Anna Elizabeth Botting (born 4 November 1967) is an English news presenter with Sky News, a broadcasting network based in the United Kingdom. She currently presents Sky News from 21:00 until midnight from Monday to Thursday. Prior to the channel's rescheduling in July 2006, Botting presented ''

The Sky Report ''The Sky Report'' is a 60-minute newscast shown every weekday evening on Sky News at 7 pm (GMT), broadcast between October 2005 and July 2006. The programme was hosted by long-standing Sky News presenter Julie Etchingham, and showcased in-depth ...

'', and from then until February 2007, she presented Sky News from 18:00 to 20:00 alongside

Jeremy Thompson Jeremy Gordon Thompson (born 23 September 1947) is an English journalist and former news presenter for Sky News, the 24-hour UK television news service operated by Sky UK. He was based at Sky News Centre in west London. He started out as a jou ...

Background

Botting, born in

Cranleigh Cranleigh is a village and civil parish, about southeast of Guildford in Surrey, England. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the m ...

, Surrey, is the daughter of

Douglas Botting Douglas Scott Botting (22 February 1934 – 6 February 2018) was an English explorer, author, biographer and TV presenter and producer. He wrote biographies of naturalists Gavin Maxwell and Gerald Durrell (the former also being a personal friend ...

, explorer and author, and Louise Botting, a company director and former broadcaster. She studied Geography at

St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, before deciding to pursue a career in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

. She took a postgraduate course in journalism at

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

, before beginning work in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

as a researcher for a social action show for

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

. In 1991, Botting took a job with

BBC North BBC North (Group) is an operational business division of the BBC. It is also a brand that has been used by the BBC to mean: *The large ''BBC North'' region, centred on Manchester, that was active from the late 1920s until 1968 and was based ...

as a reporter for radio and TV. From here she became a presenter for the local news programme, ''

Look North ''BBC Look North'' is a name used by the BBC for its regional news programmes in three regions in the North of England: *''BBC Look North'' for the BBC North East and Cumbria region *''BBC Look North'' for the BBC Yorkshire region *''BBC Look No ...

''. Botting joined Sky News in 1995, meaning that she is now one of the network's longest-serving presenters. She has presented a wide range of programmes on Sky, including: ''

Sky News Today ''Sky News Today'' is a live news programme on Sky News which usually runs between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm on weekdays. The programme was presented by two anchors, however following on from the social distancing measures due to COVID-19, and the d ...

'', '' Sky News at Ten'', '' Live at Five'', '' Sky News Tonight'' and ''

''.

Career at Sky

Anna Botting joined Sky News in 1995 as a reporter, before moving into the studio to anchor the news. During the 1997 election Botting shadowed Liberal Democrat leader

Paddy Ashdown Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internat ...

, day-in day-out, for the whole six weeks of the campaign. She was also the first journalist to arrive at Kensington Palace on the day Diana, Princess of Wales died. Botting also covered the death of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

and anchored coverage of the wars in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

from the studio. She was presenting on air when

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

n leader

Slobodan Milosevic Slobodan ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан) is a Serbo-Croatian masculine given name which means "free" (''sloboda'' / meaning "freedom, liberty") used among other South Slavs as well. It was coined by Serbian liberal politician Vladimir Jovanović w ...

was ousted from office. In Summer 2006, whilst anchoring from

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, Botting interviewed the British politician

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...

about the Israel-Lebanon war. Galloway criticised Sky News,

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

and Botting in person for being biased towards Israel. Anna Botting notably won the Royal Television Society's news presenter of the year award in May 2012 and became the second woman to do so; this followed her return from Japan and location anchoring work for Sky News following the

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

of March 2011. She reported from Fukushima Nuclear Power Station and northwest Honshu Island in the aftermath of the disaster. Botting also anchored on location during the fall of Tripoli in 2011. Botting had notably worked alongside the former Sky presenter

Bob Friend Robert Bartmess Friend (November 24, 1930 – February 3, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher between and , most notably as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. A f ...

before her popular partnership with Jeremy Thompson on ''Live at Five'' took off. Botting appeared as herself in the 2014 science fiction action film ''

Edge of Tomorrow ''Edge of Tomorrow'' (also known as ''Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow'') is a 2014 American science fiction action film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt with Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson in supporting roles. Directed by Doug Liman with ...

'', which stars

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...

and

Emily Blunt Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards ...

. Botting led Sky News' coverage of the

Funeral of Elizabeth II On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death ...

with Alastair Bruce on 19 September 2022.

Personal life

A keen rower during her time at university, Botting took part in BBC Three's ''The Other Boat Race''. She was one of twelve public figures and Oxbridge alumni who trained and competed in their own version of the annual rowing event. She captained the Oxford crew and her team won the contest.

References

External links

Anna Botting, Sky News
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Botting, Anna Living people 1967 births English reporters and correspondents English television presenters Sky News newsreaders and journalists Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford People from Cranleigh