Sir Martyn Lewis | |
|---|---|
 Sir Martyn Lewis in April 2018 | |
| Born | Martyn John Dudley Lewis (1945-04-07)7 April 1945 (age 80) Swansea, Wales |
| Occupation | Broadcast journalist |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, includingSylvie |
Sir Martyn John Dudley LewisCBE (born 7 April 1945) is a Welsh television news presenter and broadcast journalist who anchoredITN news bulletins between 1978 and 1986 andBBC News television shows from 1986 to 1999. Lewis attendedDalriada School andTrinity College, Dublin, before working as a freelance correspondent forBBC Northern Ireland andHarlech Television (HTV). He joined ITN in 1970 and headed its Northern Bureau from 1971 to 1978. Between 1978 and 1986, Lewis was an anchor for ITN'sNews at 5.45 and half-hourNews at Ten bulletins, writing stories for the "And finally..." segment that features positive stories at the end of eachNews at Ten programme.
He joined the BBC in October 1986, presenting the newly formedOne O'Clock News before reading the news on theNine O'Clock News from 1987 to 1994. In 1993, Lewis launched a campaign to have more positive stories included in news bulletins.[1] Between 1994 and 1999, he was a main presenter of theSix O'Clock News. Lewis is heavily engaged in the charitable and business sectors, serving as a leader and patron of several charities. He was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the1997 New Year Honours and wasknighted in the2016 New Year Honours for his charitable work.
Lewis was born on 7 April 1945 inSwansea,Glamorgan, Wales.[2] He is the son of the quantity surveyor Thomas John Dudley Lewis, who came fromColeraine inCounty Londonderry,Northern Ireland, and his wife Doris (née Jones), who worked as a nurse.[3][4] Lewis has a younger sister who was a lecturer in feminist studies.[5] His parents met in Northern Ireland during theSecond World War and were married inBelfast.[4] Lewis and his family moved toPortrush, on the north coast of County Antrim, when he was four years old; the family later settled at a house his father had built on the Mountsandel Road in nearbyColeraine in County Londonderry.[6]
He was educated at the co-educationalDalriada School inBallymoney in the north ofCounty Antrim,[5][7] where he was bullied for a term because he was overweight and developed a severe stammer.[8][9] Lewis overcame his stammer by performing Shakespeare plays and losing weight through circuit exercise and weight lighting.[6][9] He achieved nineO-levels and fourA-levels while also excelling in rugby, editing the school magazine and serving as deputy head boy.[4]
He joined theArmy Cadet Force in Dalriada and became Bisley 22. combined Cadet Force UK champion in 1963.[6] After failing to enrol at theUniversity of Cambridge,[6] he graduated with aBachelor of Arts degree in Economics, Philosophy and Geography fromTrinity College, Dublin (TCD), in 1967.[4][7] Lewis was secretary of the university's rugby club but ceased playing the game because of the possibility of sustaining a dental injury.[10]
After turning down two job offers in the advertising and public relations industries in England, he started working as a freelance reporter forBBC Northern Ireland in Belfast for ten months in 1967.[6][11] He also chaired a sixth formers' interview programme in Northern Ireland.[5] After writing in to more than 50 television stations,[9] Lewis worked as a reporter forHarlech Television (HTV) inCardiff inGlamorgan, Wales, from 1968 to 1978.[3][11] He received on-the-job training as a journalist.[4] Lewis joinedITN in London in 1970.[6] The following April,[12] Lewis established ITN's Northern Bureau in Manchester, leading it until 1978.[3] He covered the news from the North of England in an area from the Midlands to the North of Scotland.[12] From 1978 to 1986, he worked as a news reader on ITN'sNews at 5.45 andNews at Ten bulletins as well as serving as a foreign correspondent.[3] In the early 1980s, Lewis wrote the "And finally..." segment, which featured positive stories at the end of each half-hour ''News at Ten'' bulletin.[9][13]
Lewis visited more than 30 countries on assignment for ITN.[11] He covered theTurkish invasion of Cyprus, the Independence of the Seychelles, the deposition of the Shah of IranMohammad Reza Pahlavi during theIranian Revolution, theinvasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, the plight of theVietnamese boat people,[3][6] and theWedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.[14] Lewis was a co-presenter of ITN's United Kingdom general election coverage in1979 and1983 and its budget coverage from 1981 to 1984.[3] He wrote and produced theBattle for the Falklands video, and he wrote and presentedThe Secret Hunters documentary forTVS in 1986 about a secret SAS group that killed the Nazis who murdered their soldiers after hunting them for three years after World War II.[3][14] Lewis edited the 1986 two-hour programmesIn Private, In Public, which focused on the Prince and Princess of Wales' year.[14]
In October 1986, Lewis was hired byMichael Grade[5] to join theBBC as a presenter ofBBC News bulletins. He was the first person to read the news on theOne O'Clock News weekday bulletin onBBC1 on 27 October when the programme was launched as part of the channel's daytime service.[15][16] Lewis was moved by the BBC to be the lead newsreader of theNine O'Clock News weekday nightly bulletin from October 1987,[17] and began sharing presenting duties of the programme with fellow newsreaderMichael Buerk when it switched to a one-presenter format in October 1988.[18] He created a modicum of controversy in 1993 when he claimed that television should feature more "good news". Lewis subsequently stated that he had been "misunderstood" on the matter.[19][20] At his own request, he became the lead presenter of theSix O'Clock News for three days a week from January 1994, replacingPeter Sissons.[21][22] Lewis rejected an offer to presentBBC Breakfast News but reportedly threatened his resignation from the corporation because he wanted to remain on prime time television.[23]
