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Moira Stuart

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Moira Stuart
CBE
Stuart speaks at the British Library in 2022
Born
Moira Clare Ruby Stuart

(1949-09-02) 2 September 1949 (age 75)[1]
London, England
Occupation(s)Presenter, newsreader, radio host
Notable credit(s)BBC News, Classic FM
Parent(s)Harold Stuart
Marjorie Gordon
RelativesClara Marguerite Christian (grandmother)
Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon (grandfather)
Margaret Busby (cousin)

Moira Clare Ruby Stuart,[2] CBE (born 2 September 1949)[1][3] is a British presenter and broadcaster. She was the first female newsreader of Caribbean heritage to appear on British national television, having worked on BBC News since 1981.[4]

In a career spanning four decades, she has presented many television news and radio programmes for the BBC and, from 2010 for nine years, was the newsreader for The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2.[1][5] Stuart hosted her own music show on the station, which was broadcast every Sunday from 23:00 until midnight. The show featured "timeless classics”, playing popular songs from the previous 60 years.[6]

Stuart began as a morning news presenter for Classic FM in February 2019 and, from July 2019, worked as a weekend presenter with her own Saturday show.[7]

Stuart has received several awards during her career, including being appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001 for services to broadcasting, and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2022 for services to media.

Early life

Moira Stuart was born at the Royal Free Hospital in London, on 2 September 1949,[2] to Caribbean parents. She has two sisters, Sandra Simmons[8] and Sharon Davis-Murdoch.[9] Her maternal grandfather, Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon, met his wife, Clara Christian, when both were studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh,[10][11] where she was the first black woman student.[12]

She was educated in London until she was 13, attending Our Lady's Catholic High School, Stamford Hill. She then moved with her family to Bermuda for a time, returning at the age of 15 to London, where she attended college.[citation needed]

Career

Early career

Stuart began working with the BBC in the 1970s and was a production assistant in the Radio Talks and Documentaries department.[13] She was a continuity announcer and newsreader for both BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 2, reading her first Radio 4 news bulletin in 1978,[14] and in 1980 she played Darong in series one of game show The Adventure Game. She moved to television news in 1981,[13][15] when she co-presented News After Noon.[16][17]

TV news career

Stuart is acknowledged as having been the UK's first female African-Caribbean television newsreader.[18] Since 27 August 1981, she has presented on every news bulletin devised on BBC Television[19] apart from the Ten O'Clock News. She has also appeared on The News Quiz and presented the news on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme each Sunday and its successor programme Sunday AM with Andrew Marr. She presented the news for BBC Breakfast. However, BBC Breakfast moved to a new studio with a new look on 2 May 2006 and the entire news content was presented by two main presenters. Stuart retained her slot on BBC's Sunday AM show and continued to present some weekend television bulletins on BBC One. She also worked on other long-form programmes for other BBC channels, including BBC Four.

"Throughout her 30-plus years at the BBC,
Moira has achieved a great deal.
She has always been a model professional
as well as being much loved and admired
by both the public and her BBC colleagues.
Everyone in BBC News wishes her
all the best for the future."

Helen Boaden, Director of BBC News (2007).[19]

In April 2007 it was announced that Stuart would be leaving Sunday AM, resulting in the loss of a regular slot on broadcast TV.[20] This prompted an angry backlash, accusing the BBC of ageism and sexism.[21][22] The BBC initially declined to comment on why she was no longer being used, but rumours circulated within the BBC and commercial newsrooms that Stuart had been removed because she was considered "too old" at 57, although Anna Ford had continued anchoring the BBC One O'Clock News until her retirement at 62. This was denied by Director-General of the BBC Mark Thompson when he was questioned by a House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee.[23] Thompson stated: "BBC News, News 24, the radio networks, have changed over the years and the traditional role of the newsreader, as opposed to a correspondent or presenter, has virtually died out over the services.... We tend to use journalists across BBC news programmes ... to read the news headlines."[24]

Stuart's 26-year career with BBC Television News was brought to a close on 3 October 2007, when the BBC announced her departure.[19] In total, her experience had spanned 34 years of BBC radio and TV.

