James Allan Stuart Little (born 11 October 1959) is a Special Correspondent for BBC News, based at New Broadcasting House, London.

Early life

Little was born on 11 October 1959 in Dunragit, a small village in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, Scotland. He attended Stranraer Academy before attending and graduating from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, where he read history and politics.

Career

In 1983, Little joined

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

to work as a news and current affairs researcher, and in 1985 transferred to London in order to train as a radio reporter. After two years at BBC Radio Solent, Little moved to

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' programme in 1988. Here, he specialised in foreign reporting, including the

Revolutions of 1989 The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Communist state, Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts ...

in Eastern Europe. Between 1990 and 1995, Little worked as a

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 ...

reporter, during this period reported from

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

during the 1991

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

and from

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

following the war, covering the Shia rebellions. From 1991 to 1995, he reported on the break-up of Yugoslavia. He co-wrote (with Laura Silber) the book ''The Death of Yugoslavia'', which accompanied the television series of the same name, produced by Norma Percy at Brook Lapping. In 1995, Little moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

as the BBC's

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

correspondent. While based in Johannesburg, he reported on the aftermath of the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

and the overthrow of

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

's President

Mobutu Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga ( ; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997), often shortened to Mobutu Sese Seko or Mobutu and also known by his initials MSS, was a Congolese politician and military officer ...

. Between 1997 and 1999, he served as the BBC's

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

correspondent during

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

's tenure as Russian president. In early 1999, Little began work on a number of current affairs projects and to present the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4. He worked as the BBC's

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

correspondent from 2000 to 2001. He was then sent to be the BBC's correspondent in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he remained until 2005. Little's final role at the BBC was as a special correspondent. In this role, he reported on

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...

and led the BBC's coverage of the Scottish independence referendum. The BBC announced in December 2014 that he would be leaving the broadcaster at the end of 2014. Little stated: "I am leaving the staff of the BBC to pursue other projects and hope to continue working in broadcasting in the future". In June 2015, it was announced that he would succeed

Susan Rice Susan Elizabeth Rice (born November 17, 1964) is an American diplomat, policy advisor, and public official. As a member of the Democratic Party, Rice served as the 22nd director of the United States Domestic Policy Council from 2021 to 2023, a ...

as the chair of the

Edinburgh International Book Festival The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place during two weeks in August every year in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. Described as ''The largest festival of its kind in the world'', the festival hosts ...

in October 2015. He has continued to work as a freelance journalist, and in September 2022 led commentary from Westminster Abbey of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II for BBC Radio.

Awards

Little has won several awards including a Gold

Sony Radio Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

for Reporter of the Year in 1992,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Reporter of the Year in 1992, Bayeux-Calvados Radio War Correspondent of the Year in 1994, a Sony Documentary Gold Award in 2000, and the Grierson Premier TV Documentary Award in 2001. In 2008 Little won the

UACES UACES is a membership organisation for academics, students and practitioners in all fields of contemporary European studies and the study of the European Union. It is widely known as the editor and disseminator of the '' Journal on Common Market ...

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...

Reporting Europe prize. In 2012 he was the fourth recipient of the Charles Wheeler Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcast Journalism.

Personal life

He married journalist and broadcaster

Sheena McDonald Sheena Elizabeth McDonald (born 25 July 1954, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. Early life She was the daughter of Very Rev William J. G. McDonald, minister of Mayfield church in Edinburgh, and Moderato ...

on 21 June 2006.

References

External links

Allan Little
in the BBC Programme Index
Reflections: Allan Little
Frontline Club via youtube, recorded 29 November 2009. Little interviewed by Vin Ray, director of the BBC College of Journalism. {{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Allan British male journalists Living people 1959 births People educated at Stranraer Academy UACES award BBC newsreaders and journalists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish journalists