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Simon McCoy

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Simon McCoy
Born (1961-10-07) 7 October 1961 (age 63)
Hammersmith, London, England
EducationSherborne School
Occupations
Notable credit(s)Sky News
BBC News
Spouse
Victoria Graham
​
(m. 2007)​
Children1

Simon McCoy (born 7 October 1961) is a newsreader for the BBC, and is a regular presenter on the rolling news channel BBC News between 2 pm and 5 pm on weekdays. He is also a regular presenter of the BBC News at One and a relief presenter of BBC Weekend News.

Shortly before 1 pm on 18 March 2013, McCoy and co-presenter Sophie Long read the final BBC News bulletin from BBC Television Centre, with BBC News moving to Broadcasting House in Central London for the BBC News at One.

Early life

McCoy was born in Hammersmith. He was educated at the independent Sherborne School in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England.

Career

McCoy started his journalism career at the Fleet Street News Agency in London[1] before joining Thames TV as a researcher for Thames News in 1983. After time as a scriptwriter at Thames TV in 1986 he joined the breakfast TV station TV-am as a news editor.[1] In 1988 Simon left to go to new satellite channel Sky – initially as a producer on the Sky News breakfast programme Sunrise.

After a year as a general reporter for the station he was appointed Royal Correspondent and between 1991 and 1996 Simon covered all the major stories which affected the Royal Family.

After a job which involved travel around the world throughout the years Simon took a desk job, presenting Sunrise on Sky News.[1][2] He also presented the Tonight programme – a topical chat show involving interviews with people from the worlds of showbiz, politics and sport.

In 2003 McCoy co-anchored Sky's coverage of the Iraq War on location in Kuwait and Basra. He was on air for five hours every day of the conflict.[3]

In January 2004 McCoy joined the BBC, and could be seen on BBC Breakfast and BBC News 24, initially as a cover presenter for both.[1] In September 2005 he took over the morning slot on BBC News alongside Kate Silverton following Phillip Hayton's sudden departure after Hayton fell out with Silverton. When reviewing the papers the following day McCoy tried to point out the story, but was prevented by Silverton.[4] In December 2007 Silverton left the shift to host the 8pm Update. McCoy presents the weekday 2–5 pm slot on the BBC News channel alongside Emily Maitlis on Mondays and Jane Hill from Tuesday to Friday.

In 2006 McCoy stopped regular appearances on BBC Breakfast upon Charlie Stayt's arrival at the BBC, but continued to be a relief presenter on the BBC Weekend News. Since 2008 McCoy has made a number of appearances as a stand-in presenter on Breakfast.

On 9 March 2012 McCoy was apparently caught asleep at the newsdesk as BBC Breakfast handed over to the BBC News channel at 8:30 am, although McCoy denied he was dozing.[5]

On 7 June 2013 McCoy presented coverage of the Queen's visit to Broadcasting House to officially open the new part of the BBC's Headquarters which features the largest live newsroom in Europe. The new Broadcasting House sees the BBC's Television, News and Radio departments in one complex. The BBC's Children's and Radio 5 Live moved to Salford's MediaCity in 2012. The Queen opened the new complex with a live public broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

On 22 July McCoy was on the roster for coverage of the birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who a few days later was named Prince George of Cambridge. Stationed outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital with often little or no news to share, McCoy's comments concerning the value of the news coverage made for (often sympathetic) headlines. And famously said, "The News is there is no News".[6][7]

In September 2013, a live broadcast by McCoy went viral after he inadvertently picked up a refill pack of A4 printer paper instead of his iPad while presenting to camera.[8] A BBC spokeswoman said: "This morning as Simon McCoy was preparing to introduce this story, instead of picking up his tablet to hold as he went to air, he mistakenly picked up a ream of paper that was sitting next to it. In the rush of live news, he didn't have an opportunity to swap the items, so simply went with it."[9]

Acting

McCoy appeared as himself, reading the news, in the 2007 BBC Two drama Party Animals. He has also appeared in several episodes of Spooks, in the BBC1 drama Holby Blue, and in The Amazing Mrs Pritchard. Simon also had a newsreading role in the 2006 Anthony Horowitz movie Stormbreaker and in the 2014 BBC Four comedy Brian Pern announcing that the titular character (played by Simon Day) had a heart attack at 00:02.

Family

McCoy has a son, Max (born 1993), from his first marriage. On 28 September 2007, he married Victoria Graham of BBC South West.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Simon McCoy joins the BBC BBC Press Office, 18 November 2003
  2. ^ Sky News gets Channel 5 airing BBC News, 19 December 2001
  3. ^ "BBC Press Office – Simon McCoy". BBC (via archive.org). 25 July 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Silverton Sparkles With New Co-host McCoy[dead link‍] Telegraph
  5. ^ Watson, Leon (9 March 2012). "Simon McCoy: BBC breakfast news presenter 'caught napping at his desk' during live bulletin". Daily Mail. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  6. ^ Morse, Felicity (25 July 2013). "Royal baby watch: BBC Reporter Simon McCoy admits Duchess of Cambridge labour coverage is 'not news'". The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  7. ^ Deacon, Michael (22 July 2013). "Royal baby sketch: 'Breaking news: we have no news!'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  8. ^ TopViralNews (18 September 2013), BBC News Anchor Simon McCoy Mistakes Ream of Paper For iPad, Rolls With It, retrieved 28 August 2017
  9. ^ Halliday, Josh (18 September 2013). "BBC presenter does live broadcast clutching stack of paper instead of iPad". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Biography – Victoria Graham". BBC Press Office. September 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
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