George Alagiah joined the BBC in 1989 after seven years in print journalism with South Magazine. He has contributed to several British newspapers including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and the Daily Express. He has spoken at the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Society for Arts and at the Royal Overseas League. His appearances at literary festivals include Cheltenham, Keswick, Hay-on-Wye and London. George is well known for his ability as an event host and his great anecdotal delivery as an after dinner speaker.
George Alagiah joined the BBC’s Six O’Clock News in January 2003, which he co-presents with Sophie Raworth.
In March 2002, he launched BBC FOUR’s international news programme. Before going behind the studio desk, Alagiah was one of the BBC’s leading foreign correspondents, recognised throughout the industry for his reporting on some of the most significant events of the last decade. George is a specialist on Africa and the developing world and has reported on: trade in human organs in India; the murder of street children in Brazil; the civil war and famine in Somalia; the genocide in Rwanda and its aftermath; the plight of the marsh Arabs in southern Iraq; the civil wars in Afghanistan, Liberia and Sierra Leone; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa; the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire; the effects of Hurricane Mitch on Honduras; the Kosovan refugee crisis; the NATO liberation of Pristina; the international intervention in East Timor; the farm invasions in Zimbabwe; the intifada in the West Bank; and the aftermath of the terror attacks on New York.
George Alagiah has won several awards including: the Critics Award and the Golden Nymph Award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival (1992); award for Best International Report at the Royal Television Society (1993); commendation from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (1993); Amnesty International’s Best TV Journalist award (1994); the One World Broadcasting Trust award (1994); the James Cameron Memorial Trust award (1995); and the Bayeux Award for War Reporting (1996).
In 1998 he was voted Media Personality of the Year at the Ethnic Minority Media Awards. In 2000 he was part of the BBC team which collected a BAFTA award for its coverage of the Kosovo conflict.
George joined the BBC in 1989 after seven years in print journalism with South Magazine. He has contributed to several British newspapers including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and the Daily Express. He has spoken at the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Society for Arts and at the Royal Overseas League. His appearances at literary festivals include Cheltenham, Keswick, Hay-on-Wye and London.
George Alagiah was born in Sri Lanka in November 1955. His primary education was in Ghana where his parents moved in 1961. He attended secondary school at St John’s College in Portsmouth, England and is a graduate of Durham University.
Publications:
- A Passage to Africa (Brown & Company – 2001)
- Shaking the Foundations (BBC)
Details of this year’s festival programme can be found elsewhere on this website.