In April 2009, the departing head of BBC News, Peter Horrocks, was quoted as saying: "I regret the way some viewed her departure. Many people came to believe that Moira left for reasons of ageism, or other -isms. This was never the case."[25]

On 21 November 2009, it was reported in The Guardian that Chris Evans was "lining up" Stuart to read the news bulletins on his new BBC Radio 2 show from January 2010, when he was due to inherit the slot from Terry Wogan.[26] On 6 January 2010, it was confirmed that she would return to BBC News, reading the news for The Chris Evans Breakfast Show, starting on 11 January 2010.[27] She presented her last bulletins for the show on 14 December 2018.[28]

It was subsequently announced that she had joined Classic FM,[29] from February 2019, to present the news on weekdays during the breakfast show, and from July 2019 would be presenting her own Saturday afternoon show, Moira Stuart’s Hall of Fame Concert.[30][31][32] Stuart, who described the move as "a wonderful opportunity to take a whole new journey, with people I really like and admire",[33] made her debut on Classic FM on 11 February 2019.[34]

From 9 August 2020 she has hosted a new Sunday evening series, Moira Stuart Meets…, on Classic FM.[35]

Other projects

A keen music lover, Stuart deputised for Humphrey Lyttelton on his BBC Radio 2 Best of Jazz programme, has participated in the BBC Jazz Awards as compère, and features as a narrator on Soweto Kinch's 2006 jazz-rap album A Life in the Day of B19: Tales of the Tower Block.[36]

With Adam Shaw, she also presented the BBC Two personal finance series Cashing In.[37]

Stuart has served on various boards and judging panels including Amnesty International, the Royal Television Society, BAFTA, United Nations Association, the Orange Prize, the London Fair Play Consortium, the Human Genetics Commission, the Queen's Anniversary Prize, and the Grierson Trust.[38]

In November 2004, Stuart was the subject of an episode of the BBC genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? (series 1, episode 6),[39] which helped trace her family history.[8][40]

Stuart was a judge (alongside Jo Brand, Jude Kelly and Joanne Harris) for the Orange Prize in 2005, when the winner was Lionel Shriver with We Need to Talk About Kevin.[41][42]

In 2006, Stuart played a comic version of herself in the Ricky Gervais television comedy Extras, supposedly involved in supplying drugs to Ronnie Corbett.[43]

In March 2007 she also presented the documentary In Search of Wilberforce for BBC Television, examining the role of anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the British bill that banned the slave trade.[38] According to a review of the programme: "The documentary is well-structured and the informed questioning by Stuart enables a debunking of the Wilberforce legend and a challenge to the myopia in Britain which focuses upon the abolitionists rather than those who were enslaved."[44]

On 2 June 2007, she hosted the BBC One topical news quiz show Have I Got News for You,[45] and was well received by the public. The extended and uncut version of the programme (shown the following evening, 3 June 2007) revealed that, while making a spoof appeal for work, she fluffed her lines on a number of occasions but took it all with her traditional good humour.[citation needed]

On 16 November 2007, she visited Mill Hill School in Ripley, Derbyshire, to officially open the new school building alongside Councillor Alan Charles from Derbyshire County Council.[46]

In 2008, 2009 and 2010, she appeared in a series of advertisements for HMRC promoting tax-return procedures.[47]

In March 2014, Stuart began hosting the Sunday late-night BBC Radio 2 programme Music Until Midnight, a slot that previously broadcast David Jacobs' long-running Easy listening programme until 2013. She alternates this Sunday-night slot with Oscar-winning songwriter Don Black.[6][48] She has also presented music documentary series for Radio 2, including Strong and Sassy - Inspiring Women of Jazz (featuring Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Adelaide Hall, Anita O'Day and Lena Horne)[49] and Jazz Guitar Greats.[50]

In July 2015, Stuart appeared on the television comedy panel show Would I Lie to You? (Series 9, Episode 1).[51]

