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Martin Sixsmith (born 24 September 1954) is a British author and radio/television presenter, primarily working for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

. He has also worked as an adviser to the Labour government and to the BBC television comedy series ''

The Thick of It ''The Thick of It'' is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of British government. Written and directed by Armando Iannucci, it was first broadcast for two short series on BBC Four in 2005, initially with a smal ...

''. Sixsmith's book, ''The Lost Child of

Philomena Lee Annie Philomena Lee (born 24 March 1933) is an Irish woman whose life was chronicled in the 2009 book ''The Lost Child of Philomena Lee'' by Martin Sixsmith. The book was made into a film titled '' Philomena'' (2013), which was nominated for fo ...

'', was the basis for the 2013 film ''

Philomena Philomena ( el, Ἁγία Φιλομένα), also known as Saint Philomena or ''Philomena of Rome'' was a young virgin martyr whose remains were discovered on May 24–25, 1802, in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Three tiles enclosing the tomb bore ...

'', in which Sixsmith is played by Steve Coogan.

Education

Sixsmith was born in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. He was educated at The Manchester Grammar School, then at New College, Oxford, Harvard, the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

University in Paris, and in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

– then called Leningrad – in Russia. He studied Russian and French. He was a Slavics Tutor at Harvard, and wrote his postgraduate thesis about Russian poetry. Between 2002 and 2007 he studied psychology and applied psychology as a mature student at

Birkbeck College, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £109 ...

, and at

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (formerly the City ...

Career and writings

Sixsmith joined the

...
in 1980 as a foreign correspondent, reporting from Moscow during the presidencies of Mikhail Gorbachev and

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

and the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. He also reported from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

during the Solidarity uprising and was the BBC's

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

correspondent during the election and first presidential term of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. He was based in Russia for five years, the US for four, Brussels for four and Poland for three. Sixsmith left the BBC in 1997 to work for the newly elected government of Tony Blair. He became Director of Communications for the

Department of Social Security The Department of Social Security (DSS) was a governmental agency in the United Kingdom from 1988 to 2001. The old abbreviation is still often used informally. Advertisements for rented accommodation used to describe prospective tenants who wou ...

(a civil service post), working first with

Harriet Harman Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabi ...

and Frank Field, then with

Alistair Darling Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...

. His next position was as a Director of GEC plc, where he oversaw the rebranding of the company as

Marconi Communications Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GE ...

. In December 2001, he returned to the Civil Service to join the

Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent is ...

as Director of Communications, where he became embroiled in a scandal over the actions of Jo Moore. Moore was a special adviser to the transport secretary

Stephen Byers Stephen John Byers (born 13 April 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallsend between 1992 and 1997, and North Tyneside from 1997 to 2010. He served in the Cabinet from 1998 to 2002, and was ...

who had been the subject of much public condemnation for suggesting that a controversial announcement could be "buried" by being made in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Sixsmith incurred the displeasure of

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

when his email advising Byers and Moore not to bury more bad news was leaked to the press. The government tried to force him to resign, but had later to issue an apology and pay him compensation. Sixsmith was widely expected to write a memoir or autobiography in the wake of his civil service departure. Instead, he produced a novel about near-future politics called ''Spin'' which was published in 2004, and indirectly led to his employment as an adviser on ''The Thick of It''. His second novel, ''I Heard Lenin Laugh'', was published in 2005. In 2006, he was commissioned by

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' ...

to present a series of programmes on

Russian poetry This is a list of authors who have written poetry in the Russian language. Alphabetical list A B C D E F G I K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z Sources See also * List of Russian archite ...

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

, ''Challenging the Silence.'' In 2007, Sixsmith wrote ''The Litvinenko File'', an examination of the feud between the Kremlin and Russia's émigré oligarchs. In 2008 he worked on two BBC documentaries exploring the legacy of the KGB in Russia and also presented a BBC documentary, ''The Snowy Streets of St Petersburg'', about artists and writers who fled the former Eastern bloc. In 2009, ''The Lost Child of Philomena Lee'' was published, about the forcible separation of

and her son,

Michael A. Hess Michael Anthony Hess (born Anthony Lee; 5 July 1952 – 15 August 1995) was an Irish-born American lawyer, deputy chief legal counsel and later Chief legal officer, chief legal counsel to the Republican National Committee (RNC) in the late 1980 ...

, by the nuns of

Sean Ross Abbey Sean Ross Abbey south of Roscrea in County Tipperary, Ireland, is a convent and the location of St Anne's Special School run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. St Crónán is believed to have founded a monastery at this locat ...

, an Irish convent, during the 1950s, and the subsequent attempts of Lee and Hess to contact one another. In 2010, he wrote ''Putin's Oil'', about Russia's energy wars and their consequences for Moscow and the world. In 2011, Sixsmith presented ''Russia: The Wild East'', a 50-part history of Russia for BBC Radio 4. His book ''Russia, a 1,000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East'' was published by Random House. He continued to work as an adviser to the BBC political sitcom, ''The Thick of It,'' and the Oscar-nominated film, '' In the Loop.'' In 2013, ''The Lost Child of Philomena Lee'' was adapted into the film ''

'', directed by

Stephen Frears Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...

, starring

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

and Steve Coogan (as Sixsmith), and written by Coogan and

Jeff Pope Jeff Pope is a British television producer and screenwriter who co-wrote the film ''Pierrepoint (film), Pierrepoint'' and the television drama ''The Fattest Man in Britain'' and who won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts, BAFTA in 2006 ...

. It was nominated for four Oscars. In 2014 Sixsmith presented a 25-part BBC Radio 4 series about the history of

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

and

psychiatry Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psych ...

, ''In Search of Ourselves''. In 2015, he made a BBC television documentary, ''Ireland's Lost Babies'', in which he revisited Philomena's story by travelling to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to investigate the Irish Catholic Church’s role in an adoption trade which saw thousands of children taken from their mothers and sent abroad. His 2017 book, ''Ayesha's Gift,'' is the story of a young woman's search to discover the truth about her father, who had been murdered in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. In 2019, he published ''An Unquiet Heart'', a historical novel based on the life of the Russian poet, Sergei Yesenin, and his stormy love affair with the actress Zinaida Raikh. His latest book, ''The War of Nerves'' (2021), is an account of the Cold War in terms of the psychology of the leaders on both sides.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sixsmith, Martin 1954 births Living people Harvard University alumni University of Paris alumni British male journalists People educated at Manchester Grammar School Alumni of New College, Oxford 21st-century British writers BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC radio presenters Labour Party (UK) officials Writers from Cheshire General Electric Company People from Warrington Writers about Russia Alumni of the University of London Alumni of London Metropolitan University