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Sir Trevor Lawson McDonald OBE (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with Independent Television News (ITN).[2][3]
Sir Trevor McDonald | |
|---|---|
| Born | George McDonald 16 August 1939 |
| Occupation(s) | Newsreader, journalist |
| Years active | 1973–present |
| Notable credits | |
| Title | Knight Bachelor, OBE |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
After working as a print and broadcast journalist in Trinidad, McDonald was employed by BBC Radio as a producer, based in London but still broadcasting to the Caribbean. In 1973, he began his long association with ITN as a general reporter and was also ITN's first black reporter. McDonald was promoted in 1992 as the sole presenter of News at Ten and became a well-known face on British television screens.
Early career
Trevor McDonald was born on 16 August 1939 in San Fernando, Trinidad, an island in the West Indies that was a British colony at the time.[5][6] He is the son of Josephine and Lawson McDonald, a self-taught engineer who worked on an oil refinery.[7][8] McDonald is of Dougla heritage, his mother being of African descent and his father being of Indian descent.[9] He grew up in a poor household in the village of St. Margaret in the south of Trinidad,[10][11] and is the oldest of four children in his family.[7] McDonald did not receive much of an education at school,[7][12] going against his parent's wishes.[5] His father supplemented the small income by mending shoes and keeping pigs in his spare time to fund the family's education.[8][13]
Although his mother wanted him to become a lawyer,[10] he began working in broadcasting through Naparima College's Blue Circle Network in San Fernando.[14] McDonald's professional work started when he was a radio reporter for Radio Trinidad,[15] news presenter and sports journalist for Trinidad Television as well as newspapers and radio in the early 1960s.[5][12][6] He became a producer for both the BBC World Service and the BBC Caribbean Service in 1962.[14] In 1969, McDonald moved to London and was employed by the BBC World Service as a producer, but still broadcast to the Caribbean.[4]
Finding he was slow-moving at progressing and eager to advance his career,[8] in 1973, he was employed by Independent Television News (ITN) editor Nigel Ryan to work at the news organisation as a general reporter and was also ITN's first black reporter.[5][16] McDonald later became a sports correspondent from 1978 to 1980,[6] but he ultimately concentrated on international politics between January 1980 and 1982 as diplomatic correspondent and newsreader.[10][12] This came after Ryan suggested that McDonald "be like Sandy Gall" and travel the world as a reporter, combining that role with reading the news on occasion.[16] From 1982 to 1987 he was employed as a diplomatic correspondent and newsreader of the ITN-produced Channel 4 News evening bulletin,[5] but returned to ITV in early 1989, presenting the Early Evening News and rotated that bulletin along with the weekend news duties with Fiona Armstrong.[17][18]
News at Ten
McDonald was promoted on 9 November 1992 as the main presenter of News at Ten when the bulletin was revamped from its two-presenter format to a one-newsreader format after market research determined that audiences preferred him over younger colleagues.[19] He became a well-known face on British television screens as a result.[5] McDonald remained with ITN when News at Ten was axed by ITV on 5 March 1999,[20] moving to present the new ITV Evening News. News at Ten was briefly relaunched for three nights a week on 22 January 2001, to which McDonald returned as a presenter.[21] He presented the ITV News at 10.30 following News at Ten's second axing in January 2004.[22]
Tonight
From 1999 to 2007, McDonald hosted ITV's flagship current affairs programme Tonight with Trevor McDonald. The show was revived in 2010 with presenter Julie Etchingham.[23][24]
First retirement
McDonald presented his last ITV News bulletin on 15 December 2005.[25] He stepped down from his role as anchor after more than 30 years at ITN, but said he had no plans to retire completely from television.[26] McDonald told his ITN colleagues that he wanted a low-key departure after having observed the departures of Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather in the United States.[27] At the end of the final programme, he signed off with the words:
That brings to an end my association with the news at 10.30. Thank you for watching and thank you for all your generous messages. Good night and goodbye.[25]
Return to News at Ten
On 31 October 2007, ITV announced that, early in 2008, McDonald would come out of retirement to present the relaunched News at Ten together with Julie Etchingham.[28]
Second retirement
It was announced on 30 October 2008 that McDonald would step down from News at Ten once the 2008 United States presidential election was over, to be replaced by Mark Austin.[29] His last bulletin was on 20 November 2008. It was reported at the time that he would continue to present links for Tonight.[30]
Documentaries
