Jonathan Dimbleby | |
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 Dimbleby in 2016 | |
| Born | (1944-07-31)31 July 1944 (age 81) Aylesbury,Buckinghamshire, England |
| Alma mater | Royal Agricultural College University College, London |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, broadcaster |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) | Richard Dimbleby Dilys Thomas |
| Relatives | Dimbleby family |
Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter ofcurrent affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son ofRichard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenterDavid Dimbleby.
Dimbleby was educated atCharterhouse, a boys' independent school in Surrey.[1] He later studied farm management at theRoyal Agricultural College and graduated in 1965.[citation needed] He then studied philosophy atUniversity College, London.[1] He was later elected an honorary fellow but resigned in 2015 in protest at the forced resignation ofTim Hunt as an honorary fellow.[2]
In July 2007 he received anhonorary degree from theUniversity of Exeter.[3] He is an Honorary Fellow of Bath Spa University (2006) and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West of England (2018).[citation needed]
Dimbleby began his career at the BBC inBristol in 1969. In 1970 he joinedThe World at One as a reporter, where he also presentedThe World This Weekend. In 1972 he joined ITV's flagship current affairs programmeThis Week and over the following six years reported on crises in many parts of the world. His coverage of the 1973 Ethiopian famine,The Unknown Famine, was followed by TV and radio appeals which raised a record sum nationally and internationally. His report, for which he won the SFTA Richard Dimbleby Award, was used by the incoming regime to justify the overthrow of the Ethiopian EmperorHaile Selassie.[4]
In 1978 he wrote and presented the ITV seriesJonathan Dimbleby in South America. In 1979 he joinedYorkshire Television, where he wrote and presented three ITV network series:Jonathan Dimbleby In Search of the American Dream (1976),The Bomb (1979),The Eagle and The Bear (1980) andThe Cold War Game (1981). He also presented the ITV documentary seriesFirst Tuesday. In 1985 he joinedTV-am as presenter ofJonathan Dimbleby on Sunday. In 1986 he returned to ITV as presenter ofThis Week.
In 1988 he joined the BBC to present the new flagship political programmeOn the Record (1988–1993). He wrote, presented and co-produced two documentary series:The Last Governor (BBC1, 1997) about the final five years of British rule inHong Kong, andCharles: The Private Man, the Public Role (ITV, 1994), in which (the then)Prince Charles spoke about his first marriage and his relationship withCamilla Parker Bowles,[5] now his wife and Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Realms.
From 1994 to 2006 he presented ITV's political programme,Jonathan Dimbleby. He anchored ITV's general election coverage in 1997, 2001 and 2005. He wrote and presentedRussia with Jonathan Dimbleby (BBC2, 2008),An African Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby (2010), andA South American Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby (2011). In 2013 he wrote and presentedChurchill's Desert War (BBC2) based on his book,Destiny in The Desert. In 2015 he wrote and presented the two-part seriesThe BBC At War (BBC2).
From 1987 to June 2019 he presentedAny Questions? onBBC Radio 4. He presentedAny Answers? from 1989 to 2012.[6][7] From 2016 to 2019, he was the main presenter of the BBC World Service monthly seriesWorld Questions.
In April 2020, Dimbleby wrote and presented the ITV documentaryReturn to Belsen with Jonathan Dimbleby about theBergen-Belsen concentration camp.
In 2022, following the death of QueenElizabeth II, Dimbleby wrote and presented the documentaryCharles, the Monarch and the Man, which aired on ITV on 13 September 2022. Dimbleby has been described in the media as "confidant of King Charles".[8]
Dimbleby wanted to be a farmer when he left school and worked on the Royal Farm, Windsor, trained as a professionalshowjumper and studied at the Royal Agricultural College (now University) at Cirencester. From 1993 until 2004 he ran anorganic farm nearBath, Somerset.
He is a past president ofVoluntary Service Overseas (VSO), of theCampaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), of theSoil Association and of theRSPB. He is chair of the Richard Dimbleby Cancer Fund, the charity established in 1966 in memory of his father. He was chairman of theIndex on Censorship's Board of Trustees from 2008 until 2013, when he was succeeded byDavid Aaronovitch.[9] He is patron of several other charities.
Dimbleby is the son of theSecond World War war correspondentRichard Dimbleby, who was later to become presenter of the BBC TV current affairs programmePanorama. His elder brotherDavid Dimbleby is also a commentator on current affairs and presenter of BBC programmes. Jonathan wrote a biography of his father in 1975.
Dimbleby married author, journalist, and broadcasterBel Mooney in 1968.[6] They have two children: Kitty, a journalist; and Daniel, a television producer. In May 2003, Dimbleby began a relationship with the sopranoSusan Chilcott, with whom he lived until her death from breast cancer in September 2003. Later that year Dimbleby and Mooney separated, and in 2006 they were divorced.[10] In 2007 Dimbleby married Jessica Ray. They have two daughters, Daisy and Gwendolen, and live inBristol.
Jonathan Dimbleby - introduced by friend Nick Robinson as a confidant of King Charles
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