Moira Clare Ruby Stuart OBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 2 September 1949) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
journalistA journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who was the first
African-CaribbeanThe British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
female
newsreaderA news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
on
British televisionPublic television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
. She has presented many television news and radio programmes for the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and is currently the newsreader for the
Chris Evans Breakfast ShowThe Chris Evans Breakfast Show is the flagship show on BBC Radio 2 in the United Kingdom. It is presented by Chris Evans from 11 January 2010, when Evans took over from Sir Terry Wogan who ended his stint as Breakfast presenter at the end of 2009...
on
BBC Radio 2BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
.
Early life
Moira Stuart was born in the
Royal Free HospitalThe Royal Free Hospital is a major teaching hospital in Hampstead, London, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust....
,
HampsteadHampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
,
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, on 2 September 1949, to African-Caribbean parents. She was educated in London and at a convent school.
Early career
Stuart began working with the BBC in the 1970s. She was a continuity announcer and
newsreaderA news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
for both
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
and
BBC Radio 2BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
, and in 1980 she played Darong in series one of game show
The Adventure GameThe Adventure Game was a game show, aimed at children but with an adult following, which was originally broadcast on UK television channels BBC1 and BBC2 between 24 May 1980 and 18 February 1986. The story in each show was that the two celebrity contestants and a member of the public had travelled...
. She moved to television news in 1981.
TV News career
Since 27 August 1981, Stuart has presented every news bulletin devised on
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television apart from the
BBC News at Ten. She has also appeared on
The News QuizThe News Quiz is a topical panel game broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4.-History:It was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently it was chaired by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took , and then again by Simon Hoggart until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in...
and presented the news on the BBC's
Breakfast with FrostBreakfast with Frost was a talk show hosted by Sir David Frost on the BBC on Sunday mornings. The news presenter was Moira Stuart. The show ran for more than 12 years and exactly 500 editions between 3 January 1993 and 29 May 2005...
programme each Sunday and the following programme
Sunday AMThe Andrew Marr Show is an hour-long British television programme broadcast on BBC One on Sunday mornings from 9am. It is presented by Andrew Marr, previously the BBC's Political Editor. In it, the host interviews political figures and others involved in the current events of the week...
with
Andrew MarrAndrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
. She presented the news for
BBC BreakfastBBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
during the first half-hour of the programme, three days a week, followed by short half-hourly round-ups throughout the rest of the three-hour-long show. However,
BBC Breakfast moved to a new studio with a new look on 2 May 2006 and the entire news content was presented by two main presenters. Stuart retained her slot on BBC's Sunday AM show and continued to present some weekend television bulletins on
BBC OneBBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. She also worked on other long-form programmes for other BBC channels, including
BBC FourBBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
.
In April 2007 it was announced that Stuart would be leaving Sunday AM resulting in the loss of a regular slot on broadcast TV. This prompted an angry backlash from press and colleagues who accused the BBC of ageism and sexism. The BBC initially declined to comment on why she was no longer being used, although rumours circulated within the BBC and commercial newsrooms that Stuart had been removed because she was considered
"too old" at 57, although
Anna FordAnna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
had continued anchoring the
BBC One O'Clock NewsThe BBC News at One is the afternoon news bulletin from the BBC. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel on Monday to Sunday 1:00pm....
until her retirement at 62. This was denied by
Director-General of the BBCThe Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and editor-in-chief of the BBC.The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC and is now appointed by the BBC Trust....
Mark ThompsonMark John Thompson is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4...
when he was questioned by a House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee. Thompson stated:
"BBC News, News 24, the radio networks, have changed over the years and the traditional role of the newsreader, as opposed to a correspondent or presenter, has virtually died out over the services ... We tend to use journalists across BBC news programmes ... to read the news headlines."
Her 26-year career with BBC Television News was brought to a close on 3 October 2007, when the BBC announced her departure. In total, her experience had spanned 34 years of BBC radio and TV.
In April 2009, the departing head of BBC News,
Peter HorrocksPeter John Gibson Horrocks is Director of BBC World Service. He was educated at the independent King's College School in Wimbledon and at Christ's College, Cambridge....
