Julie Etchingham

Julie Etchingham
Born Julie Anne Etchingham
21 August 1969
Leicester, Leicestershire, England
Nationality British
Ethnicity White British
Education Bachelor of Arts
Alma mater Newnham College, Cambridge
Occupation Newsreader
Years active 1990–present
Notable credit(s) ITV News (2008—)
Tonight (2010—)
Spouse(s) Nick Gardner (m. 1997)
Children 2 sons

Julie Anne Etchingham (born 21 August 1969)[1] is a British television newsreader and journalist with ITV News. A graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge, Etchingham joined the BBC as a trainee after completing her studies, and went on to present the children's news programme Newsround in 1994. She joined Sky News in 2002, and also presented editions of Five News when Sky won the contract to produce news programming for Channel 5 in 2005. Etchngham was recruited by ITV in 2007 when the broadcaster decided to relaunch its 10.00pm weekday news bulletin. She has been a co-presenter of ITV News at Ten since 2008, and the presenter of the current affairs programme Tonight since 2010, having replaced Sir Trevor McDonald.

Life and career

Etchingham was born and raised in Leicester, Leicestershire, where both her parents were teachers.[2] She was raised as a Roman Catholic,[3] and educated at the city's English Martyrs Catholic School.[4] After school she attended Newnham College at the University of Cambridge where she gained a BA (Honours) degree in English.[5][6] She was the first girl from her school to attend Cambridge, and while reading English there was taught by Germaine Greer.[7] She also co-presented BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's student programme On the Edge, produced by Ian Peacock.[8] She got her first job in journalism with BBC Radio Leicester while still at school, and joined the BBC graduate programme from university.[1][3][9]

Working at BBC Midlands, Etchingham became a presenter on Midlands Today,[10] but soon moved on to present national programmes after moving to London. Her credits at the BBC include BBC's Breakfast News, Newsround (where she beat 1,000 other competitors to the job in 1994) and the corporation's long running Holiday programme.[2]

Etchingham joined Sky News in 2002, where she hosted a number of shows for the channel, including Sky News Today.[3] She was also an occasional presenter on Five News after Sky took over as news provider for Five in January 2005.[11]

On 29 October 2007, during a speech by David Cameron, Etchingham's microphone was left open and an aside was accidentally broadcast during live coverage of the Conservative leader's address. Speaking on the issue of immigration, Mr Cameron said: "Let me outline the action that a Conservative government would take. As we have seen, some of the increase in population size results from natural change – birth rates, death rates. Here our policy should be obvious...." At this point, Etchingham was clearly heard to say: "Extermination."[12] Sky News said afterwards that her comment was "regrettable".[12] Etchingham later described the incident as "not my finest hour. I apologised to Cameron personally".[7] Cameron took the incident in good jest, recorded a parody of the incident for Etchingham's 40th birthday, and had a toy Dalek delivered to her home.[3]

On 31 October 2007, ITV confirmed that in January 2008, Etchingham would move to present the relaunched News at Ten with Sir Trevor McDonald.[13][14] The programme returned on 14 January.[15] In June 2009, it was reported in the media that the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, had stopped a plane from flying out of Pakistan after he heard Etchingham was running late after an interview between the two.[16] In October 2009, it was announced that Etchingham would present a relaunched Tonight programme from early 2010 – with the show airing once a week on Thursday nights.[17] Etchingham was voted "Presenter of the Year" at the Royal Television Society journalism Awards in February 2010. She is the first woman ever to win the award.[18]

In April 2011, Etchingham co-hosted ITV's coverage of the Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton with Phillip Schofield.[19] It was announced in April 2012 that she and Schofield would present the broadcaster's coverage of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June.[20][21] In March 2013, she travelled to Rome to provide coverage of the election of Pope Francis for ITV News.[22]

In March 2015 it was announced that Etchingham would chair a televised leaders debate for ITV ahead of the 2015 general election, the only leaders debate featuring Prime Minister David Cameron to be held that year.[23] The debate took place on 2 April. Andrew Pettie of The Telegraph described Etchingham's presenting style as "composure itself", adding that it was "a bit robotic but this was no bad thing: it was refreshing to see a TV interviewer resolutely refusing to hog the limelight."[24]

Charity work

Etchingham is an ambassador for the Prince's Trust charity.

