Jeremy Paxman

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Jeremy Paxman

Jeremy Paxman, photographed on 1 December 2007.
Born Jeremy Dixon Paxman
11 May 1950 (1950-05-11) (age 58)
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Nationality British
Education MA (St Catharine's College, Cambridge)
Occupation Journalist, news and TV presenter, author
Employers BBC
Salary Apparently £1,040,000 (2006) [1]
Known for presenting Newsnight and University Challenge
Partner Elizabeth Ann Clough
Children 3

Jeremy Dixon Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English journalist, author and news and TV presenter who has worked for the BBC since 1977. He is best known for his abrasive and forthright style of interviewing on the BBC's Newsnight programme, which has often been praised as tough and incisive or criticised as aggressive, condescending and irreverent.[2] In recognition of his style, tough questioning is often described as "Paxmanesque" in the United Kingdom.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Jeremy Dixon Paxman was born on 11 May 1950 in Leeds in West Yorkshire, England.[3] His father, Keith Paxman, served in the North Atlantic Fleet. His mother, Joan, born 1920, was a housewife.[4] Paxman is the eldest of four children and has two brothers (one of whom, Giles Paxman, is the British Ambassador to Mexico) and one sister (Jenny Lawrence, who also works at the BBC).

He was brought up in Yorkshire and Peopleton, Worcestershire, where he attended the independent school Malvern College, before moving on to Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey.[4][5][6][7] He then read English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge,[3] where he edited the student newspaper Varsity and graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) degree.

He was the subject of an episode of the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, first broadcast in January 2006.[4] The programme reported that Paxman is descended from Roger Packsman, a 14th-century politician from Suffolk, East Anglia, who changed his name to Paxman ("man of peace") to impress the electorate.[4][8]

[edit] Career

[edit] Journalism

Paxman's career began on local radio before he moved to Belfast as an investigative journalist. In 1977, Paxman moved to London to join the BBC. Two years later, he transferred from the Tonight programme to Panorama. After five years there, working from locations as diverse as Beirut, Uganda and Central America, he accepted a job presenting the Six O'Clock News, where he remained for two years before moving to the Breakfast Time programme.

[edit] Newsnight

In 1989, Paxman moved to his current job as presenter of Newsnight. He gave one of the programme's most notorious interviews on 13 May 1997, pressing Michael Howard – who had been Home Secretary until thirteen days previously – about a meeting he had convened with Derek Lewis, the head of the Prison Service, regarding the potential dismissal of the head of Parkhurst Prison. At one point, Paxman put the same question – "Did you threaten to overrule him?" (referring to Lewis) – to Howard twelve times in succession, who on each occasion gave varying evasive answers.[9] Subsequently, during a 20th anniversary edition of Newsnight, Paxman revealed to Howard that he was attempting to prolong the interview as the next item was not ready[10]. In 2004, Paxman again broached the subject with Howard, by then the leader of the Conservative Party, who laughed it off, saying that he had not threatened to overrule the Head of the Prison Service.[citation needed]

In 1998, Denis Halliday, one of the United Nations' humanitarian aid directors, resigned from his post in Iraq in protest at the UN sanctions imposed on the country, calling it "genocide".[11] Subsequently, during a Newsnight interview, Paxman asked Halliday, "Aren't you just an apologist for Saddam Hussein?". That year, Paxman also won the Royal Television Society award for his interviewing style.