, was quoted as saying:
"I regret the way some viewed her departure. Many people came to believe that Moira left for reasons of ageism, or other -isms. This was never the case".
On 21 November 2009, it was reported in The Guardian that Chris Evans was "lining up" Moira Stuart to read the news bulletins on his new BBC Radio 2 show in January 2010, when he was due to inherit the slot from Terry Wogan. On 6 January 2010, it was confirmed that she would return to BBC News, reading the news for the
Chris Evans Breakfast ShowThe Chris Evans Breakfast Show is the flagship show on BBC Radio 2 in the United Kingdom. It is presented by Chris Evans from 11 January 2010, when Evans took over from Sir Terry Wogan who ended his stint as Breakfast presenter at the end of 2009...
, starting on 11 January 2010.
Other projects
A keen music lover, Stuart deputised for
Humphrey LytteltonHumphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...
on his
BBC Radio 2BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
Best of Jazz programme, has participated in the British Jazz Awards as compère, and features as a narrator on a jazz-rap album by
Soweto KinchSoweto Kinch is a British jazz alto saxophonist and rapper.Born in London, England to a Barbadian father, who is a playwright, and British-Jamaican mother, who is an actress, Kinch began playing saxophone at the age of nine after learning clarinet at Allfarthing Primary School, Wandsworth, SW London...
.
With
Adam Shaw-Education:Shaw was educated at an inner city comprehensive school in Kilburn, in north-west London.-Life and career:Until October 2008 Shaw presented Working Lunch, BBC Two's main lunchtime economics programme...
, she also presents the
BBC TwoBBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
personal finance series
Cashing In.
Stuart has served on various boards and judging panels including
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, The
Royal Television SocietyThe Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
,
United Nations AssociationThe United Nations Associations are non-governmental organizations that exist in various countries to enhance the relationship between the people of a member state and the United Nations, raise public awareness of the UN and its work, promote the general goals of the UN and act as an advisory body...
, the Orange Prize, the London Fair Play Consortium and the Human Genetics Advisory Commission.
In 2004, Stuart was the subject in one episode of the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentaryDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
series
Who Do You Think You Are?, which helped trace back her family history.
In 2006, Stuart played a hyper-realised version of herself in the
Ricky GervaisRicky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
television comedy
ExtrasExtras is a British sitcom about extras working on TV and film sets and in theatre. The series was co-produced by the BBC and HBO, and is created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, both of whom also star in it...
, supposedly involved in supplying drugs to
Ronnie CorbettRonald Balfour "Ronnie" Corbett, OBE is a Scottish actor and comedian of Scottish and English parentage who had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the British television comedy series The Two Ronnies...
.
In March 2007 she also presented the documentary
In Search of Wilberforce for BBC Television, examining the role of anti-slavery campaigner
William WilberforceWilliam Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...
to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the British bill that banned the
slave tradeThe Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
.
On 2 June 2007, she hosted the
BBC OneBBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
topical news
quiz showQuiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...
Have I Got News for YouHave I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, and was well received by the public. The extended and uncut version of the programme (shown the following evening, 3 June 2007) revealed that, while making a spoof appeal for work, she fluffed her lines on a number of occasions but took it all with her traditional good humour.
On 16 November 2007, she visited Mill Hill School in Ripley, Derbyshire, to officially open the new school building alongside Councillor Alan Charles from Derbyshire County Council.
In 2008, 2009 and 2010, she appeared in a series of advertisements for HMRC promoting tax-return procedures.
Personal life
She is unmarried, although she has said that on two occasions she almost did marry. Desmond Lynam has said that she has been a girlfriend of his.
Family
Stuart's mother, Marjorie Gordon (born 1921) from
DominicaDominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...
, and her father Harold Stuart (1914–66), a
BarbadianBarbadians are people originating on the Caribbean island of Barbados whether they live there or in the Barbadian diaspora.Rihanna is by far the most popular Barbadian on the planet.-Diaspora:...
