Simon Jack (born 10 May 1971) is an English business journalist and news correspondent. He is currently the Business Editor 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 ...
, known for appearing on ''
BBC Breakfast
''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from the BBC Television Centre, London before ...
'' until September 2011 and on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...
's ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
''. He has also presented business and financial podcasts for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
''.
Education
Simon Jack was born on 10 May 1971 in London.
He attended
Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby
("Small things grow in harmony" - Sallust)
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, type = Public School Independent school; Day school
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, Merseyside, and graduated from
St John's College, Oxford
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pr ...
with a
BA in
Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Of his time at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...
, Jack said: “I did the same degree as
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
. I was a contemporary of
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...
. I knew him a little bit. He was well-known at university and his notoriety of his membership of certain clubs is well known – like the
Bullingdon. I wasn't a member of any of those."
[
]
Career
Before entering journalism, Jack worked for a decade as a corporate and investment banker in London, New York City and Bermuda
)
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. He has said that he neither liked the work, nor showed much ability at it. In 2003 he joined the BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
's business and economics unit and since then has worked on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...
's ''Today Programme
''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is a long-running British morning news and current-affairs radio programme on BBC Radio 4. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, it is produced by BBC News and is the ...
'' and Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...
's ''Wake Up to Money
''Wake Up to Money'' is an early morning financial radio programme on BBC Radio 5 Live. It is broadcast from 05:00 to 06:00 each weekday.
History
The programme was established when Radio 5 Live began broadcasting in March 1994. It has been pro ...
''. He has also presented business and financial podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
s for ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
''.
Jack was frequently seen on British television during the fortnight beginning on 7 September 2008 during which he reported 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 ...
, the BBC News Channel
BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...
and ''Working Lunch
''Working Lunch'' is a television programme which was broadcast on BBC Two covering business, personal finance and consumer news; it was broadcast between 1994 and 2010. The programme was first aired on 19 September 1994. It had a quirky, relaxe ...
'' on the banking crisis that saw the Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
In September 2008 the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that it would take over the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Both government-sponsored enterpri ...
, the Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers
The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, was the climax of the subprime mortgage crisis. After the financial services firm was notified of a pending credit downgrade due to its heavy position in subprime mortgages, the Federal R ...
, the bailout of AIG
American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...
and the Lloyds TSB
Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an extensi ...
takeover of HBOS
HBOS plc was a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. It was the holding company for Bank of Scotland plc, which operated the Ba ...
. He was often seen reporting from the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...
, Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central ...
and outside the offices of HBOS
HBOS plc was a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. It was the holding company for Bank of Scotland plc, which operated the Ba ...
and Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...
in London.
Jack replaced Declan Curry
Declan Gerald Curry (born 5 September 1971) is a Northern Irish freelance journalist, news presenter and businessman, best known as the former business correspondent for ''BBC Breakfast''.
Early life
Curry was born and raised in Strabane, County ...
as business presenter for ''BBC Breakfast
''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from the BBC Television Centre, London before ...
'' in October 2008. In April 2010, he presented ''BBC Breakfast'' alongside Sian Williams
Sian Mary Williams (; born 28 November 1964) is a Welsh people, Welsh journalist, current affairs Television presenter, presenter best known for her work with the BBC, and psychologist.
From 2001 until 2012, Williams regularly presented weekd ...
while regular presenter Bill Turnbull
William Robert Jolyon Turnbull (25 January 1956 – 31 August 2022) was an English television and radio presenter and journalist, whose broadcasting career spanned over four decades. He began his career working for radio stations including Radi ...
followed the 2010 general election campaign trail. In September 2011, he left the BBC Breakfast team to join BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...
's ''Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
.''
On 13 April 2015 Jack, whose father killed himself, appeared in a BBC ''Panorama
A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...
'' series relating to the survivors of suicide which investigated why more middle-aged men kill themselves than any other group.
On 5 February 2016, Jack was appointed the BBC's Business Editor, replacing the promoted Kamal Ahmed.
Personal life
Jack lives in Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Roa ...
and is married to Suzy Barry, and is a son-in-law of the composer John Barry.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jack, Simon
Living people
Alumni of St John's College, Oxford
British television presenters
BBC newsreaders and journalists
British business and financial journalists
People educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby
1971 births