In 2021, it was announced that she would dance with Aljaž Škorjanec in the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, which was broadcast on Christmas Day.[52][53] In 2022, she announced the terms and conditions for the Strictly Come Dancing Halloween Special.[54][55]

In November 2022, Stuart appeared as a guest presenter on Countdown, as part of the Channel 4 show's 40th birthday celebrations.[56]

Family

Her mother Marjorie Gordon (1921–2017),[57] who was born in Dominica, and her father Harold Stuart (1914–1966), a Barbadian lawyer,[8] divorced when Stuart was ten months old. Her uncle was the singer Ken Gordon,[58] who was a member, with George Browne, of the vocal trio Three Just Men.[9] Her cousin is the Ghana-born publisher and editor Margaret Busby.[59][60][61]

Talking about her ancestry, Stuart has said that she is from a "long line of outsiders" and that she considers herself "a true mongrel – and proud of it".[10] For the 2004 edition of Who Do You Think You Are? in which she featured, she visited the Scottish Highlands, as well as to Antigua (where her great-great-grandfather was enslaved)[40][62] and to Dominica, where her great-grandfather George James Christian was born.[60] Christian was a delegate at the 1900 First Pan-African Conference in London (making a speech that was reported in The Times, about the treatment of South Africans in the Boer War),[8] before migrating to the Gold Coast, West Africa.[40]

During the programme, she discovered the story of how her maternal grandfather Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon met his wife Clara Christian when both were studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh,[10][11] where she was the first black woman student.[12] While he completed his degree and qualified as a doctor in 1918 (initially going into practice in Kingussie), Stuart's grandmother did not finish medical studies, using money intended for her course to pay their bills instead.[40] The couple ultimately settled in Bermuda, where in addition to being a physician Gordon became a parliamentarian, civil-rights activist and labour leader.[11] In the programme, Stuart was visibly moved to learn more about her ancestors in the context of the Atlantic slave trade, and about their fight for human rights and social justice.[63]

In 2021, on discovering through research by Ancestry UK that during the Second World War her mother had worked as a nurse probationer at St Helier Hospital and at Queen Mary's Hospital for Children in Carshalton, among the most heavily bombed hospitals in England, Stuart recalled: "She told me once that literally every time there was a bombing raid, she would take all of the children out of their beds, put them underneath the beds for protection, and those that she couldn’t move she would cover with her own body."[64][65]

