Sarah Anne Louise Montague, Lady Brooke (born 8 February 1966),''Who's who'' is a British journalist and presenter of the

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 ...

current affairs 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 ...

''. For 18 years, prior to April 2018, she was a regular presenter of another radio programme, ''

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 ...

''.

Early life

Montague was born to John Montague, a

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, and Mary (née O'Malley) on

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

, a British Crown dependency and one of the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. After attending Blanchelande College, a local independent school for girls, she read biology at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

, gaining a BSc.

Career

Montague's first occupation was as a stockbroker for County NatWest and then a Eurobond dealer with NatWest Capital Markets in London. She then went into business in London with the owner of men's clothing retailer

Charles Tyrwhitt Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts Limited ( ), also known as CT Shirts, is a British Multichannel retailing, multi-channel men's clothing retailer specialising in dress shirts, ties, suits, casualwear, shoes and Fashion accessory, accessories. It was found ...

. Montague began her journalistic career with

Channel Television ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV (TV network), ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programmes for i ...

in 1991. She joined

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

in January 1995 and then became business correspondent 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 January 1996. She 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 ...

during October 1997, and presented ''

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 ...

'', ''

Breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night. Various "typical" or "traditional" breakfast menus exist, with food choices varying by regi ...

'' and

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 ...

, before joining the ''Today'' news programme on

in 2002. She presented the first programme on

BBC News 24 The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air Public broadcasting, 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, West End of ...

with

Gavin Esler Gavin William James Esler (born 27 February 1953) is a Scottish people, Scottish journalist, television presenter and author. He was a main presenter on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, ''Newsnight'', from January 2003 until Jan ...

on 9 November 1997. She has also presented ''

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 ...

'' on BBC News. In December 2008, she hosted BBC World's ''Nobel Minds'' in the library of the Royal Palace,

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. The 2008 Nobel Prize winners in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Economics, and Literature had a round-table discussion on issues of global concern and their own contributions to the world of knowledge. On 6 November 2010, Montague broke a strike at the BBC called by the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades ...

(NUJ). She and fellow presenter Evan Davis arrived at 3:30 am to present the ''Today'' programme, early enough to avoid crossing the picket line. On 15 July 2011, she again broke an NUJ strike by presenting ''Today'' with

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 ...

. In 2013 she was awarded the honorary degree

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

by the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

and in 2015 she was awarded the honorary degree

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

from the

. After 18 years, she left Radio 4's flagship current affairs programme in April 2018 to take over the lead on the lunchtime news broadcast ''

'' from

Martha Kearney Martha Catherine Kearney (born 8 October 1957) is a British-Irish journalist and broadcaster. She was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's lunchtime news programme '' The World at One'' for 11 years. In April 2018, Kearney joined the presenting ...

. She was earning much less than her male colleagues, with

John Humphrys Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a Welsh people, Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter of the ''BBC Nine O'Clock News, Nine O'Clock News'', the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until ...

earning more than four times her salary. She described herself as "incandescent with rage" when she found out she was earning less than other presenters. In January 2020 Montague revealed that she had received a £400,000 settlement and an apology from the BBC for her unequal treatment. In 2018, she was criticised for misattributing the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

's findings that the

Vote Leave Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leavi ...

campaign broke the law in the 2016 referendum, thereby protecting several government ministers from pressure to resign. She repeatedly referred to "these allegations", when they were, in fact, the findings of the statutory body charged with protecting the 2016 referendum and the integrity of UK elections. The Electoral Commission finding and fine were overruled in court in July 2019. The defendant in the court case said "This raises serious questions about its he Electoral Commission'sconduct both during and after the referendum."

Personal life

In April 2002 Montague married businessman Sir Richard Christopher Brooke at Chelsea Register Office. The couple had met while Brooke was setting up a hotel in Holkham,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. In 2012 her husband inherited the Brooke baronetcy, becoming the 12th baronet. In 2014 they were guests at a party co-hosted by then-Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

, with whom Brooke had attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. The couple live in west London and have three daughters. Montague also has an older stepdaughter.

References

External links

Profile @ ''BBC News''

BBC Radio 4 Profile
*
Articles for the ''New Statesman''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montague, Sarah 1966 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bristol BBC newsreaders and journalists British journalists British women journalists British stockbrokers British women television journalists Guernsey people British radio presenters British women radio presenters Women stockbrokers