Martyn Lewis
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Sir Martyn John Dudley Lewis (born 7 April 1945) is a Welsh television news presenter and journalist. He was a presenter for
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
television programmes between 1986 and 1999 and was known for his involvement in the coverage of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. He is also active in the charity sector and is the founder and executive chairman of YourBigDay Ltd.


Early life and education

Lewis was born in Swansea, Glamorgan, though was educated at the co-educational
Dalriada School Dalriada School is a mixed voluntary grammar school in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland. The school draws its pupils from a wide geographical area and a range of social, religious and cultural backgrounds. In 2008 the school won the Northern Ireland ...
in Northern Ireland, and graduated with a BA degree from Trinity College, Dublin. He then joined BBC Northern Ireland in 1967.


Television news

He was a news presenter and reporter on HTV and ITN, before joining the
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...
in October 1986 to present
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
bulletins until a major relaunch of BBC News output in 1999. Lewis became the first presenter of the '' One O'Clock News'' on
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
on 27 October 1986 when it was launched as part of the introduction of the channel's daytime schedule, replacing '' News After Noon''. Subsequently, he presented other bulletins including the '' Six O'Clock News'' and '' Nine O'Clock News''. He created a modicum of controversy in 1993 when he claimed that television should feature more "good news". He subsequently stated that he had been "misunderstood" on the matter. Lewis played a prominent role in the announcement of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on Sunday 31 August 1997. He was called into the BBC in the early hours of that morning to present short national bulletins during a late night viewing of ''
Borsalino Borsalino is the oldest Italian company specializing in the manufacture of luxury hats. Since 1857, the manufacture has been based in Alessandria, Piedmont. The founder, Giuseppe Borsalino, is remembered for creating a particular model of felt ...
'' about the car accident in Paris. He returned home afterwards to get some sleep – expecting the Princess to pull through – only to be drafted in again in time for the special 6am bulletin covering Diana's death. During the marathon coverage which was simulcast on BBC1,
BBC World BBC World News is an International broadcasting, international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a State-owned enterprise, public corporation of the Governme ...
as well as broadcasters around the world which took in the BBC news feed, Lewis was almost brought to tears following
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 ...
's "People's Princess" statement. His uninterrupted presenting stint ended at 1pm when
Peter Sissons Peter George Sissons (17 July 1942 – 1 October 2019) was an English journalist and broadcaster. He was a newscaster for ITN, providing bulletins on ITV and Channel 4, before becoming the presenter of the BBC's ''Question Time'' between 1989 ...
took over. On 26 April 1999, a few weeks before the BBC relaunched its news programmes, he presented the ''Six O'Clock News'' bulletin with
Jennie Bond Jennifer Bond (born 19 August 1950) is an English journalist and television presenter. Bond worked for fourteen years as the BBC's royal correspondent. She has most recently hosted ''Cash in the Attic'' and narrated the programme ''Great Briti ...
on the day his co-host
Jill Dando Jill Wendy Dando (9 November 1961 – 26 April 1999) was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She spent most of her career at the BBC and was the corporation's Personality of the Year in 1997. At the time of her death, her ...
was murdered outside her home in West London. He also appeared on ITV News that evening to pay tribute to Dando. He presented his last bulletin at the start of May 1999 from
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, reporting on Scottish devolution, signing off with, "And from me, it's goodbye."


Other television

As part of the celebrations for ITN's 50th anniversary, he returned to television news to present a special edition of the ''
ITV Evening News The ''ITV Evening News'' is the evening news programme produced by ITN on the British television network ITV. It airs Monday to Friday from 6:30pm, covering British national and international news stories and is presented by Mary Nightingale. ...
'' with
Mary Nightingale Mary Nightingale (born 26 May 1963) is an English journalist and television presenter, best known for presenting the '' ITV Evening News'' since 2001. Education and early career Nightingale was educated at St Margaret's School, an independent s ...
in September 2005. Lewis was the long-running host, from 1993, of the BBC news-based quiz show '' Today's the Day'' and the primetime BBC TV series
Crimebeat
' from 1996 to 1998. He retired from newsreading in 1999 and since then has presented occasional programmes on ITV, including ''Dateline Jerusalem'' and ''Ultimate Questions''. He played himself in brief cameo roles in several films, appearing as a newsreader in the 1999 James Bond film ''
The World Is Not Enough ''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Michael Apted, from an ...
'', in ''
The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...
'' and ''
The Vicar of Dibley ''The Vicar of Dibley'' is a British sitcom which originally ran on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 1 January 2007. It is set in a fictional small Oxfordshire village called Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1992 changes ...
'' in 2000, and in archive footage featured in the 2006 film ''
The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...
'', as well as ''Argo'', ''Senna'' and ''The James Bond Story''. In 2008, he appeared in the video on board the
Heathrow Express Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway and Heathrow ...
as a guide to the airport security. In 2013, he appeared as the presenter in television commercials for
Calgon Calgon is an American brand of bath and beauty products, owned by PDC Brands. Early history The original product consisted of powdered sodium hexametaphosphate (amorphous sodium polyphosphate), which in water would complex with ambient calci ...
, acting out interviews with "experts" in a series entitled "Smart Washing with Calgon".


