Laurie Mayer is a British journalist who had a 22-year career with the

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 ...

on radio and across most television news programmes. His last main presenting role was of

South East Today ''BBC South East Today'' is the BBC South East regional television news programme, serving Kent, East Sussex, part of West Sussex and a small part of Surrey. Prior to its launch on 3 September 2001, most of the viewers in the region received '' ...

for

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 ...

, until he resigned in 2002, citing a culture of

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...

at the

in the South East News department. The BBC won an ensuing employment tribunal. Mayer appealed and lost. Mayer's radio career started on

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the BBC Local Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London. It broadcasts on FM broadcasting, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Langham Plac ...

in 1971, mainly presenting the station's breakfast show "Rush Hour". Between 1973 and 1979, he was one of the presenters on the

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

news programme

Newsbeat ''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for young people.

. Mayer was a presenter of the BBC's ''

News After Noon ''News After Noon'' is a news bulletin that aired on BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and i ...

'', '' Six O'Clock News'' and ''

Breakfast News ''Breakfast News'' is a breakfast news programme which first aired on BBC1 on 2 October 1989. The programme was previously known as '' Breakfast Time''. It was planned to launch on 18 September 1989 but was held back by two weeks due to techn ...

'' programme (now known as ''Breakfast''), before leaving 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 ...

in the early 1990s. He went on to become the press spokesman for the owner of

Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...

Mohammed Al Fayed Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed (; 27 January 192930 August 2023) was an Egyptian businessman whose residence and primary business interests were in the United Kingdom from the mid-1960s. His business interests included ownership of the Hôtel R ...

, before returning to the BBC as the main presenter of ''

'', walking out abruptly when his one year contract was not renewed. Mayer also narrated every episode of the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

emergency services documentary '' Blues and Twos'' from 1993 to 1998.

Personal life

Mayer got engaged to his wife Jill Hanson in 1971.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) BBC newsreaders and journalists Living people {{UK-tv-journalist-stub