Robin Francis Leigh Oakley, OBE (born 20 August 1941) is a British journalist from

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...

in Worcestershire. From 2000 to 2008 he was European Political Editor at CNN International. From 1992 to 2000 he was Political Editor at the BBC.

Early life

Oakley was educated at

Wellington College, Berkshire Wellington College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. Wellington is a registered charity and currently educates roughly 1,200 pupils, between the ages of 13 ...

, and

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

Career

He started his career on the ''

Liverpool Daily Post The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013. Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, with the tit ...

'' where he became Political Editor. He was then the Crossbencher columnist and assistant editor on ''

The Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the Uni ...

'' and was assistant editor of the ''Daily Mail'' from 1981 to 1986. Between 1986 and 1992, he was a columnist and political editor for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

''. He then moved to the BBC, where he was Political Editor between 1992 and 2000. During this period he regularly presented political news items on BBC television news. His predecessor as BBC Political Editor was John Cole, and he was succeeded in 2000 by

Andrew Marr Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Beginning his career as a political commentator, he subsequently edited '' The Independent'' newspaper from 1996 to 1998 and was political editor of BBC ...

. After leaving the BBC, Oakley became CNN's European Political Editor. He is also an expert in

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

, and has written the Turf column in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' since 1994, as well as being the racing correspondent of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' for several years.

Author

His 2000 book "Valley of The Racehorse" is a story of the racing community in the

Lambourn Lambourn is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It lies just north of the M4 Motorway between Swindon and Newbury, and borders Wiltshire to the west and Oxfordshire to the north. After Newmarket it is the largest centre of ra ...

valley. His 2001 book ''Inside Track'' is based on his experiences as a political journalist.

Honours

He was awarded an OBE in 2001 for his services to political journalism.Robin Oakley at nyt
Retrieved 9 November 2013

Bibliography

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References

External links

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Robin Oakley retires early from the BBC
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford BBC newsreaders and journalists British political journalists Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire 1941 births Living people CNN people People from Kidderminster {{UK-journalist-stub