Nick Clarke

Who was Nick Clarke?

Nicholas Campbell Clarke, was an English radio and television presenter and journalist, primarily known for his work on BBC Radio 4.

Clarke was born in 1948 in Godalming, Surrey, and educated at Westbourne House School, West Sussex, Bradfield College, Berkshire and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

Clarke began his career in newspapers on the Yorkshire Evening Post, before joining the BBC in 1973 as Northern Industrial Correspondent. He then joined The Money Programme and eventually joined Newsnight in 1984. His first major job in radio was on BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend. He presented Radio 4's lunchtime news programme, The World at One, from 1994 until his death. During the 1991 Gulf War he was a volunteer presenter on the BBC Radio 4 News FM service. He also presented the Round Britain Quiz, the debate series Straw Poll and, when Jonathan Dimbleby was away, Any Questions?

Clarke won the Broadcasting Press Guild broadcaster of the year award in 2001. He wrote a biography of the writer and journalist Alistair Cooke and a social history of Britain in the second half of the 20th century entitled The Shadow of a Nation: How Celebrity Destroyed Britain.