Gordon Brewer is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 news

News

News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...

 and current affairs

Current affairs

Current affairs can refer to:*Current affairs : a genre of broadcast journalism* an approximate synonym for current events* an approximate synonym for politics* "Current Affairs", a song by Zion I from Heroes in the City of Dope...

 broadcaster

Presenter

A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

, currently working for BBC Scotland

BBC Scotland

BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...

. He has presented the flagship Newsnight Scotland

Newsnight Scotland

Newsnight Scotland is a BBC Scotland television news programme which started on Monday October 4, 1999. The programme is aired from BBC Pacific Quay in Glasgow, and is an opt out of the main London-based Newsnight programme...

programme since 1999.

Education

Brewer was educated at the Voluntary Aided

Voluntary aided school

A voluntary aided school is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust owns the school buildings, contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school...

 school St. Modan's Roman Catholic High School

St Modan's High School

St Modan's RC High School is an S1-S6 Catholic High School in Stirling, Scotland. The school roll currently stands at over 900 pupils. Pupils travel from the Denny, Banknock, Alloa, Tullibody, Sauchie, Alva, Raploch, Cowie, Bannockburn, Braehead, Riverside, Dunblane and Blanefield areas...

 in Stirling

Stirling

Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...

, followed by the University of Edinburgh

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...

, where he studied Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and English Literature

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

.

Life and career

Brewer began his career in journalism at The Shetland Times

The Shetland Times

The Shetland Times is a weekly newspaper in Shetland, published on Fridays and based in Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland.The newspaper is owned by The Shetland Times Ltd, a company which also operates a publishing arm, a bookshop and a printing company. The Shetland Times Ltd claims to have 55...

in 1980 and in 1983 he moved to the Sunday Standard (forerunner of the Sunday Herald

Sunday Herald

The Sunday Herald is a Scottish Sunday newspaper launched on 7 February 1999. The ABC audited circulation in April 2011 showed sales of 31,123.From the start it has combined a centre-left stance with support for Scottish devolution...

) as business correspondent. After the Standard stopped publishing he held a number of jobs in the Scottish press. He was also a member of the Trotskyist group Socialist Organiser

Alliance for Workers' Liberty

The Alliance for Workers' Liberty , also known as Workers' Liberty, is a Trotskyist group in Britain. The group has a complex history but has always been identified with the theorist Sean Matgamna...

.

Brewer joined the BBC in 1988 as Business Correspondent for network TV news and was appointed the BBC's Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 Correspondent the following year. He returned from Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 in 1993 to join Newsnight

Newsnight

Newsnight 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....

in London, where he was a reporter and later a presenter.

External links

• Gordon Brewer's profile on BBC Press Office website