Shaun Dominic Ley (born 14 June 1969) is a British journalist and newsreader for

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 ...

. A former regular presenter of ''

The World This Weekend ''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 ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'' 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' ...

, he currently appears regularly on the BBC's domestic

'' and international

BBC World News 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 ...

channels, as well as on

BBC Weekend News ''BBC Weekend News'' is the BBC's national news programme on BBC One at the weekend and bank holidays, although it is often referred to on guides simply as ''BBC News''. It is called ''BBC Weekend News'' on all bulletins, apart from the late bu ...

'' bulletins on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. He also frequently hosts ''

Dateline London ''Dateline London'' is a weekly BBC News discussion programme. A panel of four leading journalists, lecturers, and foreign correspondents discussed top news stories from an international perspective. The last episode made was on the 15th Octobe ...

'', and has presented a wide range of BBC programmes from ''

HARDTalk ''HARDtalk'' is a BBC television and radio programme broadcast on the BBC News Channel, on BBC World News, and on the BBC World Service. Broadcast times and days vary, depending on broadcasting platform and geographic location. ''HARDtalk' ...

'' to BBC Radio 4's '' PM'' and ''

The World Tonight ''The World Tonight'' is a British current affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, every weekday evening, which started out as an extension of the 10 pm news. It is produced by BBC News and features news, analysis and comment on domes ...

''. As of October 2021, Shaun Ley is a regular weekday evening presenter (20:00-21:00 & 22:30-23:00 & 23:30-00:00) on

. He sometimes hosts the afternoon news (14:00-17:00) occasionally and was the last main presenter of ''

'', before it ended in October 2022.

Early life

Shaun Dominic Ley was born on 14 June 1969. He was educated at two state schools in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

in south west England: at Lynton Primary School, in his home town of

Lynton Lynton is a town on the Exmoor coast in the North Devon district in the county of Devon, England, approximately north-east of Barnstaple and west of Minehead, and close to the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers. Governance ...

, and at

Ilfracombe College The Ilfracombe Academy is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the North Devon town of Ilfracombe, England. Originally opened by then Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher Margaret ...

, in the seaside resort of

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and along t ...

on the North Devon coast, followed by the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, in central London.

Career

After a stint as a schoolboy presenter on the short-lived ''That's Life! Junior'' in 1980, Ley joined the BBC as a graduate trainee in 1990, and later worked on the regional news programme '' Points West''. He became Political Editor for the South East Cluster; based at

BBC Elstree Centre The BBC Elstree Centre, sometimes referred to as the BBC Elstree Studios, is a television production facility, currently owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The complex is located between Eldon Avenue and Clarendon Road in Bore ...

appearing regularly on the then regional news programme for London and the home counties Newsroom SouthEast, as well as on the clusters radio stations BBC GLR 94.9, BBC Three Counties Radio, and BBC Radios Kent, and Essex. The region was divided in two in 2001 to form ''

BBC London BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily ''BBC London News'' and weekly '' Sunday Politics'' on television, ...

'' and ''

BBC South East Today ''BBC South East Today'' is the BBC South East regional television news programme, serving Kent, East Sussex, part of West Sussex and a small part of Surrey. Prior to its launch on 3 September 2001, most of the viewers in the region received ' ...

''. He then presented ''Around Westminster'', before becoming a national political correspondent for the BBC in 2001. He began presenting ''The World This Weekend'' in 2005.

Personal life

Ley is a longtime fan of the BBC series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' and in 2011 he presented and narrated ''When Worlds Collide'', a documentary accompanying the DVD release of ''

The Happiness Patrol ''The Happiness Patrol'' is the second serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in three weekly parts on BBC1 from 2 to 16 November 1988. The serial is set on the Ea ...

'', which looked into the series' political and ideological influences over the years.

References

External links

*
BBC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ley, Shaun 1969 births BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC Radio 4 Living people People from North Devon (district) Television personalities from Devon