Donald MacCormick

Who was Donald MacCormick?

Donald MacCormick was a Scottish broadcast journalist.

MacCormick's father was a Glasgow teacher who died when Donald was six. As a result he became close to the family of his uncle John MacCormick, a lawyer and advocate for Scottish devolution.

After graduating in English from the University of Glasgow, where he was a member of the Labour Club with Donald Dewar and John Smith, he was a teacher at the High School of Glasgow from 1962 to 1967.

He began his media career in Scotland in 1967, working at Grampian Television as a news reporter and then later, on political programmes both for ITV and BBC. He presented the ground-breaking political programme Public Account for BBC Scotland with James Cox and Andrew Neil.

In 1975, he moved to London and became a presenter on BBC1's new Tonight programme and a series of national roles followed. Most significantly, along with John Tusa and Peter Snow, he made up the triumvirate that anchored Newsnight in its early years. MacCormick also chaired BBC1's Question Time, presented the Money Programme and for several years was a commentator on the BBC's live coverage of the party political conferences.