Michael Kenneth Embley (born 25 May 1955) is an English broadcast journalist, best known as a presenter for

BBC World News BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

, an international news and current affairs television channel operated by 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 ...

. He formerly presented overnight Thursday-Friday on

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 ...

and the

BBC News Channel The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during ...

Early life

Embley was born in

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

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 ...

. Before joining the BBC, Embley began his career training as a newspaper journalist with Thomson daily papers in Wales, on the

South Wales Echo The ''South Wales Echo'' is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Cardiff, Wales and distributed throughout the surrounding area. It has a circulation of 6,026. Background The newspaper was founded in 1884 and was based in Thomson House, C ...

and the Western Mail.

BBC career

He began broadcasting in 1983, working for

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

' ''

Wales Today ''BBC Wales Today'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Wales, broadcast on BBC One Wales from the headquarters of BBC Cymru Wales in Central Square, Cardiff. According to the BBC, it is the world's longest-running television n ...

'', followed by the consumer affairs programme ''

Watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watchdog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet U ...

'' in 1987, and ''Public Eye'' in 1989. Whilst working on ''Public Eye'', he was the first British reporter to reach

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

to report on the

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

. Embley later joined ITN's

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

to work as a producer and reporter, before returning to the BBC as a reporter for the flagship One O'Clock News, Six O'Clock News and Nine O'Clock News bulletins. During this time, Embley also worked as a series presenter for ''Nature'' on

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 ...

and made two films for ''Panorama''. Embley joined BBC World in 1995, and remained there for two years until he became the main presenter of ''

Newsroom South East ''BBC Newsroom South East'' was the BBC's regional news programme aired on BBC One in the South East. It was launched on Tuesday 28 March 1989 as the successor to '' BBC London Plus'', the South East's previous news programme. In 1992, '' S ...

'', the BBC's regional news programme for London and the South East of England. After the programme was replaced by two separate regional bulletins (''

BBC London BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London, Surrey and parts of the surrounding areas of the Home Counties. Its output includes the daily '' BBC London'' news bulletin and w ...

'' and '' South East Today'') in 2001, Embley rejoined BBC World as a presenter. Since then, he has also presented on the domestic

and carried out one-on-one interviews for the BBC programme ''

HARDtalk ''HARDtalk'' is a BBC television and radio programme which was broadcast on the British and international feeds of the BBC News channel, and on the BBC World Service, from 31 March 1997 to 26 March 2025. Broadcast times and days vary, depend ...

'', as well as reporting several series for the radio station

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

. Mike Embley retired on 15 April 2021.

References

External links

* 1955 births Living people People from Sutton, London Journalists from London BBC World News BBC World Service people BBC newsreaders and journalists {{BBC-tv-bio-stub