In 2003, having decided to make the case for the Iraq War directly to the public, British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged Paxman's tough reputation by choosing him as the presenter for a special TV question-and-answer session between himself and a studio audience. The programme is now mainly remembered for the point at which Paxman asked Blair if he and President George W. Bush "prayed together", to which Blair replied "No, Jeremy... we don't pray together".[12]

Paxman again attracted attention to his robust interviewing of party political leaders during the 2005 UK General Election and the BBC received complaints from some viewers that Paxman was "rude and aggressive" in the interviews he gave.[13] Paxman's role interviewing candidates on election night also drew attention, particularly after a 5:00am interview with winning candidate George Galloway. Referring to Oona King, the incumbent MP Galloway had defeated, Paxman repeatedly asked him whether he was "proud of having got rid of one of the very few black women in Parliament".[14] Galloway ended the interview after Paxman refused to stop until he had an answer. Paxman's line of questioning was subsequently criticised by many, including Oona King herself. Paxman later made a guest appearance on the Celebrity Big Brother reality TV show (via a taped message), challenging Galloway to return to Newsnight for a follow-up interview "with or without your leotard". Galloway was a Big Brother contestant at the time, and had worn a leotard as part of the show.[citation needed]

[edit] BBC America

Paxman presents a weekly edition of Newsnight made for the BBC's international channels BBC America and BBC World.[12][15] The programme, which is a compilation of highlights from the domestic edition of the programme, launched in February 2008.

[edit] Criticism of interviewing style

Paxman's notorious interviewing style has received both praise and criticism. His brusque manner is not restricted to his political interviews; when, for example, Newsnight decided to broadcast brief weather forecasts instead of financial reports, he openly ridiculed the decision on air, giving reports such as "And for tonight's weather — it's April, what do you expect?".[16] In a Radio Times poll of 3,000 people in 2006, he was voted the fourth scariest celebrity on television.[17]

[edit] Views on the BBC

During the period when John Birt was Director General of the BBC, the media regularly reported Paxman's criticism of Birt. In his turn, Birt was publicly critical of the confrontational approach taken by some interviewers, which was seen as a coded criticism of the approach taken by Paxman and his BBC colleague John Humphrys.

On 24 August 2007, Paxman delivered the McTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival[18] in which he was critical of the contemporary television medium. He expressed concern that, as a consequence of recent scandals, it was losing the trust of the public, which already mistrusted politicians. He also commented on Tony Blair's opinions regarding the media which Blair made at the time he left office. Paxman acknowledged that the media is often oppositional, but considered that it benefits democracy in being so, and that the Reithian objectives to "inform, educate and entertain" remain valid. In conclusion, Paxman called on the television industry to rediscover a sense of purpose. He also dismissed the attribution of a quote to himself ("Why is this lying bastard lying to me?") as being inaccurate.

[edit] Other television work

Whilst maintaining his spot fronting Newsnight, Paxman's career has diversified into the presentation of a number of TV programmes, such as the weekly TV programme review Did You See?, the quiz programme University Challenge and You Decide. Paxman has presented University Challenge since 1994, bringing to the job his trademark sardonic manner. He is the longest-serving current quizmaster on British TV.[19]

In April 2006 it was claimed by The Sun newspaper that he earned £800,000 for his Newsnight presenting and £240,000 for presenting University Challenge, making his putative total yearly salary £1,040,000. This revelation was one of a series of BBC salary leaks reported in the British tabloid press that sparked an investigation by the BBC.[20]

[edit] Books authored

Paxman is also an author of non-fiction books. His first book arose out of a Panorama programme that he worked on with Robert Harris on biological and chemical warfare. Together they wrote A Higher Form of Killing (1982) exploring its history; a revised edition published in 2002 included a chapter asserting that Iraq possessed both chemical and biological weapons. Working on his own, Paxman wrote Through the Volcanoes: A Central American Journey (1985), about events he witnessed in Central America. He also wrote Friends in High Places: Who Runs Britain? (1991) which investigated the labyrinthine connections between those in power in early-1990s Britain. A study of the English nation entitled The English: A Portrait of a People followed in 1999 to considerable critical acclaim. The Political Animal: An Anatomy (2003), discusses the character traits of those that enter politics. His most recent book is On Royalty (2006), which is a thesis on, and defence of, the UK's constitutional monarchy.

