JEREMY PAXMAN

'Jeremy Paxman' (born 11 May 1950) is a British BBC journalist, news and TV presenter and author from England. He is best known for his abrasive and forthright style of interviewing on the BBC's ''Newsnight'' programme, which has often been praised as tough and incisive or criticised as aggressive and irreverent.^[1] Tough questioning is often described as "Paxmanesque" in the UK, in recognition of his style.

Early life

Jeremy Dixon Paxman was born on 11 May 1950 in Leeds in West Yorkshire, England.^[2] His father, Arthur Paxman, served on the North Atlantic Fleet. His mother, Joan, was a housewife. Paxman is the eldest of four children and has two brothers (one of whom, Giles Paxman, is the British Ambassador to Mexico) and one sister (Jenny Lawrence, who also works at the BBC).
Paxman was educated at Malvern College in Malvern, Worcestershire, and Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey. He then read English at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge,² where he edited the student newspaper ''Varsity'' and graduated with a Master of Arts (M.A.).
In a January 2006 episode of the BBC genealogy programme ''Who Do You Think You Are?'', it was revealed that Paxman is descended from Roger Packsman, a 14th-century politician from Suffolk, East Anglia, who changed his name to Paxman ("man of peace") to impress the electorate.^[3]

Career

Journalist

Paxman's career began on local radio before he moved to Belfast as an investigative journalist. In 1977 Paxman moved to London to join the BBC, and two years later he transferred to ''Panorama'' from the Tonight programme. After five years on that programme, working from locations as diverse as Beirut, Uganda and Central America, he accepted a job presenting the ''Six O'Clock News'', where he was presenter for two years, before moving to the ''Breakfast Time'' programme.
In 1989 Paxman moved to his current job as presenter of ''Newsnight''. One of the most famous ''Newsnight'' interviews took place on 13 May 1997, with Michael Howard, who had until 13 days earlier been Home Secretary. Howard was questioned regarding a meeting he had convened with the head of the Prison Service, Derek Lewis, regarding the potential dismissal of the head of Parkhurst Prison. During one continuous sequence Paxman put the same question — "Did you threaten to overrule him?" — twelve times to Howard, who on each occasion gave a qualified or evasive answer.^[4] In a 20th anniversary edition of Newsnight, Paxman revealed to Howard that he was attempting to prolong the interview as the next item was not ready^[5]. Paxman won the Royal Television Society award in 1998 for his interviewing style. In 2004 Paxman broached the subject with Howard — then Conservative leader — again; Howard laughed the question off, but did say he "didn't" threaten to overrule the Head of the Prison Service.
In 1998 Denis Halliday, one of the United Nations' humanitarian aid directors, resigned from his post in Iraq in protest at the UN sanctions imposed on that country, calling it "genocide".^[6] In the subsequent interview with ''Newsnight'', Paxman asked Halliday, "Aren't you just an apologist for Saddam Hussein?"
In recognition of Paxman's tough reputation, when in 2003 Prime Minister Tony Blair decided to make the case for the Iraq war directly to the public, he chose Paxman as the presenter of a special TV question-and-answer session with a public studio audience. During this interview Paxman famously asked Blair if he and President Bush "prayed together" to which Blair replied "No, Jeremy... we don't pray together".^[7]
Paxman attracted attention to his robust interviewing of party political leaders during the 2005 General Election. The BBC received complaints from some viewers that in the interviews Paxman was "rude and aggressive".^[8] Paxman's role interviewing candidates on election night drew some attention, particularly after a 5am interview with winning candidate George Galloway. He began by asking Galloway, "Are you proud of having got rid of one of the very few black women in Parliament [Oona King]?",^[9] a line of questioning criticised by many, including Oona King herself. After Galloway's public fall from grace in the 2006 ''Celebrity Big Brother'' debacle, Paxman challenged him (in a recorded message played on the show) to return to ''Newsnight'' for a follow-up interview. Galloway has so far declined.
Paxman's brusque manner is not restricted to his political interviews. When ''Newsnight'' decided to broadcast brief weather forecasts instead of financial reports, he openly ridiculed the decision on the air (saying, for example, "And for tonight's weather — it's April, what do you expect?").^[10] In 2006, he was voted the fourth scariest celebrity on television in a ''Radio Times'' poll of 3,000 people.^[11]
BBC America has recruited Paxman to start working on their main channel broadcast in the US in autumn 2007.⁷^[12] He is to introduce a synopsis of ''Newsnight'' items with an international aspect and is expected to bring his brash interviewing style to bear on US politicians.