, divorced when she was ten months old. Stuart's uncle is the singer Ken Gordon, who was a member, with
George BrowneGeorge Browne , better known as the Young Tiger, was a Trinidadian calypso musician.Born Edric Browne in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, where his childhood was imbued with the African traditions of Shango and Spiritual Baptist Shouting, he assumed the name George E. Browne in homage to the...
, of the vocal trio
Three Just Men. Talking about her ancestry, Stuart says she is from a
"long line of outsiders" and that she considers herself
"a true mongrel — and proud of it". In
Who Do You Think You Are?, she travelled up to the
Scottish HighlandsThe Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
, as well as to
AntiguaAntigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
and to
DominicaDominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...
, where her great-grandfather George James Christian was born. During the programme, Stuart discovered the story of how her grandfather Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon met his wife Clara Christian while both were studying
medicineMedicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at the
University of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
. While her grandfather completed his degree and qualified in 1918, Stuart's grandmother did not finish her studies, using money intended to pay for her course to pay their bills instead. In the programme, Stuart was visibly moved to learn more about her ancestors in the context of the Atlantic slave trade, and about their fight for human rights and social justice.
Awards and achievements
- 1988 voted "Best Newscaster of the Year" (1988) by the TV and Radio Industries Club Awards.
- 1989 voted "Best Television Personality" by the Women of Achievement Awards.
- 1994 named "Best Female Television Personality" by the Black Journalists' Association.
- 1997 named "Best Media Personality" by The Voice
The Voice is a British national weekly tabloid newspaper owned by the Jamaican publisher, GV Media Group, aimed at the British Afro-Caribbean community. The paper is based in the London Docklands and is published every Monday.-History:...
newspaper.
- 2001 awarded as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for services to broadcasting in the Queen's Birthday HonoursThe Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...
.
- 2002 named "Media Personality of 2002" at the EMMA
EMMA is an Organization which raises awareness of discrimination through media campaigns, social networking, and the EMMA Awards....
Awards.
- 2006 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, the university where her grandparents met.
- 2008 named 'Oldie Autocutie of the Year' for her outstanding contribution to television by The Oldie
The Oldie is a monthly magazine launched in 1992 by Richard Ingrams, who for 23 years was the editor of Private Eye. It carries general interest articles, humour and cartoons, and has an eclectic list of contributors, including James Le Fanu, John Sweeney, Thomas Stuttaford, Virginia Ironside,...
magazine.
The Moira Stuart Cup
The Moira Stuart Cup
is competed for annually at the United Hospitals Comedy
RevueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
, by all five of the
University of London-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
Medical Schools. The current holders are St. George's Hospital Medical School.
The cup is not officially endorsed by Moira Stuart herself.
Previous Holders:
| Year |
Winner |
Location |
| 2011 |
St George's Hospital Medical School |
Great Hall, Sherfield Building, Imperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
|
| 2010 |
GKT School of Medicine |
The Greenwood Theatre, Guy's HospitalGuy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...
|
| 2009 |
Royal Free and University College Medical SchoolUCL Medical School is the medical school of University College London and is located in London, United Kingdom...
|
Peter Samuel Hall, Royal Free HospitalThe Royal Free Hospital is a major teaching hospital in Hampstead, London, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust....
, HampsteadHampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
|
| 2008 |
GKT School of Medicine |
The Monckton Theatre, St. George's Hospital, Tooting Tooting is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
|
| 2007 |
Imperial College School of MedicineThe Imperial College School of Medicine is the medical school of Imperial College London in England, and one of the United Hospitals....
|
Peter Samuel Hall, Royal Free HospitalThe Royal Free Hospital is a major teaching hospital in Hampstead, London, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust....
, HampsteadHampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
|
| 2006 |
GKT School of Medicine |
The Greenwood Theatre, Guy's HospitalGuy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...
|
| 2005 |
St George's Hospital Medical School |
The Bloomsbury Theatre, Bloomsbury -Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
|
| 2004 |
St George's Hospital Medical School |
The Bloomsbury Theatre, Bloomsbury -Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
|
| 2003 |
St George's Hospital Medical School |
The Bloomsbury Theatre, Bloomsbury -Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
|
| 2002 |
N/A |
Tommy's Bar, St Thomas' Medical School |
External links