Martyn Lewis (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Martyn Lewis CBE
(born 7 April 1945) is a British television news presenter and journalist.
, West Glamorgan
, though was educated at the co-educational Dalriada School
in Northern Ireland
and graduated with a BA degree from Trinity College, Dublin
. He then joined BBC Northern Ireland
in 1967. Martyn also holds an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Ulster and is a Freeman of the City of London, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Member of the Garrick Club and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
and ITN, before joining the BBC
in 1986 to present BBC News
bulletins until the major relaunch of all output in 1999-2000.
Lewis became the first presenter of the One O'Clock News
on BBC One
on 27 October 1986 when it launched as part of the introduction of the channel's daytime schedule, replacing News After Noon. Subsequently, he presented other bulletins including the Six O'Clock News
and Nine O'Clock News.
He created a modicum of controversy in 1993 when he claimed that television should feature more "good news". He subsequently stated that he had been misunderstood on the matter.
Lewis played a prominent role in the announcement of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
on Sunday 31 August 1997. He was called into the BBC in the early hours of that fateful morning to present short national bulletins about the car accident in Paris. He returned home afterwards to get some sleep - expecting the Princess to pull through - only to be drafted in again in time for the special 6am bulletin covering Diana's death.
During the marathon coverage which was simulcast on BBC1, BBC World
as well as broadcasters around the world which took in the BBC news feed, Lewis was almost brought to tears following Tony Blair
's "People's Princess" statement. His uninterrupted presenting stint ended mid-afternoon when Peter Sissons
took over.
On 26 April 1999, a few weeks before the BBC relaunched its news programmes, he presented the Six O'Clock news bulletin with Jennie Bond
on the day his co-anchor Jill Dando
was gunned down outside her home in West London. He also appeared on rival ITN that evening to pay tribute to his dead colleague.
He presented his last bulletin at the start of May 1999 from Edinburgh
, reporting on the Scottish devolution, signing off with, "And from me, it's goodbye."
, Anna Ford
, Selina Scott
and Julia Somerville
. As part of the celebrations for ITN's 50th anniversary, he returned to television news to present a special edition of the ITV Evening News
with Mary Nightingale
in September 2005.
Lewis was the long-running host, from 1993, of the BBC news-based quiz show Today's the Day
.
He retired from newsreading in 1999 and since then has presented occasional programmes on ITV
including Dateline Jerusalem and Ultimate Questions.
He also appeared as a newsreader in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough
, in The Vicar of Dibley
in 2000, and in archive footage featured in The Queen
.
he appears in the video on board the Heathrow Express
, as a guide to the service.
, one of the first telepresence
systems developed. He has been actively involved in the marketing of this solution through personal contacts, speaking engagements and "Telepresence Times", his vlog
launched in 2009.
in 1997 for his services to young people and the hospice
movement. He is vice-president of Help the Hospices, Marie Curie Cancer Care
and Macmillan Cancer Support
.
He is president of United Response
, a charity supporting people with learning disabilities or mental health needs to live in the community, in England and in Wales.
He founded the youth charity YouthNet in 1995, and remains its chairman. The charity provides advice, information and support through websites aimed at young people.
he is also chairman of the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service
, Families of the Fallen; trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust, and deputy chair of the Lord Mayor of London
's Dragon Awards.
In 2010 he became Chair of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations
.
and model. Liz is now resident in a nursing home suffering from a degenerative brain disease. Martyn and Liz have two daughters, Kate and singer/songwriter Sylvie Lewis
.
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...
(born 7 April 1945) is a British television news presenter and journalist.
Early life
Lewis was born in SwanseaSwansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, West Glamorgan
West Glamorgan
West Glamorgan is a preserved county and former administrative county of Wales, one of the divisions of the ancient county of Glamorgan.West Glamorgan was created on 1 April 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972 from the county borough of Swansea, the municipal boroughs of Neath and Port Talbot,...