Lewis also made multiple documentaries on various topics for the BBC,[3] and was an occasional host ofSongs of Praise.[9][10] From November 1993 to March 1999, he presented theBBC2 daily news-based quiz showToday's the Day (as well as itsRadio 2 version between 1996 and 1997), which emphasises a specific date in previous years and events that occurred on that date.[24][25] From 1996 to 1998, Lewis presented the prime-time BBC1 real-life crime programme ''Crimebeat''.[3][26]
He broke the news of the outbreak of theGulf War to the British public in 1991.[10] Lewis played a prominent role in the announcement of thedeath of Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997. He was called into the BBC in the early hours of that morning to present short national bulletins during a late night viewing ofBorsalino about the car accident in Paris. He returned home afterwards to get some sleep, expecting the Princess to recover, only to be called back again in time for the special 6 am bulletin covering Diana's death. Lewis was almost brought to tears following Prime MinisterTony Blair's "People's Princess" statement.[27][28] On 26 April 1999, he presented theSix O'Clock News bulletin withJennie Bond on the day his co-presenterJill Dando was murdered outside her home in West London.[29]
Lewis resigned from the BBC in May of that year after it attempted to move him from the job he had lost at theSix O'Clock News to another position within the corporation; he turned down an offer to work atBBC World News, saying that he did not want to leave "the best job in broadcasting."[25][29] He was the anchor and mayor of Bethlehem in the 1999 ITV seriesBethlehem Year Zero, which told the Christmas story in the manner of a television news bulletin.[30] In 2000, Lewis presentedDateline Jerusalem,[7] and ''News 40: The Battle of Britain'', a week of nightly broadcasts reporting on events from six decades ago in a contemporary perspective.[31] From 2000 to 2002, he presented the ITV debate programme ''Ultimate Questions'', which discussed current moral issues.[7][32]
Lewis returned to television news in September 2005 to broadcast a special edition of theITV Evening News withMary Nightingale as part of the ITN's 50th anniversary celebrations.[33] He had a cameo role as a newscaster in the 1999James Bond filmThe World Is Not Enough,[34] and was featured in archive footage in the 2006 filmThe Queen.[35]
Lewis was chairman and co-founder ofTeliris, one of the firsttelepresence systems developed. He was actively involved in the marketing of this solution through personal contacts, speaking engagements and "Telepresence Times", hisvlog launched in 2009.[36] He retired as chairman in 2012.[7]
He is the founder and Executive Chairman of YourBigDay Ltd, which utilises ITN and Reuters archives to create birthday and anniversary videos spanning the last century.[4] Lewis was made a director of theIndependent Press Standards Organisation in 2014 and chaired an inquiry into the voluntary sector with regards to executive pay within it.[37] In July 2020, he joined the board of renewable energy start-up Alpha 311.[38]
Lewis is a vice-president of such charities as Hospice UK,Marie Curie Cancer Care,Macmillan Cancer Support, East Anglia Children's Hospices (EACH) and Demelza Children's Hospice.[7] He is the president ofUnited Response, a charity that offers support to people with learning disabilities or mental health needs as well as opportunities for those with learning disabilities to find work.[39]
He founded the youth charity YouthNet in 1995 (now known asThe Mix), and stayed as chairman until stepping down in July 2014, though he remains an advisor.[40] The charity provides advice, information and support through websites aimed at young people.[41]
From 2010 to 2016 he was chair of theNational Council for Voluntary Organisations, an umbrella body for charities in England and Wales with more than 13,000 members.[42][43] He is also chairman of theQueen's Award for Voluntary Service. He was chairman of Families of the Fallen 2010–15; trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust 2001–10, and is currently deputy chair of theLord Mayor of London's Dragon Awards.[7]
He is a patron of Mildmay Mission Hospital, The Patchwork Foundation, the quarterly broadsheetPositive News, andDementia UK.[7] In September 2015, it was announced that Lewis had become the first ambassador ofPennies, a fintech charity that enables charitable micro-donations.[44] He has been a member of theTidy Britain Committee,[13] and worked withThe Prince's Trust youth organisation.[21]
Lewis is a Christian.[5] He was married to HTV continuity announcer Elizabeth Anne Carse from 20 May 1970 until her death from an advanced type of dementia in 2012.[3][4] They have two daughters, one of whom is the singer-songwriterSylvie Lewis. He has since remarried to public relations worker Patsy Baker and is stepfather to her three children.[4]
Lewis was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the1997 New Year Honours "for services to young people and thehospice movement."[45] He wasknighted in the2016 New Year Honours "for voluntary and charitable work, especially for the hospice movement."[46][47]
Lewis also holds an honorary Doctorate of Letters fromUlster University.[48] He is aFreeman of the City of London and a fellow of theRoyal Society of Arts.[7][10] Lewis is a member of theGarrick Club and theBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts.[3][49]
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