Jeremy Gordon Thompson (born 23 September 1947) is an English journalist and former news presenter for

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

, the 24-hour UK television news service operated by

Sky UK Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), Trade name, trading as Sky, is a British broadcasting, broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone ...

. He was based at Sky News Centre in west London. He started out as a journalist on the ''

Cambridge Evening News The ''Cambridge News'' (formerly the ''Cambridge Evening News'') is a British daily newspaper. Published each weekday and on Saturdays, it is distributed from its Milton base. In the period December 2010 – June 2011 it had an average daily c ...

'' in 1967. In 1971 he joined the BBC as a reporter on Radio Sheffield, moving on to become a reporter on BBC Look North Leeds. In 1977 he was appointed as the BBC's first TV North of England Correspondent. He moved to

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 ...

as Sports Correspondent in 1982. He worked as a TV foreign correspondent from 1986 to 1998, initially based in Asia and Africa for ITN; on joining Sky News in 1993, Thompson became head of its Africa bureau, based in

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 ...

. Two years later, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, he established Sky's first US bureau. From 1999 until his retirement from Sky News at the end of 2016, he presented '' Live at Five'', Sky News's flagship news programme.

Education

Thompson was educated at Sevenoaks Prep School,

Sevenoaks School Sevenoaks School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school. It is co-educational, a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, located in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. Established in 1432, it ...

, and later The King's School, a boarding

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

for boys (now co-educational and non-boarding), in the city of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

, where presenter

Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant (born 10 October 1946) is a retired English broadcaster, television personality, radio DJ and stand up comedian. He is best known for presenting the ITV children's television show '' Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and th ...

was a fellow pupil.

Broadcasting career

Thompson was frequently Sky News's leading anchor on major stories, often presenting on location. His assignments included reporting from

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

on the

death and funeral of Pope John Paul II On 2 April 2005, at 21:37 CET (UTC+1), Pope John Paul II died at the age of 85 in his private apartment at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. His funeral, held on 8 April, was one of the largest gatherings of Christianity's faithful in hist ...

in April 2005, the

London bombings This is a list of incidents in London that have been labelled as "terrorism". It includes various bomb attacks and other politically driven violent incidents. Irish republican attacks Fenian attacks during the Fenian Dynamite Campaign 1867� ...

of July 2005,

Hurricane Rita Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico, tying with Hurricane Milton in 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, 2024, as well as being the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the ...

and the

Asian tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scienti ...

where he was the first British presenter on the scene, reporting live from

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

on the immediate aftermath of the disaster. He also reported from

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

in northern

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

during the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

. Thompson was a foreign correspondent based in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, and

, from where he covered many major world events. He became a studio-based presenter in 1998, but continued to present on location regularly. In September 2016, he announced his impending retirement from Sky, set to take place at the end of the year. He presented his final Sky News bulletin in the studio on 20 October 2016, and his final bulletin on location from Washington, D.C., on 10 November 2016. His autobiography, ''Jeremy Thompson - Breaking News'', was published in October 2017 by Biteback Books.

Awards

In February 2006, Thompson won the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

's award for Presenter of the Year. The judges' citation noted that Thompson ... * 1992 Emmy News Awards Winner Breaking News Story – Bisho Massacre * 1992 New York Festival Winner Best Reporter – Somali Attack and Bisho * 1993 New York Festival Winner Best Special Report – Somalia Famine * 1994 New York Festival Winner Best Reporter – Africa – Rwanda * 1999 RTS TV Journalism Best News Event – Kosovo Liberation * 2001 BAFTA News Coverage Winner – 9/11 * 2002 RTS TV Journalism Awards Winner News Event – Holly and Jessica * 2002 BAFTA News Coverage Winner – Soham Murders * 2004 TRIC Awards Winner – Satellite Television Personality of the Year * 2004/5 RTS TV Journalism Awards – Presenter of the Year * 2005 International Emmy Breaking News – 7/7 Terror Attack * 2009 International Emmy Outstanding News – Pakistan: Terror's Frontline * 2009 BAFTA News Coverage Winner – Pakistan: Terror's Frontline * 2012 RTS Journalism Awards Winner: Home News Event – UK Riots * 2012 RTS International News Event – Libya * 2015 BAFTA News Coverage Winner – Ebola * 2016 RTS TV Journalism Winner – ''Sky News at 5'' – Programme of the Year * RTS News Channel of the Year – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015

Filmography

Thompson also appeared as himself in the following movies: * ''

Volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

'' (1997) * ''

Shaun of the Dead ''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden London salesman who is caught alongside his loved ones in a zombie apocalypse. It also star ...

'' (2004) * '' The Bourne Ultimatum'' (2007) * '' The Bourne Legacy'' (2012) * ''

St Trinian's ''St Trinian's'' is a British gag cartoon comic strip series, created and drawn by Ronald Searle from 1946 until 1952. The cartoons all centre on a boarding school for girls, where the teachers are sadists and the girls are juvenile delinquent ...

'' (2007) * '' Incendiary'' (2008) * ''

Pixels In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the sma ...

'' (2015)

References

External links

Jeremy Thompson - Sky News biography

Live at Five weblog with Jeremy Thompson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Jeremy English reporters and correspondents British television newsreaders and news presenters Living people People educated at King's School, Worcester People educated at Sevenoaks School ITN newsreaders and journalists Sky News newsreaders and journalists 1947 births