Andrew Marr (born 31 July 1959, Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years, until May 1998, and was the political editor for the BBC from 2000 until 2005. He then began hosting a political programme called The Andrew Marr Show (previously Sunday AM) on Sunday mornings on BBC One from September 2005 onwards. In 2007, he presented a political history of post-war Britain on BBC Two, Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain. is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... For other uses, see Journalist (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see The Independent (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The Andrew Marr Show is an hour long television programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on Sunday mornings from 9am. ... For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 1. ... For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 2. ... Andrew Marrs History of Modern Britain is a weekly documentary on BBC Two that started on 22 May 2007. ...

Early life

Andrew Marr was born and educated in Scotland at the High School of Dundee, Craigflower School and at Loretto, an independent boys' school in Musselburgh, East Lothian. He went on to study English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. This article is about the country. ... The High School of Dundee, informally Dundee High School (HSD or DHS), is one of Scotlands leading public, or independent schools, and the only public school in Dundee. ... Loretto School is an independent school in Scotland, founded in Musselburgh in 1827. ... An independent school in the United Kingdom is a school relying, for all of its funding, upon private sources, so almost invariably charging school fees. ... Showing the Brunton Hall, from the west of the town Musselburgh is a town in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, six miles east of Edinburgh city centre. ... East Lothian (Lodainn an Ear in Gaelic) is one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. ... English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S., Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, South Africa, and the Middle East, among other areas), English linguistics (including English phonetics, phonology... College name College of Scholars of the Holy Trinity of Norwich Named after The Holy Trinity Established 1350 Location Trinity Lane Admittance Men and women Master Prof. ...

He was once a member of the socialist group Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory and reportedly a seller of its newspaper Socialist Organiser while at Cambridge, where he acquired the sobriquet of 'Red Andy'.^[1] The Alliance for Workers Liberty (AWL), also known as Workers Liberty is a small Trotskyist group based in the United Kingdom. ... Socialist Organiser was the name of a defunct weekly socialist newspaper circulated in the British Labour Party . ...

Newspaper career

Marr joined The Scotsman as a trainee and junior business reporter in 1981, becoming a parliamentary correspondent in 1984 and then a political correspondent in 1986. During this period, Marr met the political journalist Anthony Bevins, who was to become a mentor and close friend. Bevins was responsible for Marr's first appointment at The Independent as a member of the newspaper's launch staff. The Scotsmans offices in Edinburgh The Scotsman is a Scottish national newspaper, published in Edinburgh. ... For other uses, see The Independent (disambiguation). ...

Marr soon left though, and joined The Economist, where he wrote the weekly "Bagehot" political column and ultimately became political editor in 1988. Marr has remarked that his time at The Economist "changed me quite a lot" and "made me question a lot of my assumptions".^[2] The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London. ...

Marr returned to The Independent as the newspaper's political editor in 1992, eventually becoming editor in 1996. His editorship coincided with a particularly turbulent time at the paper. Faced with price cutting by the Murdoch-owned Times, sales had been in decline, and Marr made two attempts to arrest the slide. He pioneered the use of bold 'poster-style' front pages, and then in 1996, radically re-designed the paper along a mainland European model, with Gill Sans headline fonts and stories being themed and grouped together, rather than according to strict news value. This tinkering ultimately proved disastrous. The limited advertising budget meant the paper's re-launch struggled to get noticed, and when it did, it was mocked for reinterpreting its original marketing slogan 'It Is - Are You' to read 'It's changed - have you?'. The response from some was that many existing readers had indeed changed - to The Guardian, and at the beginning of 1998, Marr was sacked after refusing to implement a further round of redundancies. Keith Rupert Murdoch AC, KCSG (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian born United States citizen who is a global media executive and is the controlling shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation, based in New York. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom (and the Kingdom of Great Britain before the United Kingdom existed) since 1788 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. ... Continental Europe refers to the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and peninsulae. ... Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill in 1927-30. ... For other uses, see Guardian. ...

Three months later, he returned to the Independent. Tony O'Reilly had increased his stake in the paper and bought out then-owners, Mirror Group. O'Reilly, who had a high regard for Marr, asked him to collaborate as co-editor with Rosie Boycott, in an arrangement where Marr would edit the comment pages, and Boycott would have overall control of the news pages. Sir Anthony Tony OReilly (born 7 May 1936) is a Dublin born billionaire who holds both British and Irish nationality. ... Trinity Mirror plc is a large United Kingdom newspaper and magazine publisher. ... Rosel Marie Boycott (born 1951), better known as Rosie Boycott, is a British journalist. ...

Many pundits predicted the arrangement would not last and two months later, Boycott left to replace Richard Addis as editor of the Daily Express. Marr was sole editor again, but only for one week. Simon Kelner, who had worked on the paper when it first started was offered the editorship, and asked Marr to stay on as a political columnist. Kelner was not Marr's "cup of tea", Marr observed later and he left the paper for the final time in May 1998. Richard Addis is a British journalist and former editor of the Daily Express newspaper. ... For other uses, see Daily Express (disambiguation). ... Simon Kelner (born 1957) is a British journalist and newspaper editor. ...

