Roger Johnson (born 1969) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

television journalist, newsreader and presenter, currently working as the main presenter for the regional news programme ''

BBC North West Tonight ''BBC North West Tonight'' is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 1.30pm (as ''North West Today''), 6.30pm and 10.30pm, with shorter bu ...

'', as well as a regular weekend presenter of ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television Breakfast television, breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News (TV channel), BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from ...

'' and other National BBC News platforms.

Early life

Johnson was born in the former mining village of Chesterton, in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

in 1969, and grew up in the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...

(also in Staffordshire). He is the son of BBC Radio Stoke commentator Nigel Johnson.

Education

Johnson was educated at Newcastle-under-Lyme School, an

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

in his hometown of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, followed by the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Life and career

Johnson joined the BBC after university - working as a reporter at

BBC Radio Solent BBC Radio Solent is the BBC's local radio station serving Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Havelock Road in Southampton. According to RAJAR, the station has a ...

and

BBC Radio Manchester BBC Radio Manchester is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford ...

. His first television role was as a sports journalist on

BBC South BBC South is the BBC English Region serving Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Dorset, Berkshire and parts of Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Surrey, West Sussex and Wiltshire, with geographic coverage varying betwee ...

's news programme ''

South Today ''BBC South Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the south of England, covering Hampshire, Isle of Wight, West Sussex, much of Dorset and parts of Berkshire, Surrey and Wiltshire. Since 2000, an opt-out of the main program ...

''. During this time he was also the relief presenter for Sally Taylor and worked for several other

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 ...

outlets. He was named

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Regional Sports Presenter of the Year in 2002 and was nominated on three other occasions. He left BBC South in September 2011 after 14 years to replace

Gordon Burns Gordon Henry Burns (born 10 June 1942) is a Northern Irish journalist and broadcaster. He was the host of ''The Krypton Factor'' for its original 18-year run (1977–1995) and was the chief anchorman for the BBC regional news programme ''BBC N ...

as the main anchor on ''

North West Tonight ''BBC North West Tonight'' is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 1.30pm (as ''North West Today''), 6.30pm and 10.30pm, with shorter b ...

'', originally alongside

Ranvir Singh Ranvir Singh (born 11 August 1977) is a British journalist and television presenter. She is the political editor and newsreader/deputy presenter for '' Good Morning Britain''. Early life Singh was born in 1977 in Preston, Lancashire, into a Si ...

and then

Annabel Tiffin Annabel Tiffin (born 25 November 1968) is an English broadcast journalist and presenter, currently working as a main presenter and producer for the BBC regional news programme ''North West Tonight''. Tiffin presents the main 6:30pm programme al ...

. In April 2014, Johnson anchored coverage of the 25th Anniversary Service for the

Hillsborough Disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the ...

. The programme was named Best Regional News Programme at the

North West Awards. Johnson and the BBC team won the award again in 2015 for a compilation entry. The programme also won the award in 2017 for a compilation of coverage on the

Manchester Arena Bombing On 22 May 2017, an Islamist extremist suicide bomber detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the Manchester Arena following a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande. Twenty-three people were killed, including ...

, in which Johnson played a leading role.

, presented by Johnson, was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for News Coverage in 2014 and again in 2017. He was nominated as Nations & Regions Presenter of the Year at the

Journalism Awards in 2018 and 2019 and was winner of the Broadcast Presenter Award at the O2 Media Awards NW in 2018. From 2009 to 2011, he was a regular relief presenter on the

BBC News Channel BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

, presenting a variety of shifts during the week and at weekends. He broke the news of the death of singer

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

. He also presented

BBC World BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

simulcasts on the Norwegian shootings by

Anders Behring Breivik Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...

and the start of western bombing operations in Libya in 2011. Johnson has also been a regular reporter on the BBC's ''

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary L ...

'' and ''

Final Score ''Final Score'' is a BBC Television football news and results programme produced by BBC Sport. The programme is broadcast on late Saturday afternoons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, usually on BBC One. BBC Northern Ireland opts away dur ...

'' programmes. He was part of the ''

'' reporting team at the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

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

and is, possibly, the only person to have read the

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

and commentated on ''Match of the Day'' on the same day. Since 2012, he has been a regular presenter of ''

'' on Sundays. He has also presented the Friday, Saturday and Bank Holiday editions of the programme. Johnson is a patron of Willowbrook Hospice in

Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civ ...

Merseyside, England Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

. He was also a patron of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

charity the Rose Road Association's 'Change My Life' appeal and was a supporter of

Naomi House Children's Hospice Naomi House and Jacksplace are the hospices for children and young people in the Wessex region. The hospices are located at Sutton Scotney, near Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is also known as ''The Wessex Children's Hospice Trust'', (No.10 ...

, for whom he hosted a range of fund-raising events. He has also anchored the BBC's regional Children in Need coverage (south or north west) since 1998.

References

External links

Current profile as anchorman of BBC's North West Tonight news bulletin programme.

BBC - South Today - Presenters - Archived Profile.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Roger BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC North West newsreaders and journalists Living people People educated at Newcastle-under-Lyme School 1969 births People from Chesterton, Staffordshire