James Naughtie
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Alexander James Naughtie
FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
(surname pronounced ; born 9 August 1951) is a British radio and news presenter for the
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. ...
...
. Between 1994 and 2015, he was one of the main presenters of Radio 4's the ''
Today programme ''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is a long-running British morning news and current-affairs Radio program, radio programme on BBC Radio 4. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, it is produced by BBC N ...
''. In his 21-plus years on ''Today'', Naughtie had anchored every BBC Radio UK election results programme since 1997 and had worked on every US presidential election since 1988.


Early life and career

James Naughtie was born to Alexander and Isabella Naughtie and brought up in
Milltown of Rothiemay Milltown of Rothiemay (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ràth a' Mhuigh'') is a small inland village, built mostly of granite, in the north-east of Scotland and is within the Moray council area bordering neighbouring Aberdeenshire across the river to the sou ...
, near
Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlement ...
,
Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...
, Scotland. He was educated at
Keith Grammar School Keith Grammar School is a secondary school in, Moray, Scotland. It was built in 1965 by the Educational Committee of Banffshire County Council. the school roll was 450 pupils. It is administered by the Moray Council Education and Social Care Depa ...
, the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
and then
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
in New York. He is a Fellow of the
British-American Project The British-American Project (BAP) is a transatlantic fellowship of more than 1,200 leaders and opinion formers from a broad spectrum of occupations, backgrounds and political views. BAP operates on a not-for-profit basis, funded through its member ...
. Naughtie began his career as a journalist in 1975 at the
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
'' Press & Journal'', moving to the London offices of ''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'' in 1977. The following year he joined the paper's Westminster staff, and became its Chief Political Correspondent. In 1981, he worked for ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' as the Laurence Stern fellow on its national staff. He joined ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' in 1984, and became its Chief Political Correspondent in 1985.


Radio presenter

In 1986, Naughtie moved into radio presenting, hosting ''The Week In Westminster'' before moving to ''
The World At One ''The World at One'', or ''WATO'' ("what-oh") for short, is BBC Radio 4's long-running lunchtime news and current affairs programme, produced by BBC News, which is currently broadcast from 13:00 to 13:45 from Monday to Friday. The programme de ...
'' in 1988. He has also made several radio documentaries and series and has written three books, ''Playing the Palace: A Westminster Collection'', ''The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage'', and ''The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency''. Naughtie has been a presenter of the televised ''
Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
'' since 1992, and has also presented opera programmes such as Radio 3's ''Opera News''. He is also the host of Radio 4's ''Bookclub''. In 1994 he became one of the main presenters of Radio 4's ''Today'' programme. Shortly before the 2005
General Election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
he opened a question to
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
politician
Ed Balls Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British broadcaster, writer, economist, professor and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Ex ...
"If we win the election...", quickly correcting himself to say "if you win the election". The incident led to accusations of bias towards the Labour Party and a failure to be neutral.
Lord Tebbit Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit (born 29 March 1931) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–1983), Secretary of State for Trad ...
said of the incident: "How often a slip of the tongue betrays the true thoughts in the mind of the speaker. We could all see the shape of the cat in the bag, but Mr Naughtie has now let it out for all to see." He has a distinctive Scottish accent which has been named as the "best voice to wake up to" in a comparative survey. His practice of asking particularly long questions is sometimes noted by commentators. Throughout June, July and August 2012, and in early September 2012, he presented ''The New Elizabethans'' on Radio Four, a programme about notable people under the reign of
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
, to mark the
Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for the 60th an ...
. It has dealt with various famous names, including
Richard Doll Sir William Richard Shaboe Doll (28 October 1912 – 24 July 2005) was a British physician who became an epidemiologist in the mid-20th century and made important contributions to that discipline. He was a pioneer in research linking smoking ...
,
Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (1 ...
,
Elizabeth David Elizabeth David CBE (born Elizabeth Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and bo ...
,
Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE (''née'' Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet (formerly the Sadler's Wells T ...
, Peter Hall,
Cicely Saunders Dame Cicely Mary Strode Saunders (22 June 1918 – 14 July 2005) was an English nurse, social worker, physician and writer. She is noted for her work in terminal care research and her role in the birth of the hospice movement, emphasising the i ...
,
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
and
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
and
Tim Berners-Lee Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He is a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a profess ...
. The final week of the programme dealt with
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
,
Fred Goodwin Frederick Anderson Goodwin FRSE FCIBS (born 17 August 1958) is a Scottish chartered accountant and former banker who was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) between 2001 and 2009. From 2000 to 2008, he pre ...
,
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
,
Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...
and finished with the Queen herself. On 16 July 2013, it was announced that Naughtie's presentational role on ''Today'' would be temporarily reduced, as he was to become a presenter of ''
Good Morning Scotland ''Good Morning Scotland'' ( gd, Madainn Mhath Alba) is a Scottish breakfast radio news programme. It is broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland weekdays from 06:00 to 09:00. Established in 1973, it is the longest-running radio show broadcast from Scotl ...
'' for two days a week in the run up the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. He returned to his usual role on ''Today'' in time for the 2015 general election. In July 2015 he announced, via the BBC, that in early 2016 he would retire from regular presenting duties on the programme and would, instead, be its 'Special Correspondent' with 'responsibility for charting the course of the constitutional changes at the heart of the UK political debate', as well as the BBC News's Books Editor, contributing a book review to the Saturday morning editions of ''Today''. "After 21 years, I can turn off that 3am alarm at last," the ''
Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' quoted Naughtie as saying. He presented his last edition of ''Today'' on 16 December 2015. In 2016–17, Naughtie earned £150,000 – £199,999 as a BBC contributor. In 2018–19, his BBC earnings were in the £170,000 – £174,999 band.


