Timothy Melton Willcox (born 28 May 1963 in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

) is a British journalist who formerly worked as a presenter 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 broad ...

. He presents news programmes on

BBC World News BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

and the

BBC News Channel The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during ...

. He is probably most recognisable for presenting the BBC's live coverage from Chile during events surrounding the Copiapó mining accident and anchoring the BBC's live daytime coverage during the early days of the Cairo January

2011 Egyptian revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January Revolution (;), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police holiday" as a statement against ...

Early life

Willcox was born on 28 May 1963. He grew up in Norton Fitzwarren, in south-west Somerset. He was educated at

Taunton School Taunton School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, now co-educational, in the county town of Taunton in Somerset in South West England. It serves boarding and day-school pupils from the ages of 13 to 18. The current headmaster i ...

, an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

in Somerset, and

St Chad's College St Chad's College is one of the Colleges of Durham University#Types of College, recognised colleges of Durham University. Founded in 1904 as St Chad's Hall for the training of Church of England clergy, the college ceased theological training in ...

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

where he studied Spanish.Profile – Tim Willcox
Newswatch, BBC News, 7 July 2006 Willcox was a member of the British Youth Orchestra, playing the trumpet. He had been awarded a Cambridge choral scholarship.

Career

Willcox started in newspaper journalism, working for

Mirror Group Newspapers Reach plc (known as Trinity Mirror between 1999 and 2018) is a British newspaper, magazine and digital publisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the national ''Daily Mirror'', ''Su ...

and Fleet Street News Agency). As a broadcast journalist, Willcox worked for

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

for many years as a presenter and correspondent. He was the network's Arts and Media Correspondent, and after joining the news team presented the network's live reports from New York City during the 11 September terrorist attacks. Willcox also presented the ITN Morning News in the 1990s, and was the first ITN journalist to break the news of the Paris car crash in 1997 that led to the

death of Diana, Princess of Wales During the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died from injuries sustained earlier that night in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz ...

. Since joining the BBC, Willcox has been an anchor on the BBC's news channels and used to present bulletins at weekends on

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

. He served as regular Friday presenter on '' World News Today'' on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

and the

. In September 2010, Willcox travelled to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

to report for BBC News on the attempts to rescue the miners trapped underground after the Copiapó mining accident. In October 2010 he did extensive live coverage of the operation to bring the trapped miners back to the surface, and interviewed Chilean President

Sebastián Piñera Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique (; 1 December 1949 – 6 February 2024) was a Chilean businessman and politician who served as President of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic Party (C ...

. He is to play himself in a film about the Copiapó mining accident and began filming in February 2014. In March 2011, Willcox played a significant role in reporting the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, reporting live for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

from the disaster zone and then just a few weeks later reporting from Libya on the

2011 Libyan civil war The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...

. He presented regular programmes on

and the

including the Papers (the nightly paper review) as well as news bulletins. More recently he was found on the overnight slot on

and the

between 02:00 and 05:00 local UK time, as well as weekend afternoons (12:00 to 16:00). On 2 February 2023, it was confirmed that Wilcox – alongside many other presenters of the domestic BBC News Channel – would lose their presenting roles as part of the BBC's relaunched news channel.

Other work

Willcox has written, produced and presented a number of documentaries for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

and Channel 5. These include: *''Paul Burrell – The Butler's Story'' *''Di's Guys'' *''The Spencers'' *''After Diana – Remaking the Royals'' *''Diana: Her Life . BBC world news America with tim willcox'' In addition to his work as a journalist, Willcox has made cameo acting appearances in a number of television dramas and films. These include roles in '' Sex Traffic'', '' State of Play'', ''

Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery fiction, mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the title character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician whi ...

'', ''

102 Dalmatians ''102 Dalmatians'' is a 2000 American crime comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Directed by Kevin Lima from a screenplay by Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan, Bob Tzudiker and N ...

'', ''

The 33 ''The 33'' (; "") is a 2015 biographical disaster-survival drama film directed by Patricia Riggen and written by Mikko Alanne, Craig Borten, Michael Thomas, and José Rivera. The film is based on the real events of the 2010 Copiapó mining ...

'', '' Clueless'' and the BAFTA winning documentary ''

How to Start a Revolution ''How to Start a Revolution'' is a British Academy Scotland Awards, BAFTA Scotland Award-winning British documentary film about Nobel Peace Prize nominee and political theorist Gene Sharp, described as the world's foremost scholar on nonviolent ...

''.

Allegations of antisemitism

Willcox has twice been accused of

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

for his on-air comments. On 8 November 2014, Willcox stated that the Labour Party would lose funding from Jewish sources because "a lot of these prominent Jewish faces will be very much against the mansion tax". The tax refers to a Labour proposal for an additional tax on properties worth $3.5 million or more. At a unity rally on 11 January 2015 after 17 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Paris, many of them Jews, Willcox, while interviewing a Jewish woman who was explaining that Jews live in fear in France, interrupted her saying that "Many, many, many, many critics though, of Israel’s policy would suggest that the Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well". This question was criticised by many including historian and BBC presenter

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...

, '' Jewish Chronicle'' editor Stephen Pollard and the Campaign Against Antisemitism as antisemitic for assigning collective responsibility of Israel's actions to all Jews. The woman was later identified as the daughter of

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

survivors. Willcox apologised the next day on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, saying his question had been "poorly phrased".

Personal life

Willcox was married to Sarah, and the couple had four children together. In November 2012, it was widely reported that Willcox was having an affair with BBC colleague Sophie Long. He has lived in the village of

Wootton, West Oxfordshire Wootton is a village and civil parish on the River Glyme about north of Woodstock, Oxfordshire. In recent years the village is sometimes referred to as Wootton-by-Woodstock to distinguish it from Wootton, Vale of White Horse. The 2011 censu ...

, also known as Wootton by Woodstock, near the River Glyme. In September 2019, Willcox was among three BBC employees who lost a tax avoidance case involving several hundred thousand pounds of taxes the payment of which the British government claimed had been wrongfully evaded.

References

External links

*
Riva Media
- UK agent {{DEFAULTSORT:Willcox, Tim 1963 births Living people Alumni of St Chad's College, Durham BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World News British television newsreaders and news presenters English television journalists ITN newsreaders and journalists People from Norton Fitzwarren People from Wellington, Somerset People educated at Taunton School