Personal life

In 1997, Etchingham married the television producer Nick Gardner in Leicester. The couple met whilst both working on the BBC's Newsround programme.[25] They have two sons, both of whom were born in Hammersmith and Fulham, London.[26] Etchingham is a Roman Catholic.[27]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Revealed: Television journalist Julie Etchingham's secret battle with sleep". 21 November 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "My Life in Media: Julie Etchingham". The Independent (London). 11 October 2004. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Troup Buchanan, Rose (2 April 2015). "Julie Etchingham: Who is the presenter overseeing the ITV leaders' debate?". The Independent (Independent Print Limited). Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Newsreader Julie returns to city to receive honour". Leicester Mercury. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "From the Headteacher". Newman News. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  6. ↑ "Julie Etchingham". Sky News. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Rayner, Gordon (2 April 2015). "ITV leaders' debate: Julie Etchingham, an on-air gaffe, and a Dalek from David Cameron". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group). Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Former Student Profiles: Julie Etchingham". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Fraught rehearsals and last-minute terror: Julie Etchingham's inside story of the return of News At Ten". 13 January 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2008.
  10. ↑ "A profile of Julie Etchingham". Sky News. 11 February 2003. Retrieved 31 July 2009.
  11. ↑ "Young launches revamped Five news". BBC News. 3 January 2005. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Henry, Emma (30 October 2007). "Sky apologies over Tory 'extermination' quip". Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 23 November 2007.
  13. ↑ "News at Ten returns to ITV". itv.com. 31 October 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
  14. ↑ Tryhorn, Chris (31 October 2007). "ITV confirms News at Ten return". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 29 April 2008.
  15. ↑ Byrne, Ciar (14 January 2008). "The Trevor & Julie show: Inside the revamped News at Ten". The Independent (London). Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  16. ↑ "Why did Pakistan's president wait for ITV's Julie Etchingham?". The Guardian (London). 25 June 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  17. ↑ Robinson, James (22 October 2009). "ITV to drop Big Ben from News at Ten titles". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  18. ↑ "Julie Etchingham award". ITV News. 25 February 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  19. ↑ Edwards, Huw (26 April 2011). "Royal wedding: How do you commentate on a big occasion?". BBC News (BBC). Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  20. ↑ Nissim, Mayer (27 April 2012). "Phillip Schofield, Julie Etchingham confirmed for ITV Jubilee coverage". Digital Spy. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  21. ↑ Linden, Shaun (27 April 2012). "Philip Schofield and Julie Etchingham reunite for Queen’s Diamond Jubilee". ATV Today. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "TV news and guide, TV and radio listings, film reviews guide". Radio Times. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  23. ↑ "Election debates agreement reached". BBC News (BBC). 21 April 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  24. ↑ Pettie, Andrew (3 April 2015). "Election TV debate: ITV presenter Julie Etchingham was 'composure itself'". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group). Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "Revealed: Television journalist Julie Etchingham's secret battle with sleep". Daily Mail (London). 21 November 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  26. ↑ "Marriages and Births England and Wales 1984–2006". Findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  27. ↑ "The day the Pope asked me to pray for him". Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 13 April 2014.

External links

Media offices
Preceded by
Krishnan Guru-Murthy		 Main Presenter of Newsround
1994–1997 		Succeeded by
Kate Sanderson
Preceded by
Jon Snow		 RTS: Television Journalism
Presenter of the Year
2010 		Succeeded by
Jon Snow
Preceded by
None		 Female co-presenter of ITV News at Ten
2008 – present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent