Nicholas Campbell Clarke (9 June 1948 – 23 November 2006), was an English radio and television presenter and

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 ...

, primarily known for his work 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 ...

Biography

Clarke was born in 1948 in

Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...

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 ...

, and educated at

Westbourne House School Westbourne House School is an independent preparatory school 1½ miles east of Chichester, West Sussex, England. It is co-educational and serves around 450 boarding and day-school pupils from ages 2–13. The headmaster is Martin Barker. The ...

, West Sussex,

Bradfield College Bradfield College is a coeducational public school (independent boarding and day school) for pupils aged 13–18, in the village of Bradfield, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It is noted for its open-air Greek theatre and its trien ...

, Berkshire and

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college has origins from 1869, with the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...

. Clarke began his career in newspapers on the ''

Yorkshire Evening Post The ''Yorkshire Evening Post'' (''YEP'') is a regional daily newspaper covering the City of Leeds. Founded in 1890 it is published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, National World. Despite being having coverage and being sold across West Yorkshire ...

'', before joining 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 1973 as Northern Industrial Correspondent. He then joined ''

The Money Programme ''The Money Programme'' is a finance and business affairs television programme on BBC Two which ran between April 1966 and November 2010. It was first broadcast on 5 April 1966 and presented by "commentators" (financial journalists) William Davi ...

'' and eventually joined ''

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 ...

'' in 1984. His first major job in radio was on BBC Radio 4's '' The World This Weekend''. He presented Radio 4's lunchtime news programme, ''

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 ...

'', from 1994 until his death. During the 1991 Gulf War he was a volunteer presenter on the BBC Radio 4 News FM service. He also presented the '' Round Britain Quiz'', the debate series ''Straw Poll'' and, when Jonathan Dimbleby was away, ''

Any Questions? ''Any Questions?'' is a British topical discussion programme "in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media, and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience". It is typically broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Fridays at 20: ...

'' Clarke was a reporter for the BBC TV's Look North programme, serving the North of England. Clarke won the

Broadcasting Press Guild The Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) is a British association of journalists dedicated to the topic of general media issues. History The Guild was established in 1974 as a breakaway of The Critics' Circle and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 20 ...

broadcaster of the year award in 2001. He wrote a biography of the writer and journalist

Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke, Order of the British Empire, KBE (né Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the Unite ...

and a social history of Britain in the second half of the 20th century entitled ''The Shadow of a Nation: How Celebrity Destroyed Britain''. In December 2005, it was announced that Clarke was suffering from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

and he subsequently had surgery which entailed the loss of his left leg. During this time he documented his experiences with the disease for an audio diary that was broadcast on Radio 4 in June 2006. Clarke returned to hosting ''The World at One'' programme in August 2006, but his last appearance was on 12 September. He died on 23 November 2006. In 2007, the BBC created the Nick Clarke Award to celebrate and recognise the best broadcast interview of the year, which is awarded annually at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Following his death, friends from university established the 'Nick Clarke Prize'. In ''

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a Science fiction comedy, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC ...

'', Clarke presented a faux ''World at One'' for the Quandary Phase along with

Patrick Moore Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter. Moore's early interest in astro ...

References

External links

BBC News: Radio 4's Nick Clarke dies at 58

BBC News: Obituary

Mark Damazer's tribute to Nick Clarke

The World At One
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Nick 1948 births 2006 deaths Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge BBC newsreaders and journalists British radio people British radio personalities Deaths from cancer in England People educated at Bradfield College People from Godalming

Biography

See also

References

External links