Honours, awards and achievements

Stuart was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2001 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting[66] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to media.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Moira Stuart lands Radio 2 role". BBC News. 6 January 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  2. ^ a b Rifkind, Hugo (6 June 2007). "The age of Moira". The Times. London. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
  3. ^ "Who is Moira Stuart? Meet the legendary broadcaster who was the first female Caribbean newsreader on TV". amp.classicfm.com. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Black History", BBC.
  5. ^ Damien Gayle, "Moira Stuart leaves BBC for Classic FM presenting role", The Guardian, 17 December 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Episode Guide", Moira Stuart page, BBC Radio 2.
  7. ^ Classic FM (17 December 2018). "Moira Stuart joins Classic FM". Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  8. ^ a b c d "Moira Stuart". Who Do You Think You Are? – Past Stories. BBC. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  9. ^ a b "Dr E.F. Gordon's Son Ken Gordon Dies At 86", Bernews, 7 November 2013.
  10. ^ a b c "Who Do You Think You Are? – Moira Stuart". BBC Press Office. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  11. ^ a b c "Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon", BermudaBiographies.bm. Accessed 21 November 2022.
  12. ^ a b Allman, Esme (2018). "Clara Marguerite Christian". UncoverED – A collaborative decolonial research project.
  13. ^ a b Moira Stuart biography at The Chris Evans Breakfast Show website.
  14. ^ Ellie Iorizzo (31 December 2021). "Veteran broadcaster Moira Stuart hails CBE as 'magnificent honour'". Irish Independent.
  15. ^ Every Generation (2004). "100 Great Black Britons – Moira Stuart". Archived from the original on 18 October 2006. Retrieved 22 October 2006.
  16. ^ Tise Vahimagi, "Stuart, Moira", BFI Screenonline.
  17. ^ "BBC1 News After Noon - Monday 14th September 1981" (video).
  18. ^ "Who is Moira Stuart? Meet the legendary broadcaster who was the first female Caribbean newsreader on TV". Discover Music. Classic FM. 9 December 2021.
  19. ^ a b c "Moira Stuart to leave BBC News" (Press release). BBC. 3 October 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
  20. ^ BBC News (27 March 2007). "Moira Stuart loses BBC News slot". Retrieved 27 March 2007.
  21. ^ Jonathan Brown (25 April 2007). "End of era for news readers as BBC dashes Moira's hopes". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 27 April 2007.
  22. ^ Leigh Holmwood (4 October 2007). "Moira Stuart leaves BBC news amid allegations of ageism". The Guardian.
  23. ^ "Thompson defends Moira Stuart axing". Digital Spy. 25 April 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  24. ^ Conlan, Tara (9 May 2007). "ITV wants Moira Stuart". The Guardian. London.
  25. ^ Hillier, Sally (14 April 2009). "Allow me to apologise, says departing news boss Horrocks". Ariel. Vol. 2009, no. week 15. p. 4.
  26. ^ Plunkett, John (21 November 2009). "Chris Evans lines up Moira Stuart to read news on Radio 2 breakfast show". The Guardian. London.
  27. ^ Macadam, Daniel (6 January 2010). "Moira Stuart returns to read news on Chris Evans show". Press Gazette. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  28. ^ "Moira Stuart to join Classic FM", BBC News, 17 December 2018.
  29. ^ Anita Singh, "Moira Stuart moves to Classic FM after being 'taken for granted' by BBC", The Telegraph, 17 December 2018.
  30. ^ Roy Martin, "Classic FM signs newsreader and presenter Moira Stuart", Radio Today, 17 December 2018.
  31. ^ Freddy Mayhew, "Moira Stuart moving to Classic FM to read morning news", Press Gazette, 17 December 2018.
  32. ^ "Broadcasting legend Moira Stuart joins Classic FM", Classic FM, 18 December 2018.
  33. ^ Paul Stokes, "'A whole new journey': Moira Stuart joins Classic FM", Music Week, 17 December 2018.
  34. ^ "Moira Stuart debuts on Classic FM", On the Radio, 11 February 2019.
  35. ^ "New Sunday evening show for Moira Stuart on Classic FM". On The Radio. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  36. ^ Ian Mann, "A Life in the Day of B19: Tales from the Tower Block" (review), The Jazz Man, 30 November 2006.
  37. ^ "Moira Stuart to front money advice show", Broadcast, 11 September 2002.
  38. ^ a b "Agent's Bio". Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  39. ^ "'Who Do You Think You Are?' Moira Stuart (2004)", IMDb.
