James Allan Stuart Little (born 11 October 1959) is a former

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. ...

researcher, reporter and, latterly, special correspondent. He left the BBC at the end of 2014, "to pursue other projects".

Early life

Little was born on 11 October 1959 in

Dunragit Dunragit ( gd, Dùn Reicheit) is a village on the A75, between Stranraer and Glenluce in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Dunragit is within the parish of Old Luce, in the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The modern village grew up ...

, a small village in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Ki ...

, Scotland. He attended

Stranraer Academy Stranraer Academy is a secondary school in Stranraer in south west Scotland. It serves the area of Stranraer, the Rhins, and parts of the Machars. The original Stranraer Academy was opened in 1845 on the site of the present Stranraer Campus ...

before attending and graduating from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, where he read history and politics.

Career

In 1983, Little joined

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irelan ...

to work as a news and current affairs researcher, and in 1985 transferred to London in order to train as a radio reporter. After two years 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 ...

, Little moved to

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 Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

'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 ...

'' programme in 1988. Here, he specialised in foreign reporting, including the

Revolutions of 1989 The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

in Eastern Europe. Between 1990 and 1995, Little worked as a

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 broad ...

reporter, during this period reported from

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

during the 1991

Gulf war The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

and from

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the no ...

following the war, covering the Shia rebellions. From 1991 to 1995, he reported on the break-up of Yugoslavia. He co-wrote (with

Laura Silber Laura Silber is the Vice President for Advocacy and Communications at thOpen Society Foundations where she runs the Communications department and oversees advocacy strategy and public identity. Since 2007 she has been an adjunct professor at Columbi ...

) the book ''The Death of Yugoslavia'', which accompanied the television series of the same name, produced by

Norma Percy Norma Percy is an American-born, documentary film maker and producer. The documentaries she has produced in collaboration with Brian Lapping have covered many of the crises of the 20th Century. In 2010, she was awarded the Orwell Prize Specia ...

Brook Lapping Brook Lapping Productions is a British TV and radio production company. Based in London, Brook Lapping is a subsidiary of Ten Alps. The company is the result of a 1997 merger of Brook Associates (founded in 1982), and Brian Lapping Associates. F ...

. In 1995, Little moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

as the BBC's

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 count ...

correspondent. While based in Johannesburg, he reported on the aftermath of the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

and the overthrow of

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

's President

Mobutu Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic ...

. Between 1997 and 1999, he served as the BBC's

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

correspondent during

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

's tenure as Russian president. In early 1999, Little began work on a number of current affairs projects and to present the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4. He worked as the BBC's

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

correspondent from 2000 to 2001. He was then sent to be the BBC's correspondent in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, where he remained until 2005. Little's final role at the BBC was as a special correspondent. In this role, he reported on devolution and led the BBC's coverage of the

Scottish independence referendum A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side wo ...

. The BBC announced in December 2014 that he would be leaving the broadcaster at the end of 2014. Little stated: "I am leaving the staff of the BBC to pursue other projects and hope to continue working in broadcasting in the future". In June 2015, it was announced that he would succeed

Susan Rice Susan Elizabeth Rice (born November 17, 1964) is an American diplomat, policy advisor, and public official serving as Director of the United States Domestic Policy Council since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Rice served as the 27th U. ...

as the chair of the

Edinburgh International Book Festival The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place in the last three weeks of August every year in Charlotte Square in the centre of Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh. Billed as ''The largest festival of its ...

in October 2015. He has continued to work as a freelance journalist, and in September 2022 led commentary from Westminster Abbey of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II for BBC Radio.

Awards

Little has won several awards including a Gold

Sony Radio Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

for Reporter of the Year in 1992, Amnesty International Reporter of the Year in 1992, Bayeux-Calvados Radio War Correspondent of the Year in 1994, a Sony Documentary Gold Award in 2000, and the Grierson Premier TV Documentary Award in 2001. In 2008 Little won the

UACES UACES is a membership organisation for academics, students and practitioners in all fields of contemporary European studies and the study of the European Union. It is widely known as the editor and disseminator of the '' Journal on Common Market ...

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corp ...

Reporting Europe prize.

Personal life

He married journalist and broadcaster

Sheena McDonald Sheena Elizabeth McDonald (born 25 July 1954, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. Early life She was the daughter of Very Rev William J. G. McDonald, minister of Mayfield church in Edinburgh, and Moderator ...

on 21 June 2006.

References

External Links

Allan Little
in the BBC Programme Index
Reflections: Allan Little

Frontline Club The Frontline Club is a media club and registered charity located near Paddington Station in London. With a strong emphasis on conflict reporting, it aims to champion independent journalism, provide an effective platform from which to support dive ...

via youtube, recorded 29 November 2009. Little interviewed by

Vin Ray Vin Ray is a member of the BBC's Journalism Board and the first Director of the BBC College of Journalism. History in the BBC Ray joined the BBC in CEEFAX in 1987 and moved on to work as a producer on the Nine O'Clock News under the editorship ...

, director of the BBC College of Journalism. {{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Allan British male journalists Living people 1959 births People educated at Stranraer Academy UACES award BBC newsreaders and journalists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish journalists