Mary Elizabeth Marquis is a former leading interviewer and presenter on BBC Scotland from the mid-1960s, and became the face of the network's evening news programme ''

Reporting Scotland ''BBC Reporting Scotland'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the BBC Pacific Quay, headquarters of BBC Scotland at Pacific Quay in Glasgow. History Although BBC Television was esta ...

'' until 1988, including the whole of the 1970s '' Nationwide'' era when input from BBC broadcasters based at the corporation's other studios around the UK contributed to a national programme.

Early life

Marquis was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. She trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

Career

She joined Border TV as an in-vision continuity announcer and presenter in 1961. She was the first person seen on screen at Border, opening the station's transmission with the words "Good evening and welcome to Border Television" when it went on air for the first time at 5:45pm on Friday 1 September 1961. Two years later she moved to BBC Scotland, travelling all over Scotland to interview people for ''A Quick Look Round'' (and later for her own series ''First Person Singular'' from 1970 – 75), before becoming one of the three lead presenters of ''Reporting Scotland'' at its inception in 1968, and subsequently, the programme's main anchor for most of the next twenty years.Rebecca McQuillan
Here is the news ... 50 years on
''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', 18 September 2007 With the start of ''Nationwide'' in 1969, she became a frequent face on television across the whole of the UK. Marquis left ''Reporting Scotland'' to become one of the first presenters 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 ...

'' and stand-in as anchor of

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' ...

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 ...

but later returned to television news at BBC Scotland in September 1975, continuing as anchor of ''Reporting Scotland'' until her departure from the BBC in 1988. She has subsequently been involved with various arts, medical and academic organisations, and also did a series of live interviews at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the 1983

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

list, and honoured with a special award for 'Special Contribution to Scottish Broadcasting' at the 2007 Scottish BAFTA awards. RCS awards an annual Mary Marquis prize for student performance in television, commemorating her time there.

Personal life

In 1962 she married Jack Anderson, a Glasgow (subsequently also Canada and London)-based architect and lecturer, and a son David was born two years later. Although expecting to be dismissed, she continued to appear on screen almost until the birth (including one interview conducted on a roof), and was back in the studio afterwards within six weeks.
Reported Scotland
' at 6:15 to 7:00

References

External links

TV ark. Including a 1985 version, seguing to Mary Marquis at the news desk
Mary Marquis attempting to feed the penguins at Edinburgh Zoo
(film clip), BBC News Scotland website
Reported Scotland: 50 Years of BBC TV News
60-minute BBC Scotland film, shown 30 September 2007
YouTube copy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marquis, Mary Living people BBC Scotland newsreaders and journalists Members of the Order of the British Empire Mass media people from Glasgow Scots language activists Scottish television presenters Scottish women television presenters Year of birth missing (living people) British women television journalists Scottish radio presenters Scottish women radio presenters