Other television work

Whilst maintaining his spot fronting ''Newsnight'', Paxman's career has diversified into the presentation of a number of TV programmes, such as the quiz programme ''University Challenge'' and ''You Decide''. Paxman has presented ''University Challenge'' since 1994, bringing to the job his trademark sardonic manner. He is the longest-serving current quizmaster on British TV.^[13]
In April 2006 it was claimed by ''The Sun'' newspaper that he earned £800,000 for his ''Newsnight'' presenting and £240,000 for presenting ''University Challenge'', making his putative total yearly salary £1,040,000. This revelation was one of a series of BBC salary leaks reported in the British tabloid press that sparked an investigation by the BBC.^[14]

Views on the BBC

During the period when John Birt was Director General of the BBC, the media regularly reported Paxman's criticism of Birt. In his turn, Birt was publicly critical of the confrontational approach taken by some interviewers, which was seen as a coded criticism of the approach taken by Paxman and his BBC colleague John Humphrys.
On 24 August 2007, Paxman delivered the McTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival^[15] in which he was critical of the contemporary television medium. He expressed concern that, as a consequence of recent scandals, it was losing the trust of the public, which already mistrusted politicians. He also commented on Tony Blair's opinions regarding the media which Blair made at the time he left office. Paxman acknowledged that the media is often oppositional, but considered that it benefits democracy in being so, and that the Reithian objectives to "inform, educate and entertain" remain valid. In conclusion, Paxman called on the television industry to rediscover a sense of purpose. He also dismissed the attribution of a quote to himself ("Why is this bastard lying to me?") as being inaccurate.

Author

Paxman is also an author of non-fiction books. His first book arose out of a ''Panorama'' programme that he worked on with Robert Harris on biological and chemical warfare. Together they wrote ''A Higher Form of Killing'' (1982) exploring its history; a revised edition published in 2002 included a chapter asserting that Iraq possessed both chemical and biological weapons. Working on his own, Paxman wrote ''Through the Volcanoes: A Central American Journey'' (1985), about events he witnessed in Central America. He also wrote ''Friends in High Places: Who Runs Britain?'' (1991) which investigated the labyrinthine connections between those in power in early-1990s Britain. A study of the English nation entitled ''The English: A Portrait of a People'' followed in 1999 to considerable critical acclaim. ''The Political Animal: An Anatomy'' (2003), discusses the character traits of those that enter politics. His most recent book is ''On Royalty'' (2006), which is a thesis on, and defence of, the UK's constitutional monarchy.

In popular culture

★ A puppet of Paxman made regular appearances on the satirical TV show ''Spitting Image'' (1984–1996). He was portrayed as extremely smug and deeply in love with himself.

★ Paxman became a focus of media attention in his own right in October 2000 when the stolen Enigma machine which had been taken from Bletchley Park Museum was inexplicably sent to him in the post. He had it returned to its rightful location.^[16]

★ Paxman had a cameo role as himself in the 2004 film ''.^[17] He has made similar appearances in British TV shows such as ''The Vicar of Dibley'' (2000),^[17] '' (2001; uncredited)^[17] and ''My Dad's the Prime Minister'' (2004).^[17]

★ The grinning green cartoon planet devised by American marketing executives for the cover of US editions of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (1979) was nicknamed "Jeremy Pacman" by fans.^[21] The book's author Douglas Adams hated this character, although it seems unlikely he was aware of its nickname.

★ As part of the promotional tour for his book ''On Royalty'' (2006), Paxman appeared on the US-based Comedy Central ''faux'' news program ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' on 14 May 2007. His appearance was made more relevant since it took place on the heels of Queen Elizabeth II's state visit to the United States the week before.

★ Paxman is often nicknamed "Paxo", which is both a contraction of his surname and a popular brand of British stuffing mix.

Tributes and honours

Paxman was awarded the Richard Dimbleby Award for Outstanding Presenter in the Factual Arena, the most prestigious current affairs honour of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), in 1996. Two years later, in 1998, he won the Royal Television Society's Interviewer of the Year Award for his ''Newsnight'' interview of Michael Howard, as well as the Broadcasting Press Guild's award for Best Performer (Non-Acting). He received another BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award in 2000, and was nominated for the award in 2001 and 2002.²
Paxman was made an honorary graduate of the University of Bradford in December 1999 in recognition of his work as a TV journalist.^[22] On 15 September 2006 at the Barbican Centre in London, he received an honorary doctorate from the Open University. Among the invited guests at the ceremony were three members of the Open University team from ''University Challenge'' 1999.
Paxman is a Fellow by Special Election of St. Edmund Hall in the University of Oxford, and an Honorary Fellow of his ''alma mater'', St. Catharine's College, Cambridge.²

Personal life

Paxman lives with his partner Elizabeth Ann Clough in Stonor, Oxfordshire. They have three children: Jessica, and twins Victoria and Jack.
He supports Leeds United,² and enjoys fly fishing in his leisure time.^[23]

Works

★ A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret Story of Chemical and Biological Warfare, , Robert, Harris, Hill and Wang, 1982, New edition published as A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Gas and Germ Warfare, , Robert, Harris, Arrow, 2002, .

★ Through the Volcanoes: A Central American Journey, , Jeremy, Paxman, Paladin, 1985,

★ Friends in High Places: Who Runs Britain?, , Jeremy, Paxman, Penguin, 1991,

★ The English: A Portrait of a People, , Jeremy, Paxman, Penguin, 1999,

★ The Political Animal: An Anatomy, , Jeremy, Paxman, Penguin, 2003,

★ On Royalty, , Jeremy, Paxman, Viking, 2006,

Notes

1. BBC and the 'Paxman Problem' Roger Mosey
2. .
3. See The Day Paxman Shed a Tear Sitala Peek The programme was also notable for showing Paxman's rarely-seen sensitive side — he became teary-eyed after discovering that his impoverished great-grandmother Mary Mackay had her poor relief application revoked by the parish because she had had a child out of wedlock.
4. Howard Special 'Not Staged' Peter Barron Tory Complaint about BBC's Paxman Paxman versus Howard Peter Horrocks BBC Dismisses Howard Complaints Tory Newsnight Gripe Rejected
5. Paxman's explanation was that, "by the time I'd asked the question five or six times... it was clear... that you weren't going to answer it... at which point a voice came in my ear and said, 'the next piece of tape isn't cut, you'd better carry on with this for a while', and I'm afraid I couldn't think of anything else to ask you."
6. Former U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Denis Halliday opposes U.N.'s sanctions
7. BBC America Banks on Brash Brit: Network Hopes Paxman is Next U.S. Hit Steve Clarke See also Blair Tries to Shift Focus Nick Assinder
8. Paxman Special Sparks Backlash Matt Holder I'm Only Human, Says Paxman
9. Paxman v Galloway
10. Paxo's Weather Report
11. "Ramsay is scariest TV celebrity", Daily Mail. Retrieved on 27 August, 2007.
12. Paxman Crosses the Pond Leigh Holmwood
13. UK Game Show Records
14. BBC Probes DJ Salary Disclosure
15. MacTaggart Memorial Lecture : Never Mind the Scandals : What's It All For?
16. 'No Ransom Paid' for Enigma Machine Paxman Returns Enigma Machine
17. .
18. .
19. .
20. .
21. News about Douglas Adams and ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'': Green Thing Returns on US WYWH Cover
22. University Honours Paxman and Birt
23. Jeremy Paxman from the BBC Press Office. Retrieved on 7 July 2007.

References

★ Paxman, Jeremy (1950– )

★ Who Do You Think You Are Jeremy Paxman? Kate Hayward

★ Jeremy Paxman: Uncertain Assassin

★ Jeremy Paxman at the BBC News website

★ Jeremy Paxman from the BBC Press Office

★

★ Parkinson Meets Jeremy Paxman, BBC ONE, 10.55pm, Saturday 9 November

External links

★ Official website of BBC's ''Newsnight'' programme

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