Peter John Gibson Horrocks (born October 1959) is Director of
BBC World ServiceThe BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
. He was educated at the independent
King's College SchoolKing's College School, commonly referred to as KCS, King's, or KCS Wimbledon, is an independent school for day pupils in Wimbledon in south-west London. The school was founded as the junior department of King's College London and occupied part of its premises in Strand, before relocating to...
in
WimbledonWimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
and at
Christ's College, CambridgeChrist's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
.
Horrocks joined the BBC in October 1981 as a news trainee. He went on to work at
NewsnightNewsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
as an assistant producer and then producer. After time as a senior producer, intake editor and output editor on
Breakfast TimeBBC 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...
, he became deputy editor of
PanoramaPanorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
in 1988.
Horrocks edited
BBC televisionBBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
's
General ElectionIn a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
results coverage in 1992. He edited the coverage of the
BudgetA budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
, by-elections and local elections, as well as the 1994 European Election results and General Election results programmes in May 1997.
In May 1992, Horrocks was appointed editor of
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...
's social affairs programme,
Public EyePublic Eye is a British television series that ran from 1965 to 1975 . It was produced by ABC Television for three series, and Thames Television for a further four series...
, a position he held until he launched
Here And Now, a current affairs magazine intended to capture high audience figures, in January 1994. He became editor of
Newsnight in April 1994, and editor of
Panorama in December 1997. Horrocks became Head of Current Affairs in June 2000. He was executive producer of
Brits,
True Spies,
Smallpox 2002,
The Day Britain StoppedThe Day Britain Stopped is a drama documentary produced by Wall to Wall for the BBC. It is based around a fictional disaster on December 19, 2003, in which a train strike is the first in a chain of events that lead to a meltdown of the country's transport system...
,
Dirty War and of the documentary trilogy
The Power of NightmaresThe Power of Nightmares, subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear, is a BBC documentary film series, written and produced by Adam Curtis. Its three one-hour parts consist mostly of a montage of archive footage with Curtis's narration...
.
Horrocks won Bafta awards in 1997 and 2005 for his editorship of
Newsnight and for
The Power of Nightmares.
He became Head of Television News in September 2005. In November 2007, following a restructuring of BBC News, he became Head of the BBC newsroom.
In April 2009, he replaced Nigel Chapman at BBC World Service and has been responsible for the overall editorial leadership and management of the world's leading international multimedia broadcaster since then. He is the chairman of the BBC World Service Trust Board of Trustees.
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