 Alongside John Humphrys of Radio 4's Today programme,
Jeremy Paxman is the best examplar of the sea change in television's treatment
of politicians since the 1950s, from deference to a more critical engagement
and, occasionally, something close to contempt.
Paxman was born in Leeds on 11 May 1950, and educated in
Worcestershire and at St Catherine's College, Cambridge. After an apprenticeship
in local radio, he spent three years as a reporter in Northern Ireland, before
returning to London in 1977 and joining the BBC's Tonight programme
(1975-79) and subsequently Panorama (BBC, 1953), as a reporter, in which
role he travelled extensively in Europe, Central America, Africa and the Middle
East.
In 1984 he became anchor of the BBC's new 6 O'Clock News,
and the following year moved to Breakfast News. But it is as anchor of
Newsnight (BBC, 1980-) from 1989 that he has become best known,
attracting acclaim - and several awards - for his tough, even savage, approach
to interviews ("I am always asking myself," he famously said, "why is this lying
bastard lying to me?"). Some, however, liken him to a swaggering playground
bully, and worry that the result of such an aggressive approach to politicians
is a national cynicism which has debased Britain's political life.
His style is perhaps best represented by the now legendary
interview with Michael Howard, in which he asked the then Conservative Home
Secretary the same question - whether or not he had overruled the director
general of the prison service - 14 times in an attempt to solicit a straight
answer. Paxman later claimed that he simply couldn't think of another question,
but the confrontation proved riveting viewing, and it's a technique the
interviewer has used since, though never to the same extreme.
Despite his detractors, and the widely reported anxieties of
former BBC Director General John Birt (who supposedly complained of his
'sneering'), Paxman remains at Newsnight, and is still probably Britain's
favourite political interviewer (he has been named the Royal Television
Society's Interview/Presenter of the Year three times, in 1997, 1998 and 2001,
and won Variety Club's Personality of the Year award in 1999). For all the
talent of his co-presenters, who include Gavin Esler and Kirsty Wark, it seems a
slightly tamer programme when Paxman isn't on.
He has shown a less fierce aspect as presenter of the relaunched
University Challenge (BBC) since 1994, while eyebrows were raised when he
took over the chair of Radio 4's cultural discussion programme Start the
Week from Melvyn Bragg in 1998. However, Paxman proved himself well suited
to the role - erudite, well-informed and measured but, characteristically,
unafraid to confront some of his guests' more contentious claims. The inner
rottweiler occasionally surfaced - he infuriated the notorious former US
Secretary of State Dr Henry Kissinger when he suggested that he might feel
ashamed to have been the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize. Kissinger swiftly
left the studio. Paxman left the programme in 2002, to be replaced by Andrew
Marr.
He is the author of several books, including A Higher Form of Killing (with Robert Harris,
1982), a history of biochemical warfare; Friends in High Places: Who Runs Britain? (1990); Fish, Fishing and The Meaning of Life (1994), expounding his interest in angling; The English (1998), a bestselling analysis of national identity; and, most recently, The Political Animal: An Anatomy (2002). Mark Duguid
|
FILM & TV CREDITS
