Mark Mardell (born 10 September 1957,

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, England) is a British journalist, formerly the presenter of '' The World This Weekend'' on

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 ...

. He had previously served as

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 ...

's Europe editor, and provided coverage for each

United Kingdom general election United Kingdom general elections (elections for the House of Commons) have occurred in the United Kingdom since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliame ...

between 1992 and 2005, before he became

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

editor.

Early life

Mardell was raised in Surrey and, like

Nicholas Witchell Nicholas Newton Henshall Witchell OStJ FRGS (born 23 September 1953) is a retired English journalist and news presenter. The latter half of his career was as royal correspondent for BBC News. Early life and career Witchell was born on 23 Sept ...

, his near-contemporary in

, attended

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a benevolent institution which provided a boarding school education for sons of poor or deceased members ...

. At the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

he studied Politics.

Career

Mardell began his career reporting and reading the news for commercial station

Radio Tees Hits Radio Teesside, formerly TFM, is an Independent Local Radio station for Teesside, England, based in Newcastle upon Tyne. The station is owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to areas of ...

. He then worked at

Radio Aire Radio Aire was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Leeds and West Yorkshire. The station was merged and relaunched as Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. History Radio Aire was launched a ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

before moving to

Independent Radio News Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom and beyond. The managing director, Tim Molloy, succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009. Perkins had been ...

in London, where he became industrial editor covering the miners' strike and then the Wapping print dispute. He first appeared on television on

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 ...

's ''The Sharp End''. He joined 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 ...

in 1989 as political correspondent for the ''

BBC Six O'Clock News The ''BBC News at Six'' is the BBC's evening news programme on British television channels BBC One and BBC News (UK feed), broadcast weeknights at 6:00pm and produced by BBC News. It is normally broadcast for 30minutes, except on bank holida ...

''. From 1992 to 2000, Mardell worked as political editor for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

's ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 10:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also avail ...

'' programme. During this time he covered many political stories, including the fall of

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

's government and the rise of

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 ...

and

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

. He returned to the ''Six O'Clock News'', before becoming chief political correspondent and moving to the ''

BBC Ten O'Clock News ''BBC News at Ten'' (formerly known as the ''BBC Ten O'Clock News'' or the ''Ten O'Clock News'') is the BBC's flagship evening news programme on British television channels BBC One and the BBC News (British TV channel), BBC News Channel, broad ...

'' in 2003. Two years later he became the BBC's first Europe editor, covering the impact of

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 ...

laws on people in and beyond the EU, from illegal immigration in Poland to environmental change in Spain. Mardell regularly presented ''

The World at One ''The World at One'' (or ''WATO'', pronounced "what-oh") is BBC Radio 4's long-running lunchtime news and current affairs radio programme, broadcast weekdays from 13:00 to 13:45 and produced by BBC News. The programme describes itself as "Bri ...

'' on

, and presented a humorous review on '' This Week'',

BBC One 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 channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's political chat show. He left his post as Europe editor to replace

Justin Webb Justin Oliver Webb (born Justin Oliver Prouse; born 3 January 1961) is a British journalist who has worked for the BBC since 1984. He is a former BBC North America Editor and the main co-presenter of BBC One's '' Breakfast News'' programme. Sin ...

as BBC North America editor when Webb became a presenter on Radio 4's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' programme. At the end of April 2014, it emerged that Mardell was to leave his post in North America and become a presenter on BBC Radio 4, hosting '' The World This Weekend'' and the Friday edition of ''The World at One''. During his last ''World at One'' broadcast on 30 October 2020, Mardell announced his surprise departure from the BBC after 30 years, which he had stated from his Twitter account with a tweet to his followers. In a later interview to ''

Feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...

'' Mardell explained to presenter Roger Bolton that his voice and mobility had changed following diagnosis of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. Bolton seemed to make light of the scoop, and focussed on the number of "outstanding journalists" who had left BBC News ahead of budget cuts combined with the forthcoming limit on redundancy payments. On BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme, broadcast on 3 October 2022, Mardell spoke freely of his illness with presenter Nick Robinson, and highlighted that presenter

Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English former broadcaster, journalist and author, born in Yorkshire. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate ...

had likewise been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Podcast

Since March 2023 Mardell has contributed to a podcast 'Movers and Shakers' which is "about life with Parkinson's". Recordings are made in a Notting Hill pub and presenters ( Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and

) discuss "the highs and lows, trials and tribulations, of living with the condition". In March 2024 The UK Broadcasting Press Guild made 'Movers and Shakers' its 'UK Podcast of the Year'.

References

External links

Mark's blog on the BBC News website

BBC Newswatch profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mardell, Mark 1957 births Living people People educated at Epsom College Alumni of the University of Kent BBC newsreaders and journalists