Simon McCoy

Simon McCoy
Born (1961-10-07) 7 October 1961
Hammersmith, London
Ethnicity English
Education Sherborne School
Occupation Journalist, Newsreader
Notable credit(s) Sky News
BBC News
Spouse(s) Victoria Graham
Children Max

Simon McCoy (born 7 October 1961) is a newsreader for the BBC, and is a regular presenter on the rolling news channel BBC News between 2pm and 5pm. He is also a regular presenter of the BBC News at One and a relief presenter of BBC Weekend News.

Shortly before 1pm on 18 March 2013, McCoy and co-presenter Sophie Long read the final BBC News bulletin from BBC Television Centre, with BBC News moving to Broadcasting House in Central London for the BBC News at One.

Early life

McCoy was born in Hammersmith. He was educated at the independent Sherborne School in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England.

Career

McCoy started his journalism career at the Fleet Street News Agency in London[1] before joining Thames TV as a researcher for Thames News in 1983. After time as a scriptwriter at Thames TV in 1986 he joined the breakfast TV station TV-am as a news editor.[1] In 1988 Simon left to go to a new satellite channel called Sky - initially as a producer on the Sky News breakfast programme Sunrise.

After a year as a general reporter for the station he was appointed Royal Correspondent and between 1991 and 1996 Simon covered all the major stories which affected the Royal Family.

After a job which involved travel around the world throughout the years Simon took a desk job, presenting Sunrise on Sky News.[1][2] He also presented the Tonight programme - a topical chat show involving interviews with people from the worlds of showbiz, politics and sport.

In 2003 McCoy co-anchored Sky's coverage of the Iraq war on location in Kuwait and Basra. He was on air for five hours every day of the conflict.[3]

In January 2004 McCoy joined the BBC, and could be seen on BBC Breakfast and BBC News 24, initially as a cover presenter for both.[1] In September 2005 he took over the morning slot on BBC News alongside Kate Silverton following Phillip Hayton's sudden departure after Hayton fell out with Silverton. When reviewing the papers the following day McCoy tried to point out the story, but was prevented by Silverton.[4] In December 2007 Silverton left the shift to host the 8pm Update. McCoy presents the weekday 2-5pm slot on the BBC News channel alongside Emily Maitlis on Mondays and Jane Hill from Tuesday to Friday.

In 2006 McCoy stopped regular appearances on BBC Breakfast upon Charlie Stayt's arrival at the BBC, but continued to be a relief presenter on the BBC Weekend News. Since 2008 McCoy has made a number of appearances as a stand in presenter on Breakfast.

On 9 March 2012 McCoy was apparently caught asleep at the newsdesk as BBC Breakfast handed over to the BBC News channel at 8:30am, although McCoy denied he was dozing.[5]

On 7 June 2013 McCoy presented coverage of the Queen's visit to Broadcasting House to officially open the new part of the BBC's Headquarters which features the largest live newsroom in Europe. The new Broadcasting House sees the BBC's Television, News and Radio departments in one complex. The BBC's Children's and Radio 5 Live moved to Salford's MediaCity in 2012. The Queen opened the new complex with a live public broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today' programme.

On 22 July McCoy was on the roster for coverage of the birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who a few days later became Prince George of Cambridge. Stationed outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital with often little or no news to share, McCoy's comments concerning the value of the news coverage made for (often sympathetic) headlines. And famously said "The News is there is no News".[6][7]

Acting

McCoy appeared as himself, reading the news, in the 2007 BBC Two drama Party Animals. He has also appeared in several episodes of Spooks, in the BBC1 drama Holby Blue, and in The Amazing Mrs Pritchard. Simon also had a newsreading role in the 2006 Anthony Horowitz movie Stormbreaker.

Family

McCoy has a son, Max (born 1993), from his first marriage. On 28 September 2007, he married Victoria Graham of BBC South West.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Simon McCoy joins the BBC BBC Press Office, 18 November 2003
  2. ↑ Sky News gets Channel 5 airing BBC News, 19 December 2001
  3. ↑ "BBC - Press Office - Simon McCoy". BBC (via archive.org). 2013-07-25. Archived from the original on June 7, 2009. Retrieved 2013-07-25.
  4. ↑ Silverton Sparkles With New Co-host McCoy Telegraph
  5. ↑ Watson, Leon (9 March 2012). "Simon McCoy: BBC breakfast news presenter 'caught napping at his desk' during live bulletin". The Daily Mail (Associated Newspapers Ltd). Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  6. ↑ Morse, Felicity (2013-07-25). "Royal baby watch: BBC Reporter Simon McCoy admits Duchess of Cambridge labour coverage is 'not news'". The Independent. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  7. ↑ Deacon, Michael (2013-07-22). "Royal baby sketch: 'Breaking news: we have no news!'". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
  8. ↑ "Biography - Victoria Graham". BBC Press Office. September 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.

External links

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