[edit] Tributes and honours

Paxman was awarded the Richard Dimbleby Award for Outstanding Presenter in the Factual Arena, the most prestigious current affairs honour of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), in 1996. Two years later, in 1998, he won the Royal Television Society's Interviewer of the Year Award for his Newsnight interview of Michael Howard, as well as the Broadcasting Press Guild's award for Best Performer (Non-Acting). He received another BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award in 2000, and was nominated for the award in 2001 and 2002.[3]

He has also won the Royal Television Society TV Journalism Presenter of the Year award twice, in 2002 and 2007.

Paxman was made an honorary graduate of the University of Bradford in December 1999 in recognition of his work as a TV journalist.[21] On 15 September 2006 at the Barbican Centre in London, he received an honorary doctorate from the Open University. Among the invited guests at the ceremony were three members of the Open University team from University Challenge 1999.

Paxman is also a Vice-Chairman of the angler's conservation charity, The Wild Trout Trust.

Paxman is a Fellow by Special Election of St. Edmund Hall in the University of Oxford, and an Honorary Fellow of his alma mater, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge.[3]

[edit] Personal life

Paxman lives with his partner Elizabeth Ann Clough in Stonor, Oxfordshire. They have three children: Jessica, and twins Victoria and Jack.

He supports Leeds United,[3] and enjoys fly fishing in his leisure time.[22]

[edit] In the media

Paxman has come under criticism for the way he has employed his household staff.[23] He advertised for help on a Romanian website and paid two employees below the minimum wage, without a contract. This is not illegal for live-in employees in the UK, but the appropriateness given Paxman’s status as a highly paid celebrity has been questioned.[24]

[edit] Paxman in popular culture

  • A puppet of Paxman made regular appearances on the satirical TV show Spitting Image (1984–1996). He was portrayed as extremely smug and deeply in love with himself.[citation needed]
  • Paxman became a focus of media attention in his own right in October 2000 when the stolen Enigma machine which had been taken from Bletchley Park Museum was inexplicably sent to him in the post. He had it returned to its rightful location.[25]
  • The grinning green cartoon planet devised by American marketing executives for the cover of US editions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) was nicknamed "Jeremy Pacman" by fans.[30] The book's author Douglas Adams hated this character, although it seems unlikely he was aware of its nickname.
  • Paxman is often nicknamed "Paxo", which is both a contraction of his surname and a popular brand of British stuffing mix.
  • Charlie Brooker once opined in his Screen Burn columns that one of his new policies for the BBC were he put in charge would be to "let Paxman actually hit people", describing this as "self-explanatory".[31]

[edit] Works

  • Harris, Robert; Jeremy Paxman (1982). A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret Story of Chemical and Biological Warfare. New York, N.Y.: Hill and Wang. ISBN 080905471X.  New edition published as Harris, Robert; Jeremy Paxman (2002). A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Gas and Germ Warfare. London: Arrow. ISBN 0-09-944159-4. .
  • Paxman, Jeremy (1985). Through the Volcanoes: A Central American Journey. London: Paladin. ISBN 0-586-08572-6. 
  • Paxman, Jeremy (1991). Friends in High Places: Who Runs Britain?. London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-015600-3. 
  • Paxman, Jeremy (1999). The English: A Portrait of a People. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-026723-9. 
  • Paxman, Jeremy (2003). The Political Animal: An Anatomy. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-028847-3. 
  • Paxman, Jeremy (2006). On Royalty. London; New York, N.Y.: Viking. ISBN 0-670-91662-5. 

