Trevor McDonald

File:SirTrevorMcDonald.jpg

Trevor McDonald anchoring the ITV News at Ten Thirty

Sir Trevor McDonald, OBE (born 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian-born British television presenter. Until 2005, he was a newscaster with ITN, notable for being the first black news anchor in the UK.

McDonald is now seen as a part of the broadcasting establishment, and was knighted in 1999. His clear, confident delivery and serious attitude have made him one of British television's most trusted reporters. He has won more awards than any other British broadcaster[1].

Early life and career

He was born in Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies and received his secondary education at Naparima College in San Fernando where he got his start in broadcasting through the Blue Circle Network, a school-wide broadcast. His mother had decided to name him Trevor, but when his father took him to be baptised he forgot and named him George McDonald. Despite this McDonald has always gone by the name of Trevor.

McDonald's father was an oil worker, and the family came from an unprivileged background. In spite of this, he sought to better his English by listening to the BBC World Service and reading extensively. He worked for the BBC World Service as a producer in the 1960s, and moved to the United Kingdom at the end of that decade.

ITN

He joined ITN as a reporter in 1973 and steadily rose to become a newsreader by the late 1970s. He presented the News at Ten bulletin from 1991 to 1999, and from 2001 until 2004, when it was replaced with the ITV News at Ten Thirty. During this period he also hosted Granada Television's current affairs programme Tonight with Trevor McDonald.

Indeed, on 29 November, 2005, speculation that he was about to leave ITV to work elsewhere ended when he signed a further two year contract involving producing both a documentary show and a new series of interviews, which will be of a wider general interest than the work he has done up till now.

McDonald presented his last ITV News bulletin on 15 December, 2005. The veteran newsreader stepped down from his role as anchor after more than 30 years at ITN, but said he has no plans to retire completely from television. Over the end titles of his last programme the old News at Ten end theme was played.

Other Work

Before joining the News at Ten, McDonald was diplomatic editor on Channel 4 News.

Since their inception in 1995, he has presented the National Television Awards.

On 21 April 2006, McDonald presented an episode of Have I Got News For You to some degree of success; he delivered the autocue jokes - some of which were extremely risqué - in his usual sober newscaster manner, the juxtaposition of which prompted team captain Paul Merton to laugh heartily in mock disbelief on numerous occasions. It was McDonald's first appearance in any capacity on the show since 1992.

McDonald is Chancellor of London South Bank University. He also has intimate ties with King's College School in Wimbledon, a London day school. He acts as an advocate for the school in its promotional videos and presides at important events in its calendar. He was notably a guest speaker and presenter of awards at King's College Junior School prizegiving in 2002, where he made a moving eulogy to a departing member of staff.

McDonald is the author of biographies of the cricketers Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd. He has worked as an editor of poetry anotholgies, and his autobiography Fortunate Circumstances was published in 1993.

Trivia

• A great lover of cricket, he has admitted to failing Norman Tebbit's notorious Englishness cricket test by supporting the Trinidad and West Indies cricket teams. He is also a member of Surrey County Cricket Club and regularly attends matches at the Oval.
• Lenny Henry's comic character Trevor McDoughnut, is a spoof of McDonald. McDonald once surprised Henry during a performance of McDoughnut on Tiswas by walking in to the studio to sit with Henry.

External links

• Article on BBC News about Sir Trevor McDonald's final bulletin
• Biographical article on BBC News about Sir Trevor McDonald
• Trevor McDonald clips at TV-Ark
• King's College School website