Gavin Esler

Gavin William James Esler (born 27 February 1953) is a Scottish journalist, television presenter and author. He is a presenter on BBC News at Five, the BBC News Channel and the weekly BBC news discussion programme Dateline London. Esler was previously a main presenter on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, Newsnight, from January 2003 until January 2014. He is now the main presenter for BBC Weekend News lunchtime bulletins. Esler is the Chancellor of the University of Kent.

Early life

Esler was born in Glasgow on 27 February 1953,^[1][2] the first son born to a manager of a building company.^[3][4] During the first weeks of life he suffered from a condition that made him unable to digest milk and his parents feared for his life.^[5] He had an operation at just three weeks old.^[2] His family lived in Clydebank^[2] before they moved to Edinburgh. He began his education at Duddingston Primary School in Edinburgh, before gaining a scholarship to George Heriot's School at the age of 7 years.^[4] His Scottish childhood had a profound and long-lasting effect on him.^[6] His parents moved to Northern Ireland but he remained in Edinburgh.^[4] Esler was the first in his family to go to university.^[4] He studied at the University of Kent, graduating with a BA in English and American literature in 1974^[7] Alongside his studies he also wrote for Incant, the university newspaper.^[4] He then gained an MA in Anglo-Irish literature with distinction from the University of Leeds.^[8]

Career

Esler began working as a journalist in 1976, aged 23, with a junior reporter position at the Belfast Telegraph.^[3]

Esler joined the BBC in 1977 as Northern Ireland reporter, and extended his role after joining Newsnight in 1982. Esler was appointed Washington correspondent in 1989 and then, a year later, became the BBC's chief North America correspondent.^[9] Based in Washington,^[10] Esler's responsibilities now extended to shaping the corporation's coverage across the whole of North America, which included reporting on both the earlier George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations. Esler has also reported for news and documentary programmes across Europe, Russia, China and North and South America.^[9]

Esler combined reporting with presenting from the mid-1980s on BBC One's regional news programme for London and the South East of England – Newsroom South East. He worked as an anchor on the BBC News channel (then known as "BBC News 24") from its outset in 1997.^[9] He co-presented its prime-time slot with Sian Williams for several years.

In January 2003 he joined Newsnight,^[11] replacing Jeremy Vine, who had left to take over from Sir Jimmy Young on Radio 2.^[12] During his career Esler has interviewed heads of state and government including Bill Clinton, Jacques Chirac and King Abdullah II of Jordan. He has also interviewed a wide range of cultural figures including Dolly Parton, Doris Lessing, Penélope Cruz, Angelina Jolie, V. S. Naipaul, Roger Waters, Vikram Seth and Seamus Heaney.^[10] Esler left Newsnight in January 2014, and was replaced by Laura Kuenssberg.^[13]

In 2005 Esler interviewed George Galloway on Newsnight about the London bombings. The BBC was reported to have received hundreds of complaints about Esler's interview alleging his questioning was "rude and aggressive". Peter Barron, editor of Newsnight, defended Esler's questioning of Galloway's tactics:^[14]

The thrust of Gavin's questioning was to ask if it was wise to express these (Galloway's) provocative views – effectively 'I told you so' – at a time when many politicians and Muslim leaders had been appealing for calm. I believe that was a fair and appropriate line of questioning.

Esler also presents Dateline London on BBC News and BBC World News most Sunday mornings at 11 am. Since 2008 he has been presenter of the BBC News at Five on the BBC News channel on Fridays and when Huw Edwards is away. Esler has also hosted Radio 4 factual series, Four Corners along with fellow Scottish broadcaster, Anne MacKenzie. He has a regular slot on Saturdays and Sundays, working across BBC World, BBC News and BBC1, and co-presents the regular Film Review with Mark Kermode.^[15]

Esler is the author of five novels and two non-fiction books. The novel A Scandalous Man was described by fellow author Bernard Cornwell as "a compelling book, its political sophistication made luminous with wisdom sympathy and story telling".^[10] His fifth novel, Powerplay, was published by HarperCollins in August 2009. Esler's first non-fiction book, The United States of Anger published in October 1997 by Penguin, explores America's discontent with itself and was described by the New Statesman as "a vivid portrait of America in the 1990's". Esler's most recent book is Lessons from the Top published in August 2012 (Profile). In it Esler examines how leaders use stories to mould their audience's perception of who they are. For several years he wrote regular columns for The Scotsman, The Independent and other publications.

Esler was appointed as the sixth Chancellor of the University of Kent on 24 January 2014^[16] and he was installed as Chancellor in July that year.^[17]

Awards and honours

His report on the military build-up in the Aleutian Islands as part of the Reagan administration's New Maritime Strategy earned him a Royal Television Society award.^[11]

In 2007 he won a Sony Gold Award for his radio documentary report Letters From Guantanamo on Sami al-Hajj, one of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay.^[18] Following the broadcast al-Hajj was released from American custody.

Esler has received two honorary degrees from the University of Kent: an honorary MA was awarded in 1995, followed by an honorary Doctorate in Civil Law in 2005.^[19]

Personal life

Esler is married to rock violinist Anna Phoebe, his second wife.^[20] They have two children.

He was first married in July 1979, to teacher Patricia, and they had two children together. The couple's separation was reported in 2008 and a divorce granted in 2010.^[21]

Esler's hobbies include camping, hiking and skiing.^[2] He is a fan of progressive rock,^[22] citing King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Colosseum and Pink Floyd as favourite bands, and presented Prog magazine's Progressive Music Awards for three consecutive years between September 2012 and 2014.^[23][24][25]

Bibliography

Esler has written the following books:

Non fiction

• The United States of Anger. Penguin. 1998. ISBN 978-0140269277. 
• Lessons from the Top: The three universal stories that all successful leaders tell. Profile. 2013. ISBN 978-1846685002. 

Fiction

• Loyalties. Headline. 1991. ISBN 978-0747234388. 
• Deep Blue. HarperCollins. 1992. ISBN 978-0006472759. 
• The Blood Brother. HarperCollins. 1996. ISBN 978-0006493044. 
• A Scandalous Man. HarperCollins. 2008. ISBN 978-0007280919. 
• Power Play. HarperCollins. 2010. ISBN 978-0007278114. 

References

External links

• Gavin Esler BBC Profile
• Gavin Esler's Personal Website

University of Kent
University	Chancellor: Gavin Esler Vice Chancellor: Julia Goodfellow Academic dress List of people
Colleges	Chaucer Darwin Eliot Keynes Rutherford Woolf Wye
Departments	Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology Kent Business School Medway School of Pharmacy
Campuses	Canterbury (UKC) Medway (UKM) Tonbridge Brussels School of International Studies
Miscellaneous	1970 Chancellor election British Cartoon Archive London Contemporary Dance School Kent Family Placement Project University of Kent Rowing Club UKC Radio/CSR 97.4FM Kent Television
Categories	Academics Alumni Chancellors People
Category Commons