, though was educated at the co-educational Dalriada School
Dalriada School
Dalriada School is a mixed voluntary grammar school in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland. The school draws its pupils from a wide geographical area and a range of social, religious and cultural backgrounds. In 2008 the school won the Northern Ireland State Secondary School of the Year award from The...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and graduated with a BA degree from Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. He then joined BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...
in 1967. Martyn also holds an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Ulster and is a Freeman of the City of London, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Member of the Garrick Club and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Television news
He was a news presenter on HTVHTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
and ITN, before joining the BBC
BBC
The 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...
in 1986 to present BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
bulletins until the major relaunch of all output in 1999-2000.
Lewis became the first presenter of the One O'Clock News
BBC One O'Clock News
The 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....
on BBC One
BBC One
BBC 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...
on 27 October 1986 when it launched as part of the introduction of the channel's daytime schedule, replacing News After Noon. Subsequently, he presented other bulletins including the Six O'Clock News
BBC Six O'Clock News
The BBC News at Six is the evening news programme broadcast each night on British television channel BBC One and the BBC News channel at 18:00. For a long period the News at Six was the most watched news programme in the UK but since 2006 it has been over taken by the BBC News at Ten...
and Nine O'Clock News.
He created a modicum of controversy in 1993 when he claimed that television should feature more "good news". He subsequently stated that he had been misunderstood on the matter.
Lewis played a prominent role in the announcement of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Fayed's...
on Sunday 31 August 1997. He was called into the BBC in the early hours of that fateful morning to present short national bulletins about the car accident in Paris. He returned home afterwards to get some sleep - expecting the Princess to pull through - only to be drafted in again in time for the special 6am bulletin covering Diana's death.
During the marathon coverage which was simulcast on BBC1, BBC World
BBC World
BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel in the world...
as well as broadcasters around the world which took in the BBC news feed, Lewis was almost brought to tears following Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's "People's Princess" statement. His uninterrupted presenting stint ended mid-afternoon when Peter Sissons
Peter Sissons
Peter George Sissons is a broadcast journalist in the United Kingdom. He was the presenter of the BBC Nine O'Clock News and the BBC News at Ten between 1993 and 2003, as earlier a newscaster for ITN, providing bulletins on ITV and Channel 4. He is also a former presenter of the BBC's Question Time...
took over.
On 26 April 1999, a few weeks before the BBC relaunched its news programmes, he presented the Six O'Clock news bulletin with Jennie Bond
Jennie Bond
Jennifer "Jennie" Bond is an English journalist and television presenter. She worked for fourteen years as the BBC's royal correspondent. She has most recently hosted Cash in the Attic and narrated the five series programme, Great British Menu.-Early career:She was educated at St...
on the day his co-anchor Jill Dando
Jill Dando
Jill Wendy Dando was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader who worked for the BBC for 14 years. She was murdered by gunshot outside her home in Fulham, West London; her killer has never been identified....
was gunned down outside her home in West London. He also appeared on rival ITN that evening to pay tribute to his dead colleague.
He presented his last bulletin at the start of May 1999 from Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, reporting on the Scottish devolution, signing off with, "And from me, it's goodbye."
Other television
Lewis was part of ITN's "Famous Five", with Gordon HoneycombeGordon Honeycombe
Ronald Gordon Honeycombe is an author, playwright and stage actor, well known in the United Kingdom as a national television newscaster....
, Anna Ford
Anna Ford
Anna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
, Selina Scott
Selina Scott
Selina Scott is a British newsreader, journalist, television producer and presenter.- Background and early life :Scott was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire in 1951, the eldest of five children...
and Julia Somerville
Julia Somerville
Julia Mary Fownes Somerville is a British television news anchor and reporter, who has worked for the BBC and ITN.-Education:...
. As part of the celebrations for ITN's 50th anniversary, he returned to television news to present a special edition of the ITV Evening News
ITV Evening News
The ITV News at 6:30 is the evening news bulletin on the British television network ITV. It is produced by ITN.The 30-minute programme, presented by Mary Nightingale and Alastair Stewart covers British national and international news stories and broadcasts at 6:30pm from Monday to Friday...
with Mary Nightingale
Mary Nightingale
Mary Nightingale is an English newsreader and television presenter. She is a newsreader for ITN on ITV News, and presents the cookery series Britain's Best Dish on ITV1.-Education:...
in September 2005.
Lewis was the long-running host, from 1993, of the BBC news-based quiz show Today's the Day
Today's the Day
Today's the Day was a British television daytime quiz programme that was broadcast on BBC2 from 12 July 1993 until 12 March 1999. The programme was hosted by Martyn Lewis....
.
He retired from newsreading in 1999 and since then has presented occasional programmes on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
including Dateline Jerusalem and Ultimate Questions.
He also appeared as a newsreader in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond film series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It...
, in The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom created by Richard Curtis and written for its lead actress, Dawn French, by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, with contributions from Kit Hesketh-Harvey. It aired from 1994 to 2007...
in 2000, and in archive footage featured in The Queen
The Queen (film)
The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...
.
he appears in the video on board the Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express is an airport rail link from London Heathrow Airport to London Paddington station in London operated by the Heathrow Express Operating Authority, a wholly owned subsidiary of BAA. It was opened by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998...
, as a guide to the service.
Other business
Lewis is chairman of TelirisTeliris
Teliris is a privately-owned telepresence and videoconferencing company headquartered in New York and London that designs and sells video collaboration products and services. Teliris currently has deployments in over 50 countries...
, one of the first telepresence
Telepresence
Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance of being present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location....
systems developed. He has been actively involved in the marketing of this solution through personal contacts, speaking engagements and "Telepresence Times", his vlog
Vlog
Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidding or vidblogging is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Web television. Entries often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take...
launched in 2009.
Charity work
Lewis was awarded a CBEOrder 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...
in 1997 for his services to young people and the hospice
Palliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
movement. He is vice-president of Help the Hospices, Marie Curie Cancer Care
Marie Curie Cancer Care
Marie Curie Cancer Care is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which provides nursing care, free of charge, to terminally ill people, giving them the chance to choose to be cared for at home...
and Macmillan Cancer Support
Macmillan Cancer Support
Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the largest British charities and provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer....
.
He is president of United Response
United Response
United Response is a top 50 charity operating in England and Wales, providing a range of support and services for more than 1,500 people with learning disabilities, mental health needs or physical disabilities...
, a charity supporting people with learning disabilities or mental health needs to live in the community, in England and in Wales.
He founded the youth charity YouthNet in 1995, and remains its chairman. The charity provides advice, information and support through websites aimed at young people.
he is also chairman of the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service
Queen's Award for Voluntary Service
The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, also known as the The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sector of the United Kingdom. Winning groups are announced in the London Gazette on 2 June each year, the...
, Families of the Fallen; trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust, and deputy chair of the Lord Mayor of London
Lord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
's Dragon Awards.
In 2010 he became Chair of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations
National Council for Voluntary Organisations
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations is the umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in England. NCVO works to support the voluntary and community sector and to create an environment in which an independent civil society can flourish...
.
Personal life
He is married to Liz Lewis (née Carse) whom he met while both were working at HTV Wales. She was a continuity announcerContinuity (broadcasting)
'Continuity' or 'presentation' is a term used in broadcasting, especially in the United Kingdom , to refer to announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes...
and model. Liz is now resident in a nursing home suffering from a degenerative brain disease. Martyn and Liz have two daughters, Kate and singer/songwriter Sylvie Lewis
Sylvie Lewis
Sylvie Lewis is a folk musician from London, England, she came to the United States in 1995 and studied at the Berklee College of Music. After graduation, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1998, where she quit music to become a teacher. Two years later...
.