week later he was invited to explain why he had complained. Dilnot left the BBC in July 2016, and in August 2016 he joined the

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

the

Legatum Institute The Legatum Institute is a think tank based in London, UK, headed by Philippa Stroud, Baroness Stroud, a Conservative member of the House of Lords. Its stated aim is to advance the education of the public in national and international political ...

as its Director of Communications. He left the Legatum Institute in April 2017 to join the Office of the then Children's Commissioner for England (Anne Longfield OBE) as its Director of Communications and External Affairs. He has now left that position and since September 2022 has been a Special Advisor to the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Personal life

Dilnot married Amanda Cook in August 1997. They have a son and a daughter (their son born in 2004 and their daughter in 2008). The couple separated amicably in 2016 and remain good friends. He has a range of interests from collecting rare thrillers to travelling, and is particularly interested in the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n bush, where he has worked in conservation, and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, where his family lived for many years. He remarried in 2020 and has a young son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dilnot, Giles 1971 births Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge BBC newsreaders and journalists English male journalists English television journalists English television presenters Living people People educated at St John's School, Leatherhead People from Nunhead People from Stoke-on-Trent