Nils Blythe (born 25 February 1956) is a British journalist who worked for BBC News until 2011. He specialises in business and economics. Before launching his own PR company in 2014, he was the executive director of Communications at the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

Early life and education

Blythe is the son of an English father and Danish-born mother. He was educated at Ipswich School and

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

Career

Blythe worked as an editor for publishers

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint (trade name), imprint of Hachette (publisher), Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs ...

and then as a researcher/writer for the Consumers' Association. He joined the

Investors Chronicle The ''Investors Chronicle'' is a weekly magazine in the United Kingdom for private investors and is published by the ''Financial Times'' Group. The magazine publishes articles about global markets and sectors, and news on corporate actions such ...

as a reporter in 1987 and moved to the Financial Unit of BBC News in 1988. From 1990 to 1994 he was the Business Correspondent of the '' Today Programme'' on BBC Radio 4, covering stories including Black Wednesday, the

Bank of Credit and Commerce International The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was an international bank founded in 1972 by Agha Hasan Abedi, a Pakistani financier. The bank was registered in Luxembourg with head offices in Karachi and London. A decade after opening, BCC ...

(BCCI) scandal and the death of Robert Maxwell. In 1994 he moved to '' The Money Programme '' on

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

, reporting on business and economic developments around the world. His films included reports on the economic impact of AIDS in Africa, the aftermath of war in Kosovo, the business of mapping the human genome and an investigation into the role of investment banks in creating the internet share bubble. In 2001 he was the launch presenter of ''Business Today'', a nightly programme about business and economics on the BBC ''News Channel.'' Edward George, then Governor of the Bank of England, was one of the first programme guests. In 2004, he returned to radio as a business correspondent and played a leading role in the BBC coverage of the financial crisis, beginning in 2007. In 2005, he accompanied then UK Chancellor Gordon Brown on a visit to China, and also reported from Mumbai on the problems of global population increase. He presented a daily account of developments in the UK's credit crunch on '' PM'' with Eddie Mair, entitled ''Upshares Downshares'', a pun on the name of the television drama series ''

Upstairs Downstairs Upstairs Downstairs may refer to: Television *Upstairs, Downstairs (1971 TV series), ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1971 TV series), a British TV series broadcast on ITV from 1971 to 1975 *Upstairs Downstairs (2010 TV series), ''Upstairs Downstairs'' ...

''. Listeners sent in musical variations on the original theme music for ''

'' by

Sandy Faris Samuel Alexander "Sandy" Faris (11 June 1921 – 28 September 2015) was a Northern Irish composer, conductor and writer, known for his television theme tunes, including the theme music for the 1970s TV series ''Upstairs, Downstairs (1971 TV seri ...

, which were used to introduce each programme and were eventually collected on a CD sold in aid of BBC '' Children in Need''. On 17 February 2011, Blythe announced that he would be leaving the BBC to become executive director of Communications at the

, replacing fellow ex-BBC journalist

Jenny Scott Jenny Scott (born 1970) is an English journalist and economist, currently an advisor to the Governor of the Bank of England. Early life Born in Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor, Berkshire, as a result of her engineer father's career the family trav ...

. In a tongue-in-cheek homage to Nils Blythe the '' PM'' programme took to editing together and broadcasting all he said at each Bank of England Quarterly Inflation Report press conference. A podcast of each of these press conferences, which are introduced by Blythe, is available from the Bank of England website.

Personal life

Blythe is married with three children and lives in Hertfordshire. He is a keen supporter of Arsenal FC.

References

External links

Leaving the Euro: how would it work?
BBC {{DEFAULTSORT:Blythe, Nils 1956 births Living people People educated at Ipswich School Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Online journalists British business and financial journalists BBC newsreaders and journalists People associated with the Bank of England