Fergus Nicoll

Fergus Nicoll is a freelance journalist, author and news presenter with the BBC World Service. He is one the presenters of the current affairs programme The World Today.

Education

Fergus Nicoll was educated at Ampleforth College, Christ Church, Oxford (BA Oriental Studies) and Reading University (PhD: "Gladstone, Gordon and Sudan, 1883-5").

Broadcasting career

After working as a teacher in northern Sudan, he began his career with the BBC in 1988 with the African Service. He moved to the BBC's Cairo Bureau in 1992 and spent three years (1996-9) as a World Affairs Correspondent, filing for the World Service and BBC World TV. Since 2001, he has been a freelance presenter on the BBC World Service radio programme The World Today.

Writing

In 2004, Nicoll published a biography of the Mahdi of Sudan, The Sword of the Prophet:The Mahdi of Sudan and the Death of General Gordon. His second book, a biography of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, was published by Haus Publishing in April 2009 as Shah Jahan: The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Emperor. Penguin-India (under the Viking imprint) published the same volume in September 2009. Returning to Sudan studies, Nicoll published An Index to the Complete Works of al-Imam al-Mahdi in June 2009. The Abd-al-Karim Mirghani Cultural Centre in Omdurman followed this with the publication of an Arabic translation of The Mahdi of Sudan in October 2009, under the title Seif al-Nabi: Mahdi al-Sudan. In September 2010, the Qasim Data Centre in Khartoum published Nicoll's Bibliography of the Mahdia. Nicoll is currently working on a comprehensive account of the siege of Khartoum in 1884-5, based on unexpurgated editions of the Khartoum journals of Colonel J. Donald Hammill-Stewart (January-April 1884) and General Charles Gordon (September-December 1884), both of which formed part of his PhD thesis approved by Reading University.

Awards

• Sony Award for "Best Breakfast Show" (1991)