Chris Eakin (born c.1961) is a newsreader on the BBC's 24 hour rolling news channel, BBC News.
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He was born in Northern Ireland and lived at Helen's Bay in County Down, then briefly moved to Spain. His father was a civil engineer.
He moved to Heswall when he was 12. He learnt to sail with the Fourth Heswall Sea Scouts[1], sailing at the West Kirby Marine Lake. He left grammar school in 1979, which he attended with his two brothers.
From 1979-83 he was at Wirral Newspapers. From 1983-5 he was a freelance journalist in Cheshire. From 1985-89 he was at the Liverpool Daily Post.
From 1989-90 he worked at Central TV as a journalist.
From 1990-97 he was a reporter for Look North at Newcastle upon Tyne. He twice won regional journalist of the year.
He can be seen on the BBC News Channel presenting from 10:30pm until 1am between Monday and Thursday. He occasionally acts as a relief presenters at other times throughout the week. The first half hour of his shift follows the BBC News at Ten, and contains a review of the following day's front pages and a sport and business update. He has anchored outside news broadcasts from locations including Buckingham Palace, Tavistock Square in London and Boscastle, Cornwall. Before moving to his current shift he anchored from 7pm to 10pm on Monday-Thursday evenings alongside Jane Hill.
He has also appeared on the BBC show "Auntie's Bloomers".
He wrote the book, "A Race Too Far", which describes a 1968 sailing race.[2]
He is a qualified RYA Yachtmaster Offshore. He lives in London, with his wife, Deborah, who is a GP. His older brother Michael is Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic[3], and his younger brother Clive works in BBC local radio in Warwickshire[4], having the Drivetime programme until 2009 and now has a Sunday programme[5].
He is a sailor and skier and a fan of Creedence Clearwater Revival. He has a 34 foot Hallberg-Rassy yacht.