Donald MacCormick (16 April 1939 – 12 July 2009)Veteran BBC newsman dies aged 70
''

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 ...

'', 12 July 2009. was a Scottish broadcast

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Early life

MacCormick's father was a

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

teacher who died when Donald was six. As a result, he became close to the family of his uncle John MacCormick, a lawyer and advocate for Scottish devolution. He studied English at the University of Glasgow, where he was chairman of the Labour Club with Donald Dewar and John Smith. Following his graduation, he trained to become a teacher at Jordanhill College of Education and taught at the High School of Glasgow from 1962 to 1967.

Media career

He began his media career in Scotland in 1967, working at Grampian Television as a news reporter and then later, on political programmes both for ITV and BBC. He presented the ground-breaking political programme '' Public Account'' for BBC Scotland with James Cox and Andrew Neil. In 1975, he moved to London and became a presenter on BBC1's new '' Tonight'' programme and a series of national roles followed. Most significantly, along with John Tusa and Peter Snow, he made up the triumvirate that anchored '' Newsnight'' in its early years. MacCormick also chaired BBC1's '' Question Time'', presented the '' Money Programme'' and for several years was a commentator on the BBC's live coverage of the party political conferences. Moving to London Weekend Television in the early 1990s, MacCormick hosted a lunchtime news analysis programme and conducted a major discussion series during the First Gulf War. On the night of the 1992 general election he was one of the presenters of Sky News's election night coverage, alongside Sir David Frost. He later returned to Scotland to present three seasons of political programmes for Scottish Television in Glasgow. On radio, he hosted his own Sunday morning topical magazine programme on London News Direct. MacCormick had moved into the corporate sector, interviewing executives for company videos, chairing conferences and working in media training.Birthdays: Donald MacCormick
''

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 ...

'', 16 April 2009. On 28 March 2009 MacCormick returned to the BBC to present an evening on BBC Parliament. ''The Night The Government Fell'' marked the 30th anniversary of the vote of no confidence in the Labour government headed by James Callaghan. 30 years previously MacCormick had presented a live programme in Westminster covering these same events. MacCormick died of a heart attack on 12 July 2009. He was divorced from Lis MacKinlay, by whom he had three children. He was married to Liz Elton from 1978 until his death; they had two children. All five children survive MacCormick. Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, who first met MacCormick at Glasgow University in 1959, paid tribute to the broadcaster saying: "Donald MacCormick was a prince among broadcasters. His style was always civil but insistent. He was always thoroughly prepared and his kind of journalism characterised all that is best in the BBC."Veteran BBC Journalist Donald MacCormick dies
''The Guardian'', 13 July 2009.

References

External links

Profile
'' Glasgow Herald'', 6 October 1984
Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 23 July 2009 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maccormick, Donald 1939 births 2009 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow BBC Scotland newsreaders and journalists British television newsreaders and news presenters Scottish schoolteachers Scottish television presenters Scottish television journalists Place of birth missing Labour Party (UK) people