  40. ^ a b c d "Moira Stuart on Who Do You Think You Are?: Everything you need to know". Who Do You Think You Are Magazine. Our Media Ltd. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  41. ^ "Controversial novel wins Orange Prize", The Telegraph, 7 June 2005.
  42. ^ "Lionel Shriver wins Orange Prize", The Guardian, 7 June 2005.
  43. ^ "Ronnie Corbett: 'I only snorted cocaine with Ricky Gervais because Moira Stewart was my drug dealer'", Daily Mirror, 29 August 2010.
  44. ^ "In search of Wilberforce (BBC2), Presenter: Moira Stuart", 1807 Commemorated – The abolition of the slave trade, Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past and the Institute of Historical Research, 2007.
  45. ^ "HIGNFY S33E08 - Moira Stuart, Marcus Brigstocke & Jim Jeffries". dailymotion. 2 June 2007.
  46. ^ "Newsreader opens school extension", Derbyshire Times, 28 November 2007.
  47. ^ "Moira Stuart new face of tax ads", BBC News, 24 September 2008.
  48. ^ Gillian Reynolds, "Moira Stuart triumphs as Radio 2's chic presenter", The Telegraph, 12 March 2014.
  49. ^ "Episodes", Strong and Sassy - Inspiring Women of Jazz, BBC Radio 2.
  50. ^ Jazz Guitar Greats, BBC Radio 2.
  51. ^ "Does Moira Stewart like to eat a jacket potato with a melted Kitkat on top?", Would I Lie to You?, BBC One, 24 July 2015.
  52. ^ "Moira Stuart OBE is the fourth celebrity contestant confirmed for the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special 2021". BBC Media Centre. 25 November 2021.
  53. ^ "Moira Stewart [sic] and Aljaz Salsa to Santa Claus is Coming To Town by Justin Bieber ✨ BBC Strictly 2021". BBC Strictly Come Dancing.
  54. ^ Skelton, Helen (29 October 2022). "Helen Skelton's Strictly Diary: 'What happened when I met my hero Moira Stuart'". The Telegraph.
  55. ^ "Strictly Come Dancing | Series 20, Week 6 – Halloween Special". BBC. 29 October 2022.
  56. ^ Archer, Katie (27 October 2022). "'Countdown' names 40th anniversary guest hosts including Floella Benjamin and Moira Stuart". uk.style.yahoo.com. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  57. ^ Jonathan Bell, "‘Her warmth drew people to her’", The Royal Gazette, 20 October 2017.
  58. ^ Owain Johnston-Barnes, "Musician son of national hero Dr EF Gordon dies at 86", The Royal Gazette, 7 November 2013.
  59. ^ The Literator, "Cover Stories: Sue Freestone; Margaret Busby; Zadie Smith", The Independent, 16 June 2006.
  60. ^ a b Thomson Fontaine, "George James Christian: Pioneer in Africa", TheDominican.net, Volume No. 1, Issue No. 32, 27 November 2002.
  61. ^ Gary Crosby, "RIP Ken Gordon (1927-2013)", 9 November 2013.
  62. ^ Flett, Kathryn, "Grimewatch", The Observer, 21 November 2004.
  63. ^ Maev Kennedy (6 April 2007). "'She's not somebody who beats her own drum, but she's got an old-fashioned dignity about her. She's a natural star'". The Guardian.
  64. ^ Kasia Delgado (11 November 2021). "Moira Stuart on how finding 'extraordinary' WWII records of her mum's nursing work helped with self discovery". i.
  65. ^ Maureen Paton (14 November 2021). "Moira Stuart: 'My mother braved bombing raids to work as a wartime nurse in Britain'". The Telegraph.
  66. ^ BBC News (16 June 2001). "Jackie Stewart roars to knighthood". Retrieved 22 October 2006.
  67. ^ a b "Moira Stuart". Edge Entertainment Agency. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  68. ^ 100 Great Black Britons website.
  69. ^ "Moira Stuart" at 100 Great Black Britons.
  70. ^ The University of Edinburgh (2006). "Graduation Ceremonials 2006". Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  71. ^ "Head girl with a subversive streak Profile: Moira Stuart". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 1 April 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2007.
  72. ^ "Honorands 2012". De Montfort University. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  73. ^ Canterbury Christ Church University (2013). "Honorary Doctorates awarded to leading figures in law, broadcasting and children's literature". Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  74. ^ "Glenda Jackson, Moira Stuart, Michael Apted & George the Poet among Broadcasting Press Guild Award winners", Advanced Television, 13 March 2020.
  75. ^ "Moira Stuart to be honoured by TV and radio writers at Broadcasting Press Guild Awards lunch", Advanced Television, 11 March 2020.
  76. ^ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N10.
  77. ^ "New Year's Honours: Veteran broadcaster Moira Stuart made CBE". BBC News. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  78. ^ "New Year's Honours: Veteran broadcaster Moira Stuart made CBE". BBC. 31 December 2021.
  79. ^ "Broadcaster Moira Stuart honoured by Northumbria University". Northumbria University. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
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