Emily Maitlis is a British journalist and newsreader for the BBC. She presents
news programming across the national television channels of the BBC,
including Newsnight and bulletins on BBC One and the BBC News Channel. In January
2014, she became acting political editor of Newsnight until the maternity leave
of Allegra Stratton ended later that year.
Career Maitlis was born to British parents in
Canada but raised in Sheffield, where she was educated at the local King
Edward VII School. Her first occupation was as a trainee hairdresser. A graduate
of Queens' College, Cambridge, she speaks fluent Spanish, Italian and
French, as well as some Mandarin. Prior to working in news, she was a
documentary maker in Cambodia and China. She worked for the NBC network and was
based in Hong Kong. Previously, she spent six years with NBC
Asia, initially as a business reporter creating documentaries, and then as a
presenter in Hong Kong covering the collapse of the tiger economies in 1997.
She also covered the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong with Jon Snow
for Channel 4. She then moved to Sky News in the UK as a business
correspondent, and then to BBC London News when the programme was relaunched
in 2001. Maitlis is now one of the main
presenters of Newsnight on BBC Two, with Evan Davis, Kirsty Wark and Laura
Kuenssberg. She also presents relief shifts on the BBC News channel,
including the BBC News at Five, and may occasionally present the BBC News at One
which is also broadcast on BBC One. Maitlis was a regular presenter on BBC
News during 2006, joining as part of a new line-up in April to present
alongside Ben Brown from 7 pm–10 pm during the week, but was replaced by
Joanna Gosling when she went on maternity leave. On Maitlis' return, she
began presenting Mondays 2 pm–5 pm alongside Jon Sopel until 2013, and
currently Simon McCoy on Mondays. During 2005, Maitlis appeared as the
question-master on the game show The National Lottery: Come And Have A Go.
She has also presented BBC Breakfast. From May 2006 until July 2007, she
presented STORYFix on BBC News, a light-hearted look at the week's news
set to up-beat music. In July 2007, Maitlis was appointed as a
contributing editor to The Spectator magazine, an unpaid post. This had been
approved by her immediate boss, the head of BBC TV news Peter Horrocks, but the
decision was subsequently overturned by his superior, the BBC News director
Helen Boaden. In 2012, Maitlis presented the US 2012
program on BBC One and the BBC News Channel alongside David Dimbleby, when
US President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were fighting to the presidency
for the US. Personal life
From a Jewish family background, Emily Maitlis is the daughter of Professor
Peter Maitlis, FRS, Emeritus Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University
of Sheffield, and Marion Maitlis. She is married to husband Mark, an investment
manager, with whom she has two children. Stalking
During 2002, it emerged that Maitlis had been stalked throughout the preceding
six years by a former university friend. The 32-year-old male student pursued
Maitlis with correspondence, and would appear at her place of work. The stalker
concerned admitted harassing Maitlis and was sentenced to four months'
imprisonment. In March 2007, David Decoteau, a
45-year-old convicted rapist, was sentenced to four life sentences whilst
on probation, following another assault that had remained unsolved since 1996.
During the trial, it was revealed that Decoteau had an "unhealthy fixation"
with Maitlis, and although not shown to have engaged in actual stalking, it was
noted that he possessed photographs of Maitlis on the wall of his probation
hostel room and had previously written to her from prison. He was also
described as being "fascinated" with TV newsreaders Fiona Bruce and Nina
Hossain, though he was not found to have made any attempt to stalk them either.
See also BBC News
References External links
IMDb BBC Press Office – Biography
Emily Maitlis at Debrett's People of Today
Guardian article, March 2006 "Emily Maitlis". Presenters. Independent
Talent Group.