James Coomarasamy

James Coomarasamy is a presenter on BBC World Service programme Newshour. Before joining Newshour in 2010, Coomarasamy spent a year presenting the now defunct strand Europe Today. Prior to moving behind the microphone he had been a BBC correspondent in Warsaw, followed by Paris then Washington, D.C. before returning to Europe.

Early life

Coomarasamy was born in London to parents of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage.

Education

Coomarasamy was educated at Christ's Hospital School, an independent school for boys (now co-educational), near the market town of Horsham in West Sussex, in southern England, followed by the University of Cambridge in the city of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, where he studied Modern and Medieval Languages. He is fluent in French, and speaks some Russian and Polish.

Life and career

Coomarasamy began his career at the BBC in the following sequence:

• 1991 hired as production assistant in the BBC Moscow bureau, after which he freelanced in Moscow as a reporter / producer.
• Later on assigned as a producer for the BBC World in London.
• December 1994 he returned to Moscow as the bureau’s bi-media producer covering major stories like the war in Chechnya.
• November 1997 he moved to Warsaw to work as the local BBC correspondent covering events in Poland, the Baltics and Ukraine.
• From 1999 to 2003, Coomarasamy was the BBC’s Paris Reporter, covering news in the region for both radio and television outlets.
• From February 2005, he was the BBC's correspondent in Washington D.C., reporting on news stories from across the United States and North America.
• In 2009 Coomarasamy presented Europe Today for the BBC World Service.
• In 2010 Coomarasamy joined the presentation team for Newshour on the BBC World Service.

Family

Coomarasamy is married to Nanette, with whom he has two children.

References

• BBC TV news profile