David Dimbleby
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David Dimbleby (born 28 October 1938) is an English journalist and former presenter of current affairs and political programmes, best known for having presented the BBC topical debate programme '' Question Time''. He is the son of broadcaster Richard Dimbleby and elder brother of Jonathan Dimbleby, of the Dimbleby family. Long involved in the coverage of national events, Dimbleby hosted the BBC Election Night coverage from
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
to 2017, as well as United States presidential elections on the BBC until 2016. He has also presented and narrated documentary series on architecture and history.


Early life and education

Dimbleby was born in
East Sheen East Sheen, also known as Sheen, is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its long High Street, high street has shops, offices, restaurants, cafés, pubs and suburban supermarkets and is also the economic ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
, the son of the journalist and
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
war correspondent Richard Dimbleby, by his marriage to Dilys Thomas, from Wales. He had three siblings: two brothers, Jonathan Dimbleby, also a television current affairs presenter, and Nicholas (died 2024), and a sister, Sally. David Dimbleby was educated at two independent schools, the Glengorse School in Battle, East Sussex, and Charterhouse in Godalming, Surrey, where he was a contemporary of the journalist Adam Raphael. The two younger Dimblebys both made their television débuts in the 1950s in the BBC's first holiday programme ''Passport'', at a time when the whole family would visit resorts in Switzerland or
Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
. A holiday programme for the home counties, called ''No Passport'', was also broadcast. After learning French in Paris and Italian in
Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...
, Dimbleby read
Philosophy, politics and economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...
at
Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...
and graduated with a third-class degree. While at Oxford he was President of the Christ Church Junior Common Room, a member of the Bullingdon Club – a socially exclusive student dining and drinking society – and also editor of the student magazine ''
Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...
''.


Career


Early career

Dimbleby joined the BBC as a news reporter in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
in the 1960s and has appeared in news programmes since 1962, early on co-presenting the televised version of the school quiz '' Top of the Form'', and was a reporter on the BBC's coverage of the 1964 general election with his father as linkman. Richard Dimbleby died the following year. On 24 July 1967, Dimbleby was one of seventy signatories to an advertisement in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' advocating the decriminalisation of cannabis use, which had been written by campaigner Stephen Abrams. An incident in 1969 led to Dimbleby, then freelance, being called in by the BBC's Director of Television. During U.S. President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
's visit to the UK, a reference by Dimbleby to UK and US government heads' "expensively hired" press secretaries "whose job is to disguise the truth" was given much attention by the British press. Dimbleby became involved in a number of projects that combined his established role as presenter and interviewer with documentary making. An early example of this was '' Yesterday's Men'' (1971), a film which the BBC recognises "ridiculed" the Labour opposition and led to a major conflict between the Corporation and the Labour Party; Dimbleby had his name removed from the credits because of the concessions that were made. In 1974, he became the presenter of '' Panorama'', which had been presented by his father.


Coverage of elections

Dimbleby anchored the BBC's overnight coverage of the 1979 general election, and continued in this role until the 2017 general election, for a total of ten general elections. In addition to election coverage, he also hosted BBC
Budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...
specials, and was a presenter of the BBC early evening weekday current affairs series '' Nationwide''. During the same period (beginning in 1979), Dimbleby has also been the anchor for the BBC's European Parliament election results programmes and in 2008 and 2012, anchored the BBC's coverage of the US election night. Dimbleby was the main presenter of the BBC's political series ''This Week Next Week'' (1984–88), broadcast on Sunday early afternoons, as a competitor to ITV's established '' Weekend World'' series. As early as 1987, he was a contender for the position of Director-General of the BBC (losing out to Michael Checkland). ''This Week Next Week'' was replaced in 1988 by the '' On the Record'', a political series presented until 1993 by his younger brother, Jonathan Dimbleby. Meanwhile, he continued to work in documentaries, including ''The White Tribe of Africa'' (1979), an award-winning four-part history of South Africa's Afrikaans community and the rise of
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
, ''An Ocean Apart'' (1988), an examination of the history of Anglo-American relations, and ''Rebellion!'' (1999), a history of Britain's troubled relations with
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
. By this time, Dimbleby was established as the anchor for the BBC's coverage of events of national importance, such as the State Opening of Parliament, the Trooping the Colour, and the National Service of Remembrance service at the Cenotaph in
Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...
. Dimbleby served as chairman of the BBC's Thursday evening topical debate programme '' Question Time'' from 1994 until 2018. One of the most memorable moments from ''Question Time'' was when Dimbleby accidentally referred to Robin Cook as "Robin Cock", to which Cook responded by jokingly referring to Dimbleby as "David Bumblebee".


2000s

In 1999, Dimbleby opened '' 2000 Today'', the BBC's coverage of the millennium celebrations, from
Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...
, England. He commentated on the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 2002 and former
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
in 2013, as well as the state visit of US President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
to the UK in 2003. In 2002, Dimbleby hosted the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II coverage. A profile by Ben Summerskill for '' The Observer'' in 2001 quoted an unnamed former Cabinet Minister who had observed Dimbleby's career for many decades: "I suspect he has an almost medieval view, that the Queen governs through Parliament... There are a few quarrels among the subjects – over which he presides very capably – but they have very little to do with what Britain is really about." Dimbleby, though, has himself criticised what he sees as archaic elements of the State Opening of Parliament. David Dimbleby was chairman of the Dimbleby Newspaper Group, former publishers of the '' Richmond and Twickenham Times'', acquired by the Newsquest Media Group in 2001 for a reported £12,000,000. There were reports in 2004 that Dimbleby was shortlisted for the chairmanship of the BBC. However, the position was eventually awarded to
Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth (born 8 March 1943) is an English Media proprietor, television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive ...
. Dimbleby was a contender for the chairmanship in the corporation's tumultuous period following 2001, which went to Gavyn Davies. He has instead remained, according to Mark Duguid for the BFI's screenonline website, best known for his "gravitas, journalistic integrity and consummate professionalism" and as "a paragon of impartiality" as a narrator and moderator, of British politics. In 2005, he hosted a BBC One series, '' A Picture of Britain'', celebrating British and Irish paintings, poetry, music and landscapes. In June 2007 he wrote and presented a follow-up, the BBC series, '' How We Built Britain'', in which he explored the history of British architecture by visiting a region of Britain and its historic buildings each week. David Dimbleby also presented a new series on BBC One, '' Seven Ages of Britain''. In early editions of the programme, he looked at the
Bayeux Tapestry The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidery, embroidered cloth nearly long and tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest, Norman Conquest of England in 1066, led by William the Conqueror, William, Duke of Normandy challenging H ...
and exhibits to do with Thomas Becket. On 12 November 2009, Dimbleby missed his first ''Question Time'' in over fifteen years, having been taken to hospital as a precaution after being briefly knocked out by a rearing
bullock Bullock may refer to: Animals * Bullock (in British English), a castrated male cattle, bovine animal of any age * Bullock (in American English), a young bull (an uncastrated male bovine animal) * Bullock (in Australia, India and New Zealand), an o ...
at his farm in
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
.