Jeremy Hunt gaffe

On 6 December 2010, Naughtie was co-presenting the ''Today'' programme, and trailing the guests who would be interviewed after the 8am news bulletin. Introducing
Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 14 October 2022. He previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport ...
, the Culture Secretary, he inadvertently replaced the "H" at the beginning of "Hunt" with a "C". Choking on his words, he was clearly embarrassed by the mistake, and gave a full apology once he had recovered. However, only an hour later, another BBC presenter,
Andrew Marr Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Beginning his career as a political commentator, he subsequently edited ''The Independent'' newspaper from 1996 to 1998 and was political editor of BBC N ...
made the same mistake when discussing Naughtie's error.


Awards and positions

Naughtie was named as journalist of the year at the 1984
Scottish Press Awards The Scottish Press Awards is an annual ceremony which recognises talent in Scottish journalism. The ceremony was established by the Scottish Newspaper Society (SNS), which "represents, protects, and promotes" Scotland's newspaper industry, in 1979 ...
. He was voted
Sony Radio Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...
Radio Personality of the Year in 1991 and Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award in 2001. He is a member of the
Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission is a non-departmental public body of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office that awards scholarships and fellowships to American students for postgraduate and postdoctoral study and research at UK uni ...
and a United Kingdom advisory board member for the British-American Project, which exists to promote the British-American relationship. Naughtie was given an
honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
by the
University of Stirling The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built w ...
in 2001, and installed as its chancellor on 9 October 2008, succeeding Dame
Diana Rigg Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (20 July 193810 September 2020) was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series '' The Avengers'' (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in '' On H ...
when her ten-year term ended. Naughtie chaired the judges of the inaugural 2010
Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine The Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine was founded in 2009 by Donald Singer and Michael Hulse. The founders "wished to draw together national and international perspectives on three major historical and contemporary themes uniting the disc ...
. In 2017 Naughtie gave the
Hugh Cudlipp Hubert Kinsman Cudlipp, Baron Cudlipp, OBE (28 August 1913 – 17 May 1998), was a Welsh journalist and newspaper editor noted for his work on the ''Daily Mirror'' in the 1950s and 1960s. He served as chairman of the Mirror Group group of ...
Lecture. In his speech he referred to the Trump presidency thus: "There hasn’t been in living memory in western democracy a threat to freedom of the press of the kind we see there." Naughtie was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
in March 2017.


Personal life

Naughtie is married to
Eleanor Updale Eleanor Updale (born 1953) is an English fiction writer, best known for the Victorian-era London thriller '' Montmorency'' (2003) and its sequels, the Montmorency series, which feature the namesake fictional character, Montmorency. Personal ...
, author of the
Montmorency series The Montmorency series, or simply Montmorency, is a series of five young adult historical crime novels written by Eleanor Updale and first published from 2003 to 2013. It features Montmorency, an English ex-convict turned gentleman detective an ...
of books and a former producer of ''The World at One''. They have three children, and live in London and Edinburgh.


Works

* Naughtie, James (2001) ''The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage'', Fourth Estate, * Naughtie, James (2004) ''The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency'', Macmillan, * Naughtie, James (2007) ''The Making of Music'', John Murray, * Naughtie, James (2012) ''The New Elizabethans'', Collins, * Naughtie, James (2014) ''The Madness of July'', Head of Zeus, * Naughtie, James (2016) ''Paris Spring'', Head of Zeus,


References


External links


James Naughtie on TwitterBBC Presenter biographies - James Naughtie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naughtie, James 1951 births People educated at Keith Grammar School Alumni of the University of Aberdeen BBC newsreaders and journalists Classical music radio presenters Living people People from Moray Scottish radio personalities Syracuse University alumni The Guardian journalists