The Host
We are delighted to announce that John Sergeant, former Chief Political Correspondent for the BBC has agreed to be the host at this year’s awards.
John’s career has spanned nearly 40 years. He started with the BBC in local radio in 1970 and later worked as a war correspondent in Vietnam, Cyprus, Israel and Rhodesia. He also reported from Northern Ireland and was a correspondent for the BBC is Washington, Paris and Dublin.
He was the BBC’s chief political correspondent from 1992 to 2000 before joining ITV News. One of his most memorable broadcasts was the encounter with Margaret Thatcher at the Paris Embassy days before she resigned as Prime Minister. The way John was pushed aside by Lady Thatcher’s Press Secretary Sir Bernard Ingham was seen by many as a metaphor for the end of her regime.
While John Sergeant is best known as a serious political commentator, there is another side to his career – light entertainment and comedy. As long ago as 1966 he was chosen by Alan Bennett to appear in the award winning BBC comedy series “On the Margin” and more recently he has appeared on “Have I Got News for You”, when Ian Hislop described him as one of funniest guests in the history of the programme, with Paul Merton on Room 101 and on rradio as a guest on the News Quiz and many other programmes including “A Good Read”.
His book, “Give Me 10 Seconds” was described as a rip roaring read by the Independent on Sunday.