2010s

Dimbleby hosted the third of three televised election debates featuring the leaders of the three main political parties held in the run-up to the 2010 general election. On the night of the 2010 general election, Dimbleby hosted the BBC coverage, along with Jeremy Vine, Jeremy Paxman, Nick Robinson, and Emily Maitlis. Presenting from BBC Television Centre Studio 1, he was an anchor, and involved in commentary contributions, guest interviews and introducing live outside broadcasts. In 2013, Dimbleby presented '' Britain and the Sea'' and a year later, he presented '' The European Union: In or Out''. In 2015, Dimbleby hosted the first
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
debate, in spite of the fact that neither
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
David Cameron nor
Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...
Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British retired politician and media executive who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. H ...
took part. Dimbleby hosted the EU referendum results show on BBC One,
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 ...
and BBC World News overnight on 23–24 June 2016, when the UK became the first and only country to vote to leave the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
. In this programme, he made the following quote to the country when the BBC released its forecast for a Leave win at 04:40 BST: On 20 April 2017, the BBC announced that Dimbleby would host their coverage of the 2017 general election, despite having previously said that the 2015 general election would be his last. On 17 June 2018, the BBC announced that Dimbleby would leave ''Question Time'' after 25 years at the end of that year. On 7 December 2018, the BBC announced that Fiona Bruce would take over presenting duties from January 2019. Since his retirement from ''Question Time'', Dimbleby has presented occasional documentaries for the BBC.


Post-''Question Time''

In 2019, and in some of his first work outside the BBC for decades, he presented an acclaimed series of podcasts on the life of media mogul Rupert Murdoch entitled ''The Sun King''. This focused on various key moments in Murdoch's professional career such as his takeover of newspapers around the world,
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
, his battles with print unions and the phone hacking scandal. It also attempts to examine Murdoch's personal motivations and his political influence. In 2020, Dimbleby continued his foray into podcasting, presenting a series on the lead-up to the
Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
. The series examined the events in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion asking whether it was justified at the time, and whether it could have been avoided. It also closely analysed the relationship between
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
and
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
, with Blair being interviewed as part of the series. In October 2020, Dimbleby said he was again considering putting his name forward for chairman of the BBC. In September 2022, Dimbleby came out of retirement to commentate on the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II for the BBC, in particular for the committal service at St George's Chapel, Windsor. In 2023 and 2024, he also continued his long standing role as BBC narrator of the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph. In October 2022, Dimbleby stated that the BBC does not appropriately question the power of the royal family. He said that the BBC would not address controversial topics to do with the monarchy, such as its ability to change tax legislation, or the fact that the Duchy of Cornwall does not pay capital gains tax, and stated his disagreement that such matters were not examined. He also stated his shock over the amount of control the monarchy have over broadcasting covering them.


Personal life

Although the brothers presented election coverage on competing channels, when asked in an interview about rival ITV's plans to include a riverboat party with the likes of
Kevin Spacey Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. Known for Kevin Spacey on screen and stage, his work on stage and screen, he List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Spacey, has received numerous accolades, including two ...
and Richard Branson in their 2005 election broadcast, Dimbleby commented, "They've got Jonathan Dimbleby, what do they need Kevin Spacey for?". Dimbleby has three children with his first wife, Josceline Dimbleby, a cookery writer: Liza, an artist; Henry, a chef and co-founder of the fast-food chain Leon; and Kate, a jazz and folk singer. In 2000, Dimbleby married Belinda Giles, a granddaughter of Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr, with whom he had a son, Fred, in February 1998. Dimbleby lives in Folkington, near Polegate, East Sussex, and
Pimlico Pimlico () is a district in Central London, in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by Lon ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. He previously had a home in Dittisham, near
Dartmouth, Devon Dartmouth () is a town and civil parish in the England, English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the western bank of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes. It lies w ...
. He is a supporter of Tranmere Rovers.


Honours

Dimbleby was made an honorary graduate of the
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...
in 2005, and is the President of the Institute for Citizenship. In 2019, he received the Special Recognition Award for his services to news and current affairs at the National Television Awards in London.


See also

* List of former BBC newsreaders and journalists * List of longest-running British television presenters * List of Have I Got News for You presenters * List of Today programme guest editors * List of alumni of Christ Church, Oxford * List of University of Oxford people with PPE degrees * List of Old Carthusians


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimbleby, David 1938 births Living people Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford BBC newsreaders and journalists Bullingdon Club members
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
English reporters and correspondents English television presenters Fellows of King's College London People educated at Charterhouse School People from East Sheen People from Polegate Television personalities from Surrey