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Day, Julia. "Paxman's pay revealed by BBC salary mole", The Guardian, 2006-04-19. 
  2. ^ Mosey, Roger. "BBC and the 'Paxman Problem'", BBC News, 2005-04-20. 
  3. ^ a b c d e Jeremy Paxman at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 31 December 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d "Who Do You Think You Are? with Jeremy Paxman". Who Do You Think You Are?. BBC. BBC Two. 2006-01-11.
  5. ^ Burrell, Ian. "Jeremy Paxman: The outsider", The Independent, 2007-08-25. 
  6. ^ Akbar, Arifa. "Now Paxman rails against the 'Scottish Raj'", The Independent, 14 March 2005. 
  7. ^ Rayner, Jay. "Hah!", Comment, The Observer, 19 May 2002. 
  8. ^ See Peek, Sitala. "The Day Paxman Shed a Tear", Bucks Free Press, 2006-01-11.  The programme was also notable for showing Paxman's rarely-seen sensitive side: he became teary-eyed after discovering that his impoverished great-grandmother Mary Mackay had her poor relief application revoked by the parish because she had had a child out of wedlock.
  9. ^ Horrocks, Peter. "Paxman versus Howard", BBC News, 2005-01-21. 
  10. ^ Paxman's explanation was that "by the time I'd asked the question five or six times... it was clear... that you [Howard] weren't going to answer it... at which point a voice came in my ear and said "The next piece of tape isn't cut, you'd better carry on with this for a while" and I'm afraid I couldn't think of anything else to ask you."
  11. ^ "Former U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Denis Halliday opposes U.N.'s sanctions", CNN, 2001-01-16. 
  12. ^ a b Clarke, Steve. "BBC America Banks on Brash Brit: Network Hopes Paxman is Next U.S. Hit", Variety, 2007-06-22.  See also Assinder, Nick. "Blair Tries to Shift Focus", BBC News, 2002-05-14. 
  13. ^ Holder, Matt. "Paxman Special Sparks Backlash", BBC News, 2005-04-19.  "I'm Only Human, Says Paxman", BBC News, 2005-04-29. 
  14. ^ "Paxman v Galloway", BBC News, 2005-05-06. 
  15. ^ Holmwood, Leigh. "Paxman Crosses the Pond", The Guardian, 2007-06-18. 
  16. ^ "Paxo's Weather Report", The Telegraph, 2005-04-16. 
  17. ^ "Ramsay is scariest TV celebrity", Daily Mail website. Retrieved on 27 August 2007.
  18. ^ Paxman, Jeremy (2007-08-24). MacTaggart Memorial Lecture: Never Mind the Scandals: What's It All For?. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
  19. ^ UK Game Show Records. UKGameShows.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-04.
  20. ^ "BBC Probes DJ Salary Disclosure", BBC News, 2006-04-19. 
  21. ^ "University Honours Paxman and Birt", BBC News, 1999-12-10. 
  22. ^ Jeremy Paxman from the BBC Press Office. Retrieved on 7 July 2007.
  23. ^ "Working for Paxo is pants", News of the World. Retrieved on 2008-02-13. 
  24. ^ "And now your starter for ten: Just how many Romanians are living over Paxman's garage?", This is London, Evening Standard, 2008-02-11.  Saner, Emine. "Paxo's dirty laundry gets a very public airing", Guardian, 2008-02-12. 
  25. ^ "'No Ransom Paid' for Enigma Machine", BBC News, 2000-10-18.  "Paxman Returns Enigma Machine", BBC News, 2002-04-01. 
  26. ^ Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason at the Internet Movie Database.
  27. ^ The Vicar of Dibley at the Internet Movie Database.
  28. ^ Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years at the Internet Movie Database.
  29. ^ My Dad's the Prime Minister at the Internet Movie Database.
  30. ^ News about Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Green Thing Returns on US WYWH Cover. Magrathea (2004-09-17).
  31. ^ "Hang the DG", The Guardian, 2004-05-29. 

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Peter Snow		 BBC's Newsnight presenter
1997 – present
with Gavin Esler, Emily Maitlis and Kirsty Wark		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Bamber Gascoigne		 University Challenge host
1994 – present
Persondata
NAME Paxman, Jeremy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paxman, Jeremy Dixon
SHORT DESCRIPTION British BBC journalist, news and TV presenter and author
DATE OF BIRTH 11 May 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH