Carol Lesley Barnes (13 September 1944 – 8 March 2008) was a British television newsreader and broadcaster. She worked for

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

from 1975 to 2004.

Early life

Barnes was born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, and attended St Martin-in-the-Fields High School for Girls, Tulse Hill, London. She did not like school, and left at the age of 16, taking a number of jobs for a year, before leaving to study for

A levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

at a local college of further education. She graduated from

Sheffield University The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Firth College in 1879 ...

with a degree in English, French and Spanish, followed by a postgraduate teaching diploma ( PGCE) at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

Career

Barnes started her working life as a supply teacher, but decided to switch to a career in media, and held various posts including public relations officer for the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

in London and sub-editor on the magazine '' Time Out'', before moving into broadcasting, working for Independent Radio News. She was one of the original news team members at the launch of radio station LBC in 1973, and then worked as a reporter for

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 ...

for a year, before joining

in 1975. During her time as an ITN reporter, she covered

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

in Northern Ireland, the return of the Iranian spiritual leader

Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

in 1979, and the Brixton riots in 1981. She made her name as a reporter with ITN on the lunchtime news in the late 1970s, but her first stint as a newscaster came in March 1980 when she began alternating with Michael Nicholson as presenter on the '' News at 5:45''. Barnes was a regular

presenter Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a news program * Sports commentator, an announcer who presents analysis of a sporting event * Radio personality, presenter or announcer on a radio show * Television ...

on the '' ITN Lunchtime News'' and ITN's weekend news bulletins from July 1985 until March 1989, and again between January 1991 and 1998. During the intervening period, she was the launch presenter of the '' Channel 4 Daily'' breakfast programme. She regularly fronted the ITN flagship '' News at Ten'' programme, as well as other current affairs programmes, and in 1994 was voted Newscaster of the Year at the TV and Radio Industries Club Awards. She left ITN in 1999, and then returned in 2003 to work on their short-lived 24-hour ITV News Channel, until leaving again in 2004.Barnes splits from her husband after 17 years"
''Sunday Mirror'', 10 January 1999, as reproduced on the ''Find Articles'' website. Retrieved on 21 July 2007. Following her retirement from ITN in 1999, Barnes was a Dictionary Corner guest on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

quiz show '' Countdown'' for the next couple of years, making 23 appearances on the programme until 2001. Between 1999 and 2001, she occasionally appeared as a relief newsreader on Channel 4's breakfast show ''

The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1992 to 2002, and as a revival from 2021 to 2022. The show had various presenters, starting with Chris Evans (presenter), ...

'' (the programme replaced ''The Channel Four Daily'', on which Barnes had appeared).

Personal life

Barnes had two children. The elder, Clare, was from her six-year relationship with Denis MacShane, later a Labour

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

minister. Clare Barnes was born in 1979 and died in March 2004, aged 24, in a

skydiving Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

accident over Barwon Heads, south-west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia. Her son James was born a year after she married ITN cameraman Nigel Thomson in 1981. A keen golfer and one-time qualified private pilot, Barnes resided in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, and became a local

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

in 1999, until forced to stand down after being convicted of a drink-driving offence in 2004, shortly after her daughter's death.Ex-newsreader Barnes dies at 63
''BBC'', 8 March 2008. Retrieved on 8 March 2008.

Later life and death

On 18 January 2008, Barnes presented ''Saving Ed Mitchell'' on ITV1, a programme about her former colleague Ed Mitchell's descent into

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. On 4 March 2008, the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' newspaper reported that she had suffered a life-threatening

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

that had left her in a coma. Her doctors did not expect her to recover, and several of her closest friends also voiced these fears. Her son James gave doctors permission to switch off her life support system after they had warned him that there was no reasonable hope that she would recover. While Barnes was dying in hospital, her London flat was burgled. After Barnes died, ''The Argus'' newspaper in

, where she had lived for some years, decided to name their Courageous Child of the Year Award after her. The Carol Barnes Courageous Child of the Year Award is one of around 20 awards given to unsung yet deserving heroes of Sussex at an annual ceremony, hosted by the newspaper.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 8 March 2008Obituary, ''The Times'', 9 March 2008Obituary, ''The Guardian'', 10 March 2008

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Carol 1944 births 2008 deaths Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Sheffield British radio people British reporters and correspondents English television presenters ITN newsreaders and journalists Mass media people from Brighton Media personalities from Norwich