Other business

Lewis was chairman and co-founder of Teliris, one of the first
telepresence Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance or effect of being present via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location. Telepresence requires that the use ...
systems developed. He was actively involved in the marketing of this solution through personal contacts, speaking engagements and "Telepresence Times", his
vlog A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded i ...
launched in 2009. He retired as chairman in 2012. He is the founder and Executive Chairman o
YourBigDay Ltd
which uses the ITN and Reuters archives to produce birthday and anniversary videos covering most of the last century. In July 2020, Lewis joined the board of renewable energy start-u
Alpha 311


Charity work

Lewis is a vice-president of Hospice UK,
Marie Curie Cancer Care Marie Curie is a registered charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which provides care and support to people living with a terminal illness and those close to them, and campaigns for better support for dying people. It was established in 19 ...
, Macmillan Cancer Support, East Anglia Children's Hospices (EACH) and Demelza Children's Hospice. He is president of United Response, a charity supporting people with learning disabilities or mental health needs to live in the community, in England and in Wales. He founded the youth charity YouthNet in 1995 (now known as The Mix), and stayed as chairman until stepping down in July 2014, though he remains an advisor. The charity provides advice, information and support through websites aimed at young people. From 2010 to 2016 he was chair of the
National Council for Voluntary Organisations The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) is the umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in England. It is a registered charity (no 225922). NCVO works to support the voluntary and community sector and to create an ...
, an umbrella body for charities in England and Wales with over 13,000 members. He is also chairman of the
Queen's Award for Voluntary Service The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, also known as The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community and The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sect ...
. He was chairman of Families of the Fallen 2010–15; trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust 2001–10, and is currently deputy chair of the
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...
's Dragon Awards. He is a patron of Mildmay Mission Hospital, The Patchwork Foundation, the quarterly broadsheet '' Positive News'', and Dementia UK. In September 2015, it was announced that Lewis had become the first ambassador of
Pennies A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...
, a fintech charity that enables charitable micro-donations.


Personal life

He married Liz Carse in 1970. They met while working at HTV Wales in the late 1960s – she was a continuity announcer and he was a reporter and presenter. Carse died in 2012 after a long battle with Huntington's Disease. Lewis and Carse have two daughters, Kate Lewis and singer-songwriter Sylvie Lewis. Lewis is now married to Patsy Baker (née Wallis) who is Senior Group Adviser to the Huntsworth Group of public relations companies.


Honours

Lewis was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(CBE) in 1997 for his services to young people and the hospice movement and was knighted in the
2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
for voluntary and charitable work, especially for the hospice movement. Lewis also holds an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the
University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...
, and is a Freeman of the City of London, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a member of the
Garrick Club The Garrick Club is a gentlemen's club in the heart of London founded in 1831. It is one of the oldest members' clubs in the world and, since its inception, has catered to members such as Charles Kean, Henry Irving, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Ar ...
and the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
.


Bibliography

Books by Lewis include: *''And Finally'' (1984) – an anthology of humorous stories that have ended news bulletins over the years. *''Tears and Smiles – the Hospice Handbook'' (with the
Duchess of Kent Duchess of Kent is the principal courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, the wife of Prince Edward. He inherited the dukedom ...
, 1989) – the first layman's guide to the British Hospice movement. *''Cats in The News'' (1991) – a humorous anthology which topped the best seller list for 8 weeks. *''Dogs in the News'' (1992) *''Go For It – Martyn Lewis's Essential Guide to Opportunities for Young People'' (1993–98) – annual publication which was the forerunner of the charity YouthNet. *''Today's The Day'' (1995) – based on Lewis' quiz show of the same name. *''Reflections on Success'' (1997) – interviews with over 60 famous people across a wide range of professions analysing their success. *''Seasons of Our Lives'' (1999) – an anthology of poetry and prose to comfort, encourage and amuse people as they go through different stages of life.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Martin 1945 births BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World News ITN newsreaders and journalists Living people People educated at Dalriada School People from Swansea Welsh television presenters Knights Bachelor Commanders of the Order of the British Empire