Jon Sopel (journalist)

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Sopel during an outside broadcast for BBC News 24 with with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper in March 2008.

Jon Sopel (born May 22, 1959, London, England) is a leading television presenter and correspondent for the BBC. He was educated at Christ's College, formerly a boys' grammar school in Finchley, London, and at the University of Southampton. He received an honours degree in politics from Southampton University.

[edit] Broadcasting career

Starting his broadcasting career in local radio, he went on to become the chief political correspondent for BBC News 24 and later spent three years as the BBC's Paris correspondent.Stories covered by Jon while he was in Paris include the French ban on the importation of British beef, the millennium celebrations in Paris, the oil spill in Brittany, the French presidency of the EU in 2000 and the Concorde crash in July 2000. Jon was a freelance writer and broadcaster before joining the BBC in 1983 as a reporter and producer for Radio Solent. the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Sopel was the BBC's correspondent in Kuwait City.

In the past Sopel has been a presenter on Breakfast, Newsnight, HARDtalk, The Daily Politics and the BBC's weekend bulletins. He was given a regular presenting slot on BBC One in 2005 when he took over from Jeremy Vine as presenter of BBC One's The Politics Show, broadcast every Sunday at noon. In this role Sopel has interviewed Tony Blair, David Cameron, Jack Straw, Gordon Brown and Condoleezza Rice among others.

He currently co-presents the BBC News Channel on weekday afternoons between 2pm and 5pm - alongside Louise Minchin each Tuesday-Thursday and alongside Emily Maitlis on Mondays - following his appointment as a presenter on the channel in 2003.

He also makes occasional appearances on BBC One bulletins as a relief anchor. In his 16 years with the BBC, Jon has gained prominence appearing on PM on Radio Four, Breakfast News, BBC News at One, BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten as well as fronting BBC Two's annual coverage of the UK political party conferences, Conference Live.

Sopel also wrote an extremely successful biography of Tony Blair, with the publication of Tony Blair: The Moderniser in 1995.

[edit] Personal life

The 2007 edition of Who's Who listed Sopel's hobbies as golf, travel and watching football. He is also an ambassador for the The Prince's Trust.

Sopel is an alumnus of the University of Southampton where he was Students' Union President [1]. He met his wife Linda while working at Radio Solent; the couple have a son and daughter and live in North London.