John Humphrys
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John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a British radio and television presenter. He has been a presenter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme since 1987, and has worked as a correspondent and presenter for the Nine O'Clock News.
He is considered to be a tough interviewer and is allegedly avoided by Prime Minister Tony Blair. He has occasionally attracted criticism for his abrasive style: for example, former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken accused him in March 1995 of "poisoning the well of democratic debate".
John Humphrys was born in Splott, a suburb of Cardiff, and was educated at Cardiff High School, leaving to become a teenage reporter on the Penarth Times. He later joined the Western Mail, and it was during this period that he changed the spelling of his surname from Humphries to its present form, in order to avoid confusion with a colleague.
Humphrys joined TWW, a commercial television channel based in Wales, before going to the BBC. He worked as a foreign correspondent in both the United States and Africa, and became a presenter of the BBC's flagship Nine O'Clock News in the early 1980s. This appointment marked a change in the BBC's approach to news broadcasting. With the appointment of Humphrys and John Simpson, the presenters of the news became part of the process of preparing the broadcast, rather than just reading a prepared script as with previous presenters. He joined the Today programme in 1987, when it was still spearheaded by Brian Redhead, although he still made occasional appearances fronting BBC TV news bulletins in the 1990s. From 1993 he presented the weekly On The Record political tv show until its demise in 2002.
He made the headlines on 28 August 2004, after scathing criticism of the 'dumbing down' of British television. He criticised reality shows such as Big Brother, as well as the increasing violence in British soap operas. Ironically, Humphrys is also the presenter of the revived version of Mastermind, which has also been accused of 'dumbing down'.
Humphrys attracted further controversy in September 2005 when he allegedly branded all politicians as liars and made comments about Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and John Prescott in an after-dinner speech which was subsequently leaked to The Times by Tim Allan, an aide to the Prime Minister [1]. On 6 September 2005, Humphrys was censured by the Corporation for his use of "inappropriate and misguided" language [2].
Humphrys has also presented Panorama. He has won many industry awards, including being named Journalist of the Year in February 2000 at an awards ceremony organised by The House Magazine and Channel 4; the Gold Sony Radio Award in 2003; and a silver platter for Crystal Clear Broadcasting from the Plain English Campaign.
John Humphrys has written several books, including Lost for Words, in which he criticizes what he sees as the widespread misuse of the English language, plus 'Devil's Advocate' and 'The Great Food Gamble'.
Humphrys is an atheist, but has a curiosity to test his atheism and challenge established religions to see if they can restore his childhood belief in God; thus he is currently presenting a BBC Radio 4 programme where he talks to various religious leaders to try and restore his faith [3].
His brother, Bob Humphrys, is a television presenter on BBC Wales sport programmes.
