| Gary O'Donoghue | |
|---|---|
| Born | England |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Ethnicity | English |
| Notable credit(s) | BBC News |
Gary O'Donoghue is an English journalist, currently working for the BBC.
He was born to a semi-professional footballing father who worked as a taxi driver, and his mother taught ballroom dancing. O'Donoghue was born partially sighted, but went totally blind by the time he was eight.[1]
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O'Donoghue was educated at Worcester College for the Blind, a boys' boarding school that has since merged with a girls' school, and was recently renamed New College Worcester,[2] and he played blind football for England. O'Donoghue then attended Oxford University, where he read philosophy and modern languages.[1] Given work experience at the BBC,[3] his first job was working for a braille production department, where he was asked to operate the photocopier.[2]
O'Donoghue joined the BBC on graduation, becoming a junior reporter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme; at one time, he was asked to bungee jump off Chelsea Bridge.[1] During his career, he has covered stories for BBC News in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the U.S. In 2004, O'Donoghue became a political correspondent based at Westminster, reporting across the media of radio, television, and internet.[1] From October 2011 O'Donoghue became the Chief Political Correspondent for BBC Radio 4 replacing Norman Smith who took the corresponding TV role. In his new position O'Donoghue primarily reports for the Today and PM programmes.
In 2007, he broke the story that new UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was returning early from holiday to deal with an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey.[4] However, BBC Ten O'Clock News deputy editor Daniel Pearl handed the story to June Kelly, which, in 2008, resulted in an out-of-court five-figure payment to O'Donoghue on grounds of disability discrimination.[4]
O'Donoghue and his girlfriend, Sarah, live in Yorkshire, and have one daughter.[1][2][5]
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Norman Smith |
Chief Political Correspondent: BBC Radio 4 2011 – present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |