Paddy O'Connell
Encyclopedia
Guy Patrick Bennett O'Connell (born 11 March 1966 in Guildford
, Surrey
, England), known as Paddy O'Connell, is an English television and radio presenter, working mainly for the BBC
.
He presents BBC Radio 4
's Broadcasting House
programme each Sunday morning. He is also an occasional presenter of Radio 4's PM
programme. O'Connell is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
.
, an independent school
in the small town of Holt, Norfolk, England, and at the University of Aberdeen
in Scotland.
's local radio trainee scheme, leading to five years spent as a BBC local radio reporter in Devon
, Essex
and Cleveland
. He then joined BBC Radio Five Live
at its launch in 1994, before moving to the US to present BBC World Service
's The World programme. O'Connell has also presented and reported for a range of other radio stations across the world, including in Australia and Canada.
In 1997, O'Connell became BBC News
' North America Business Correspondent and Wall Street
anchor, based in New York. He appeared regularly on BBC World
, BBC News 24
and BBC One
news bulletins reporting on and presenting business news. He was the main US-based anchor for the BBC's World Business Report
programme, on BBC World and BBC News 24, on which he became well known for his laid back but incisive style, and deadpan delivery.
O'Connell was in New York
at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks
- he was actually due to attend a meeting inside the World Trade Center
on that day. He reported from the scene of the attacks just hours later, interviewing survivors in the aftermath, and anchored the BBC's coverage from the scene that evening.
He stayed in New York for a further two years, but left the US, and the BBC, in 2003. He then did a variety of freelance work, including a wide range of work for the BBC.
He fronted a wide range of news and entertainment shows on the corporation's youth-orientated digital channel BBC Three
. He presented Celebdaq
, a show based around a celebrity stock exchange, allowing O'Connell to mix his vast business knowledge with his interest in showbusiness. He also worked on Liquid News
(replacing the late Christopher Price
as its main presenter), presented the one-off Flashmob - The Opera
and was a main anchor on the offbeat current affairs show BBC Three News
.
O'Connell was one of the main presenters on the daily BBC Two business news programme Working Lunch
- he anchored the show every Friday and occasionally at other times, presenting alongside Adam Shaw
or Nik Wood. He joined the programme in 2003, and produced a number of special reports alongside his presentation duties. He left the programme on 26 September 2008, ahead of a relaunch with new presenters. He also appeared regularly on BBC Breakfast
, presenting the programme's business news segments from the London Stock Exchange
, filling in for regular business reporter Declan Curry
.
Paddy presented the weekday evening TV quiz show Battle of the Brains
on BBC Two, before being replaced by Nicky Campbell
.
Alongside these BBC commitments, O'Connell was also a regular presenter on London's LBC 97.3
radio station.
irreverent Sunday morning news review strand, Broadcasting House
. He joined the programme full-time in 2006, having previously covered for its former presenter Fi Glover
while she was on maternity leave. He's also an occasional presenter of PM
on BBC Radio 4, standing in for regular host Eddie Mair
, and stood in for Jeremy Vine
on his BBC Radio 2
lunchtime programme in early 2010, again in January 2011 and also in August, September and October 2011.
He also works as a regular reporter on BBC One
's evening current affairs programme The One Show
.
As well as news programmes, O'Connell continues to dabble in both light and prime-time entertainment programmes. From 2004, he commentated on the Eurovision Song Contest
semi-finals on BBC Three. He also presented various behind-the-scenes segments at the main final of the contest, shown on BBC Three. In 2010, O'Connell took part in a Eurovision edition of PopMaster
on BBC Radio 2
's Ken Bruce
Show, losing to John Kennedy O'Connor
. On 17 March 2011, he announced via Twitter that he had been replaced as a commentator for the Eurovision semi finals as the BBC 'refreshed' their Eurovision team. He appeared in the 2011 documentary The Secret History of Eurovision
.
He also regularly chairs the First Wednesday discussions, hosted by the Frontline Club
, in which a panel of experts and key figures debate current geopolitical events happening around the world. He is regarded as a fine moderator.
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England), known as Paddy O'Connell, is an English television and radio presenter, working mainly for 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...
.
He presents BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC 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...
's Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House (radio programme)
Broadcasting House is a current affairs programme on BBC Radio 4, presented by Paddy O'Connell. It is broadcast every Sunday between 09:00 and 10:00....
programme each Sunday morning. He is also an occasional presenter of Radio 4's PM
PM (Radio 4)
PM, sometimes referred to as the PM programme to avoid ambiguity, is BBC Radio 4's long-running early evening news and current affairs programme.-Broadcast times:...
programme. O'Connell is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
.
Education
Paddy O'Connell was educated at Gresham's SchoolGresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, an independent school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
in the small town of Holt, Norfolk, England, and at the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
in Scotland.
Career
Patrick O'Connell began his broadcasting career in 1989 on the BBCBBC
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...
's local radio trainee scheme, leading to five years spent as a BBC local radio reporter in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
and Cleveland
Cleveland, England
Cleveland is an area in the north east of England. Its name means literally "cliff-land", referring to its hilly southern areas, which rise to nearly...
. He then joined BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
at its launch in 1994, before moving to the US to present BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The 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...
's The World programme. O'Connell has also presented and reported for a range of other radio stations across the world, including in Australia and Canada.
In 1997, O'Connell became 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...
' North America Business Correspondent and Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
anchor, based in New York. He appeared regularly on 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...
, BBC News 24
BBC News 24
BBC News is the BBC's 24-hour rolling news television network in the United Kingdom. The channel launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 17:30 as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic television channels, becoming the first competitor to Sky News, which had been running since 1989...
and 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...
news bulletins reporting on and presenting business news. He was the main US-based anchor for the BBC's World Business Report
World Business Report
World Business Report is a television business news programme produced by BBC News and shown daily on BBC World News and the BBC News channel. The programme is broadcast 10 times daily Monday - Thursday and 9 times daily on Fridays. The main presenters of the programme are Tanya Beckett, Sally...
programme, on BBC World and BBC News 24, on which he became well known for his laid back but incisive style, and deadpan delivery.
O'Connell was in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
- he was actually due to attend a meeting inside the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
on that day. He reported from the scene of the attacks just hours later, interviewing survivors in the aftermath, and anchored the BBC's coverage from the scene that evening.
He stayed in New York for a further two years, but left the US, and the BBC, in 2003. He then did a variety of freelance work, including a wide range of work for the BBC.
He fronted a wide range of news and entertainment shows on the corporation's youth-orientated digital channel BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
. He presented Celebdaq
Celebdaq
Celebdaq was an online "celebrity stock exchange" game on the BBC's website. In the past the game had its own television show on BBC Three. The television show was presented by Paddy O'Connell & Libby Potter. Later, the comedian Jenny Eclair was the presenter....
, a show based around a celebrity stock exchange, allowing O'Connell to mix his vast business knowledge with his interest in showbusiness. He also worked on Liquid News
Liquid News
Liquid News was the daily round up of entertainment news for BBC Three running from 30th May 2000 to 1st April 2004. It was originally a vehicle for presenter Christopher Price...
(replacing the late Christopher Price
Christopher Price (broadcaster)
Christopher Nicholas Price was the original host of British celebrity news show Liquid News.-Early life and career:...
as its main presenter), presented the one-off Flashmob - The Opera
Flash mob
A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, artistic expression...
and was a main anchor on the offbeat current affairs show BBC Three News
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
.
O'Connell was one of the main presenters on the daily BBC Two business news programme Working Lunch
Working Lunch
Working Lunch was a television programme broadcast on BBC Two which covered business, personal finance and consumer news between 1994 and 2010. The programme was first aired on 19 September 1994. It had a quirky, relaxed style, especially when compared to other BBC business shows such as World...
- he anchored the show every Friday and occasionally at other times, presenting alongside Adam Shaw
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...
or Nik Wood. He joined the programme in 2003, and produced a number of special reports alongside his presentation duties. He left the programme on 26 September 2008, ahead of a relaunch with new presenters. He also appeared regularly on BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC 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...
, presenting the programme's business news segments from the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
, filling in for regular business reporter Declan Curry
Declan Curry
Declan Curry is an Irish journalist, presenter and businessman, currently employed by the BBC and best known as the former Business Correspondent for BBC Breakfast.-Early career:Curry studied chemistry at Imperial College, London...
.
Paddy presented the weekday evening TV quiz show Battle of the Brains
Battle of the Brains (TV series)
Battle of the Brains is a British game show hosted by Nicky Campbell and produced by Shine Limited for BBC Manchester. The first series was broadcast weekdays on BBC Two at 6:00pm, and started on 28 July 2008, ending on 22 August. The second series began on 9 February 2009 ending on 6 March...
on BBC Two, before being replaced by Nicky Campbell
Nicky Campbell
Nicholas Andrew Argyll "Nicky" Campbell is a Scottish radio and television presenter and journalist. He is known for his time presenting on programmes such as the consumer affairs programme Watchdog...
.
Alongside these BBC commitments, O'Connell was also a regular presenter on London's LBC 97.3
LBC 97.3
LBC 97.3 is a London-based talk and phone-in radio station. It is one half of the latest incarnation of LBC, the news and speech service which was Britain's first commercial radio station when it went on air in October 1973...
radio station.
Current TV and radio work
O'Connell currently works on a wide range of BBC radio and TV programmes. He presents the weekly BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC 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...
irreverent Sunday morning news review strand, Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House (radio programme)
Broadcasting House is a current affairs programme on BBC Radio 4, presented by Paddy O'Connell. It is broadcast every Sunday between 09:00 and 10:00....
. He joined the programme full-time in 2006, having previously covered for its former presenter Fi Glover
Fi Glover
Fiona "Fi" Glover is a BBC journalist and presenter and, until March 2011, the host of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live.-Career:...
while she was on maternity leave. He's also an occasional presenter of PM
PM (Radio 4)
PM, sometimes referred to as the PM programme to avoid ambiguity, is BBC Radio 4's long-running early evening news and current affairs programme.-Broadcast times:...
on BBC Radio 4, standing in for regular host Eddie Mair
Eddie Mair
Eddie Mair is a British BBC radio and television presenter. He presents BBC Radio 4's daily news magazine PM also the Radio 4 Saturday only iPM and the BBC's NewsPod, is an occasional presenter of Newsnight, the stand-in presenter for Any Questions replacing the late Nick Clarke, and was the...
, and stood in for Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Guy Vine is a British author, journalist and news presenter for the BBC. He is known for his direct interview style and exclusive reporting from war-torn areas throughout Africa...
on his BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC 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...
lunchtime programme in early 2010, again in January 2011 and also in August, September and October 2011.
He also works as a regular reporter 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...
's evening current affairs programme The One Show
The One Show
The One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...
.
As well as news programmes, O'Connell continues to dabble in both light and prime-time entertainment programmes. From 2004, he commentated on the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
semi-finals on BBC Three. He also presented various behind-the-scenes segments at the main final of the contest, shown on BBC Three. In 2010, O'Connell took part in a Eurovision edition of PopMaster
PopMaster
PopMaster is a popular music quiz on the Ken Bruce Show on BBC Radio 2. It usually takes place at around 10:30 a.m. on weekday mornings.-Structure:...
on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC 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...
's Ken Bruce
Ken Bruce
Kenneth Robertson Bruce is a British broadcaster known for his programme on BBC Radio 2, which is broadcast on weekdays from 9:30am until 12 noon.-Early life and career:...
Show, losing to John Kennedy O'Connor
John Kennedy O'Connor
John Kennedy O'Connor is an author, entertainment and political commentator, based in the United States. Born in North London, United Kingdom, he has written, reported and broadcast for numerous media organizations, as well as writing, creating and producing media events for a number of...
. On 17 March 2011, he announced via Twitter that he had been replaced as a commentator for the Eurovision semi finals as the BBC 'refreshed' their Eurovision team. He appeared in the 2011 documentary The Secret History of Eurovision
The Secret History of Eurovision
The Secret History of Eurovision is a television documentary produced by Brook Lapping Productions and Electric Pictures in association with Screen Australia, charting the history of the Eurovision Song Contest and its impact on European political and social structure...
.
He also regularly chairs the First Wednesday discussions, hosted by the Frontline Club
Frontline Club
The Frontline Club is a media club near London's Paddington Station. With a strong emphasis on conflict reporting, it aims to champion independent journalism, provide an effective platform from which to support diversity and professionalism in the media, promote safe practice, and encourage both...
, in which a panel of experts and key figures debate current geopolitical events happening around the world. He is regarded as a fine moderator.