Alastair Malcolm Leithead (; born 1972) is an English journalist working as a foreign correspondent for the
BBC. Leithead was based in
Nairobi from 2015 to 2019.
[Istanbul's mayoral election upset]
''FOOC
''From Our Own Correspondent'' is a weekly BBC radio programme in which BBC foreign correspondents deliver a sequence of short talks reflecting on current events and topical themes in the countries outside the UK in which they are based. The pr ...
'', 29 June 2019 He works across all
BBC News outlets.
Early life
Alastair Leithead was born in
Amersham
Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt.
...
to Arthur Leithead, a security manager, and Edna Leithead (née Mooney), a teacher in private education. He was raised in
Blaydon-on-Tyne and educated at the
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle.
, Giving the gift of education He then went to the
University of Manchester to study geography.
, Why I support RGS Bursaries.
Early career
After leaving University, Leithead worked at the ''
Newcastle Evening Chronicle'' before joining
BBC Radio Newcastle. Later he worked as a news producer in
London.
Foreign reporting
As a foreign correspondent, Leithead has been based in Africa and Asia before moving to
Kabul. There he covered the war in
Afghanistan. Leithead has reported from a refugee camp in
South Sudan.
More recently, he has been based in
Los Angeles before being re-located to
Kenya as the BBC's Africa Correspondent in July 2015.
Awards
Leithead won the 2007
Bayeux-Calvados Awards for war correspondents Television Award for his war reporting. In 2005/6 he was shortlisted for the Royal Television Society's TV Journalism Award, and in 2008 he was shortlisted for a BAFTA for best news coverage.
References
External links
Alastair Leithead Twitter.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leithead, Alastair
1972 births
Living people
English journalists
People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne
Alumni of the University of Manchester
BBC newsreaders and journalists
People from Amersham