McDonald has presented a series of documentaries for ITV. In 2009, McDonald travelled to the Caribbean for the three-part series The Secret Caribbean with Trevor McDonald.[31][32] Two years later, McDonald travelled around the Mediterranean for the four-part series The Secret Mediterranean with Trevor McDonald.[33] and along the route of the Mississippi River for the three-part series The Mighty Mississippi with Trevor McDonald in 2012.[34]
In 2012, McDonald presented Queen Elizabeth II: Her Remarkable Life Through The Decades. In 2013, he visited death row inmates in Indiana and hosted the two-part series Inside Death Row.[35] McDonald travelled to New York City for the two-part series The Mafia with Trevor McDonald in early 2015.[36] In late 2015, he presented Las Vegas with Trevor McDonald, a two-part series.[37] In September 2016, McDonald presented a two-part series called Inside Scotland Yard With Trevor McDonald,[38] and the two-part documentary Mafia Women with Trevor McDonald in February 2017.[39]
In late 2017, McDonald presented a documentary called An Hour to Catch a Killer,[40] and both Death Row 2018 with Trevor McDonald,[41] and James Bulger: A Mother's Story with Trevor McDonald in February 2018.[42] In September 2018, he presented To Catch a Serial Killer with Trevor McDonald,[43] and Fred & Rose West: The Real Story with Trevor McDonald in February 2019.[44]
In January 2021, McDonald presented a two-part documentary called And Finally… with Trevor McDonald.[45] In May 2021, McDonald co-presented a documentary called Trevor McDonald & Charlene White: Has George Floyd Changed Britain?.[46] McDonald presented The Killing of PC Harper: A Wife’s Story on 17 March 2022,[47] and Pride of Britain: A Windrush Special in October 2023.[48]
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in January 1990.[49] In December 1996, McDonald presented the "Hogmanay at the Palace" from Scone Palace.[50] He presented the television series Undercover Customs, which created reconstructions of major HM Customs and Excise investigations in the United Kingdom.[51] On 21 April 2006, McDonald presented an episode of the BBC One satirical quiz Have I Got News for You.[52] McDonald was formerly Chancellor of London South Bank University. He also has intimate ties with King's College School in Wimbledon, a London day school, where he is now a governor.[53] McDonald authored biographies of the cricketers Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd.[4] He has worked as an editor of poetry anthologies,[4] and his autobiography Fortunate Circumstances was published in 1993.[5]
Lenny Henry's comic character Trevor McDoughnut is a parody of McDonald.[4] McDonald once surprised Henry during a performance of "McDoughnut" on Tiswas by walking into the studio to sit with Henry. McDonald returned to Tiswas on two further occasions. First, a number of weeks after his original surprise appearance, he cropped up during a spoof edition of This Is Your Life to "reminisce" with Lenny Henry about the earlier event. The other appearance occurred during the Tiswas Reunited show (a reunion programme broadcast in June 2007) where McDonald joined Lenny Henry on the sofa once again to look back at the old clips and comment on Henry's impersonation.[54]
McDonald performed live in Hyde Park in June 1996 with the Who, as the newsreader in the group's staging of their rock opera, Quadrophenia.[55] In June 2007, McDonald hosted the new ITV version of This Is Your Life, Simon Cowell being the programme's "victim".[56] From June to August 2007, McDonald presented the satirical panel show News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald on ITV1.[57] In August 2010, McDonald conducted a live on-stage interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Fairfield Halls in Croydon at an event entitled An Audience with Desmond Tutu.[58][59] In 2014, McDonald presented a media training course entitled "Deal with the Media with Sir Trevor McDonald".[60]
McDonald presented a special edition of Countdown in September 2021 as part of Channel 4's Black To Front Day.[61] In 2021, McDonald appeared as the titular character in E4's revival of GamesMaster.[62] In November 2022, as part of the game show's 40th anniversary, McDonald was a guest presenter on Countdown.[63] In March 2024, McDonald was the walking partner in the second episode of Perfect Pub Walks with Bill Bailey.[64]
In June 2024, The Guardian reported that McDonald had been featured in an advertisement to promote the planned UK government sale of shares in NatWest to the public (which had been announced in the March budget).[65] Because one of McDonald's conditions was that he did not want to directly tell people to buy shares, the strapline for the advert was "Are you in?".[65] The campaign had to be suspended after the announcement of the 2024 general election.[65]
McDonald holds honorary degrees from the University of Plymouth[66] and Liverpool John Moores University.[67] He was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1999 Birthday Honours for his services to broadcasting and journalism, having previously been appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1992 New Year Honours.[68][69] He was awarded with "Special Recognition" at the National Television Awards in 2003[70] and with a BAFTA fellowship at the 2011 British Academy Television Awards.[71]
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