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Jon Sopel

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Jon Sopel
Sopel during an outside broadcast for BBC News with former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper in March 2008.
Born (1959-05-22) 22 May 1959 (age 65)
London, UK
EducationUniversity of Southampton
Notable credit(s)BBC News
The Politics Show
The Campaign Show (2010 UK Election)
Election 2010
Global
BBC World News
SpouseLinda Sopel

Jon Sopel (Jonathan B. Sopel,[1] born 22 May 1959,[2] London, England) is a British television presenter and correspondent for the BBC's international news channel, BBC World News, presenting Global with Jon Sopel between 1500 to 1630 every Monday to Thursday. He was previously chief political correspondent for BBC News 24 and a presenter on The Politics Show on BBC One and the BBC News Channel. Sopel was educated at Christ's College school in London before graduating with an honours degree in politics from Southampton University.

Broadcasting career

Starting his broadcasting career in local radio at BBC Radio Solent, Sopel went on to become the chief political correspondent for BBC News 24 and later spent three years as the BBC's Paris correspondent. Stories he covered while he was in Paris included the French ban on the importation of British beef, the millennium celebrations in Paris, the oil spill in Brittany, the French presidency of the EU in 2000 and the Concorde crash in July 2000. Sopel was a freelance writer and broadcaster before joining the BBC in 1983 as a reporter and producer for Radio Solent. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Sopel was the BBC's correspondent in Kuwait City.

In 2005 Sopel joined The Politics Show on BBC One replacing Jeremy Vine as the programme's main presenter. Broadcast every Sunday at noon, Sopel interviewed key politicians and advisers, who in the past have included then Prime Minister Tony Blair, opposition leader David Cameron, Jack Straw, Gordon Brown and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The show ended in December 2011 and was replaced by Sunday Politics in January 2012. [3]

Sopel has also co-presented the BBC News Channel on weekday afternoons between 2pm and 5pm - alongside Louise Minchin each Tuesday to Thursday and alongside Emily Maitlis on Mondays - following his appointment as a presenter on the channel in 2003.

During major political stories, such as elections, Sopel reported on location for the BBC News Channel and BBC News at One. He made occasional appearances on BBC One news bulletins as a relief anchor. In his 16 years with the BBC, he has appeared on PM on Radio Four, Breakfast News, BBC News at One, BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten as well as fronting BBC Two's annual coverage of the UK political party conferences, Conference Live. He has also been an occasional stand-in presenter for Newsnight, and has made past appearances on Breakfast, HARDtalk and The Daily Politics.

In October 2012 it was announced that Sopel would present new flagship programme, Global with Jon Sopel, airing between 1500 to 1630 GMT every Monday to Thursday on BBC World News [4]

Personal life

The 2007 edition of Who's Who listed Sopel's hobbies as golf, travel and watching football. He is also an ambassador for The Prince's Trust.[5] Sopel is an alumnus of the University of Southampton where he was the President of the Students' Union, for the National Organisation of Labour Students during 1982 and 1983. He met his wife Linda while working at Radio Solent; the couple have a son and daughter and live in North London.

On 20 October 2010 he broke his hip when he crashed his scooter on fallen leaves whilst on his way to Westminster to cover for the BBC the announcement of the government's spending cuts.[6] He failed to realise the full extent of his injury until after he had completed his journey, and subsequently required surgery.[7]

Awards

In 2007, Sopel was voted Political Journalist of the Year by the Public Affairs Industry [8]

Sopel was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Southampton in 2011.

In 2013, Sopel was shortlisted for National Presenter of the Year at the Royal Television Society Television Journalism Awards 2011/2012. [9]

Publications

  • Tony Blair: The Moderniser (1995) Michael Joseph, London. ISBN 0-7181-3918-6 / 0-7181-3918-6

References

  1. ^ G.R.O. Births Index, Hammersmith April–June 1959, Volume 5c Page 1107
  2. ^ Who's Who 2008
  3. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/06/bbc-cuts-news-2000-jobs?newsfeed=true
  4. ^ "Presenter Jon Sopel to join BBC World News". BBC Media Centre. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Jon Sopel "Skipping breakfast saved my hip: BBC reporter Jon Sopel on the day disaster struck", Daily Mail 6 November 2010
  7. ^ "BBC newsreader Jon Sopel breaks hip in scooter crash", BBC News, 21 October 2010 Retrieved 21 October 2010
  8. ^ http://www.publicaffairsnews.com/index.php?id=92
  9. ^ http://www.rts.org.uk/winners-tja

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