James Naughtie
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James ("Jim") Naughtie (born August 9, 1952) is a BBC journalist and radio news presenter. Since 1994 he has been one of the main regular presenters of Radio 4's Today programme . He is also a member of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission.
[edit] Biography
James Naughtie was born and brought up in Milltown of Rothiemay, near Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen and then Syracuse University in New York. He is a Fellow of the British-American Project.
He began his journalism career in 1975 at the Aberdeen Press & Journal, moving to London offices of The Scotsman in 1977. The next year he joined the paper's Westminster staff, and became its Chief Political Correspondent. He then, in 1981, worked for The Washington Post as the Laurence Sterne Fellow on its national staff. Naughtie joined The Guardian in 1984, and became Chief Political Correspondent there in 1985.
In 1986, he moved into radio journalism, presenting The Week In Westminster, and in 1988 joined The World At One. He has also made several radio documentaries and series, and has written three books, Playing the Palace: A Westminster Collection, The Rivals - The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage, and The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency.
He has been a presenter of the televised Proms since 1992, and has also presented opera programmes such as Radio 3's Opera News. Naughtie is also the current host of Radio 4's The Book Club.
Voted Radio Personality of the Year in 1991 as part of the Sony Radio Awards and Voice of the Listener and Viewer Award in 2001, Naughtie is married to Eleanor Updale, author of the award-winning Montmorency books and a former producer of The World at One. They have three children.
On 31 December 2004, he appeared on a Radio 4 Hamish and Dougal Hogmanay special. He played Mrs. Naughtie's son.
He has been known to let his left-of-centre views affect his presentership on the Today programme. In an infamous gaffe in April 2005, he referred to the Labour Party as "We" in an interview with Ed Balls. [1] [2] [3] He said: "If we win the election...", before hastily correcting it to "If you win the election." Such political partiality is in contradiction to the BBC's commitment to impartiality as stated in the BBC Charter. Conservative ex-Cabinet minister Norman Tebbit said this of Naughtie’s gaffe: “How often a slip of the tongue betrays the true thoughts in the mind of the speaker. We could all see the shape of the cat in the bag, but Mr Naughtie has now let it out for all to see.” [4]
Besides this it is also notable that Naughtie often manages to insert his personal and professional interest in Classical Opera into the programme. In December 2005 in a week when UK politics were consummed by two party leadership contest Naughtie was covering the re-opening of La Scala.
[edit] Works
- Naughtie, James (2001). The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage Fourth Estate, ISBN 1-84115-473-3
- Naughtie, James (2004). The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency Macmillan, ISBN 1-4050-5001-2
