Gareth Mitchell is a Welsh

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scien ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, lecturer and former broadcast engineer.

Early life

Mitchell was born Gareth James Mitchell in Eastleigh, England to a Welsh father, Colin Mitchell. He spent his childhood in

Montgomeryshire , HQ= Montgomery , Government= Montgomeryshire County Council (1889–1974)Montgomeryshire District Council (1974–1996) , Origin= , Status= , Start= , End= ...

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

, Wales. When Gareth was seven, his father lit up a bulb with a closed circuit, and that sparked his interest in science. He has a brother named Julian. He was a member of the computer society at school (

Welshpool High School Welshpool High School is located in Welshpool, Powys. It is a combined secondary school and sixth form, catering for pupils aged 11 to 19. In 2022, a new headteacher was appointed. Motto and the school The school's motto is ''Raising Achievement ...

) and participated in bellringing and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

playing at his local church. As an undergraduate studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, Mitchell joined campus radio working behind the scenes, but saw that " e people who seemed to be having all the good fun were the creative types in the studios." Because of that, after getting his engineering degree and relevant work, he took up an MSc in Science Communication, also at Imperial, a decision which made his parents concerned at the time.

Broadcasting

Mitchell joined the BBC during the mid-1990s, starting his career as a broadcast engineer. His initial dream was to be part of ''

Tomorrow's World ''Tomorrow's World'' is a former British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorro ...

'', BBC's flagship technology TV programme, but a visit to a radio studio at

Bush House Bush House is a Grade II listed building at the southern end of Kingsway between Aldwych and the Strand in London. It was conceived as a major new trade centre by American industrialist Irving T. Bush, and commissioned, designed, funded, a ...

got him obsessed about radio journalism. Mitchell eventually decided to trade climbing TV and radio transmitter towers for science and technology journalism. He had worked for Radio Netherlands on science programmes. His first hosting role on the BBC was for the youth science program, ''The Lab''. Occasionally, he had also presented '' Science in Action'' and
The Science Hour
' on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

, and on TV '' Click''. He presents on the BBC most notably as the host of '' Digital Planet'' (previously known as ''Click'' and ''Go Digital'') a BBC

radio programme A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

broadcast worldwide on the

with Bill Thompson. From time to time, he is a stand-in presenter fo
''BBC Inside Science''
on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

. Additionally, Mitchell had written for the Q & A section of th
''BBC (Science) Focus Magazine''
and regularly hosted their podcast from 2008 to 2017.

Lecturing

Mitchell has lectured at

since 1998 in broadcast and written journalism on the Science Communication Unit since 2000 or 2002. He also presents th
Imperial College Podcast
The key event leading to his appointment as a radio tutor was a bet in a pub over a

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

job advertisement for that role. He emceed

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sa ...

Imperial. He has attended the World Economic Forum and has hosted workshops, discussion panels and conferences on science and technology.

Personal life

Apart from the bells and the organ, other instruments Mitchell could play are the piano/keyboard and guitar. He rides motorcycles, can fly a plane, and is a licensed amateur radio operator since August 2019. One of his intriguing inventions was reviving the clocks he'd bought at an auction for items from

, the

's former headquarters. He misses the pubs.

References

External links

Gareth Mitchell's YouTube videos

Gareth's OpenLearn articles
for the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ...

Gareth Mitchell's articles for ''BBC Science Focus Magazine''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Gareth Living people Welsh journalists Academics of Imperial College London People from Eastleigh BBC World Service presenters BBC people 1970 births