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Nicholas Anthony Robinson (born 5 October 1963) is a British journalist, currently a presenter on 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. ...
...
's ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...
'' programme. Prior to this he spent ten years as
political editor The political editor of a newspaper or broadcaster is the senior political reporter who covers politics and related matters for the newspaper or station. They may have a large team of political correspondents working under them.
In publishing, beca ...
for the BBC and has had many other roles with the broadcaster.
Robinson was interested in politics from an early age. He studied
philosophy, politics and economics at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, where he was also president of the
Oxford University Conservative Association
The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) is a student Conservative association founded in 1924, whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford. Since October 2009, OUCA has been affiliated to Conservative Future and its su ...
. Starting out in broadcasting at
Piccadilly Radio
Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West Eng ...
, after a year as president of the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
youth group, he worked his way up as a producer, eventually becoming deputy editor of ''
Panorama
A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...
'' before becoming a political correspondent in 1996.
Robinson became the BBC's chief political correspondent in 1999. Between 2002 and 2005, he worked for
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since conti ...
as political editor but then returned to the BBC assuming the same role.
Known for his confrontational and provocative approach, Robinson has on several occasions caused a stir with his style of questioning, particularly of national leaders such as
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
. He has presented programmes such as ''
Westminster Live
''Westminster Live'' was a weekly television programme focusing on political developments within the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The programme began on 21 November 1989 on the same day as television cameras were first allowed into the Hou ...
'', ''Weekend Breakfast'' and ''Late Night Live'' on
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...
, and ''
Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'' on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
.
Early life
Robinson was born in
Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...
, Cheshire, on 5 October 1963, to a translator mother and a sales director father. His mother was born in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, to where her
German-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
parents had
fled during the 1930s. His father was of English background.
His parents first met at the
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...
in Switzerland, and married three months later.
Robinson was interested in
political journalism
Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power.
Political journa ...
from the age of eight.
He was educated at
Cheadle Hulme School and
University College, Oxford
University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...
, where he read
Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Whilst travelling in Europe in 1982, he survived a car crash in
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
, France, in which the car, a two-door
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...
, exploded; his friends James Nelson and Will Redhead (son of
Brian Redhead
Brian Leonard Redhead (28 December 1929 – 23 January 1994) was a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He was a co-presenter of the Today (BBC Radio 4), ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 from 1975 until 1993, shortly before his death. ...
, an earlier presenter of ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...
'' on
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' ...
) were killed.
Robinson was "severely burned",
spent five weeks in hospital and had to defer his university place.
Brian Redhead became Robinson's mentor, and later encouraged his career in political journalism, giving him a copy of
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. ...
's ''Arguments for Socialism'' for his birthday. However, Robinson's early political affiliations were to the right.
Political activism
Robinson was a founder-member of
Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...
Young Conservatives (YC) and rose through the ranks, becoming
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
YC Chairman from 1982 to 1984 and became a key activist in the moderate-controlled
North West Area organisation.
Philip Pedley
Philip Pedley is a former teacher, banned from the profession after having been found repeatedly to have abused pupils at Oundle school using racist language. He has also been a British Conservative activist who held a number of positions in th ...
, as National YC Chairman, co-opted Robinson onto the YC National Advisory Committee in 1983 and appointed him National Campaign Director of
Youth for Multilateral Disarmament Youth for Multilateral Disarmament was a campaigning organisation set up by the National Young Conservatives to counter Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) activities with young voters. The National Chairman of the Young Conservatives, Iain Pic ...
. Robinson was elected National Vice Chairman from 1985 to 1987 and succeeded a fellow moderate,
Richard Fuller, when Robinson was elected Chairman of the
National Young Conservatives on the moderate ticket against strong right-wing opposition (1987–1988).
At university he was President of the
Oxford University Conservative Association
The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) is a student Conservative association founded in 1924, whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford. Since October 2009, OUCA has been affiliated to Conservative Future and its su ...
in 1985.
Career
Early career: 1986–1996
Robinson's first position in broadcasting was at
Piccadilly Radio
Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West Eng ...
in Manchester, which he took up while recovering from his injuries.
He joined 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. ...
...
in 1986 as a production trainee, and later worked extensively as a television and radio producer for a variety of shows including ''