At the BBC

Marr wrote as a columnist for The Daily Express and The Observer, before gaining appointment as BBC political editor in May 2000, making him one of the best-known faces on British television. Like his predecessor-but-one John Cole and his famous herringbone overcoat, he soon developed a trademark style, characterised by much gesticulation, as sent up in the comedy impersonation programme Dead Ringers where they use ridiculously long plastic arms when portraying him.. He also became known for, and was widely praised for, his ability to contextualise Westminster gossip and intrigue, and explain to viewers and listeners how it would affect their lives. A great believer in the view that 'politics matters', Marr championed the democratic process and saw it as part of his role as Political Editor of the BBC to help make politics meaningful and relevant for many people for whom politics was traditionally dull and something that happened only in Westminster corridors with middle-aged men in suits. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... British television broadcasting has a range of different broadcasters, broadcasting multiple channels over a variety of distribution media. ... John Cole may refer to the following people: John Cole (bobsleigh), who competed for the United States. ... Dead Ringers is a UK radio and television comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Two. ...

Among his notable "scoops" as Political Editor were the second resignation of Peter Mandelson, and the interview in the autumn of 2004 in which Tony Blair told him that he would not seek a fourth term as Prime Minister should he win the forthcoming general election. This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is, in practice, the political leader of the United Kingdom. ... Elections Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are up for election. ...

During his time as political editor, Marr assumed various presentational roles, and announced in 2005 that following the 2005 General Election, he would step down as Political Editor to spend more time with his family. He was replaced as Political Editor by Nick Robinson. In September 2005, he moved to a new role presenting the BBC's Sunday morning flagship news programme, Sunday AM (now known as The Andrew Marr Show) (the slot was previously filled with Breakfast with Frost and hosted by Sir David Frost). Marr also hosts the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week. The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005. ... Nick Robinson (right) interviewing Michael Portillo in July 2001. ... Breakfast with Frost was a talk show hosted by Sir David Frost on the BBC on Sunday mornings. ... Sir David Paradine Frost, OBE (born April 7, 1939) is an English television presenter. ... old Radio 4 logo BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... Start the Week is a discussion programme on BBC Radio 4. ...

In May and June, 2007, the BBC broadcast Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain. He presented The five one-hour documentaries, and chronicled the history of Britain from 1945 to 2007. Simultaneously, Macmillan published the book of the series, written by Marr, under the same title. Andrew Marrs History of Modern Britain is a weekly documentary on BBC Two that started on 22 May 2007. ... Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately-held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ...

Marr has written several books on politics and journalism, notably The Day Britain Died (2000) — a state-of-the-nation reflection — and My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism (2004). The former was, in addition, a three-part television series; following Newsnight in the BBC2 schedules, 31 January 2000 – 2 February 2000. He has also written several articles for the British political magazine Prospect. Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... This article is about the current affairs magazine. ...

Politics and bias

Marr has written about the need to remain impartial and "studiously neutral" whilst delivering news reports and "convey fact, and nothing more".^[3] Despite this, critics who have analysed Marr's reports assert that Marr's reporting represents an "establishment mouthpiece".^{[citation needed]} Marr responded to such criticisms as "pernicious anti-journalism".^[4] Media analysts David Edwards and David Cromwell, in their book "Guardians of Power", cite this statement by Marr on BBC news in 2003, after the coalition invasion of Iraq, as evidence of Marr's bias: There have been several well-known people named David Edwards, including: David Edwards (actor) David_Edwards_(journalist) David Edwards (singer) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Dr. David Cromwell is a Scottish oceanographer, writer and activist. ...

"I don't think anybody after this is going to be able to say of Tony Blair that he's somebody who is driven by the drift of public opinion, or focus groups, or opinion polls. He took all of those on. He said that they would be able to take Baghdad without a bloodbath, and that in the end the Iraqis would be celebrating. And on both of those points he has been proved conclusively right. And it would be entirely ungracious, even for his critics, not to acknowledge that tonight he stands as a larger man and a stronger prime minister as a result."^[5]

In his 2007 TV history of Britain, he showed this sequence of himself and described it as an example of people being "carried away", perhaps an oblique acceptance of the criticism discussed above.

The same critics also presented comments written by Marr in The Observer newspaper in 1999 as evidence of Marr's lack of impartiality during the Kosovan crisis :

"Having said that I thought it was disastrous to start with, and I do, I want to put the Macbeth option: which is that we're so steeped in blood we should go further. If we really believe Milosevic is this bad, dangerous and destabilising figure we must ratchet this up much further. We should now be saying that we intend to put in ground troops. I don't believe this stuff about the Serbian army being an undefeatable, extraordinary, superhuman group.".^[6]

In the Daily Telegraph he described himself as a "libertarian" when discussing his conflicting views on smoking bans.^[7] There have been claims that he is a closet Labour supporter, however others such as the conservative Andrew Neil have stated his journalism to be perfectly objective.^[8] The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... Andrew Ferguson Neil (born May 21, 1949, Paisley) is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. ...

In October 2006 Andrew Marr said: "The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias."^[9]

Personal life

Marr lives in East Sheen with his wife, the political journalist Jackie Ashley of The Guardian, whom he married in August 1987. She is a daughter of the Labour Life Peer, Lord Ashley of Stoke. The couple have three children. Sheen is a place in southwest London nearby to Barnes, Roehampton and Putney to the east and Richmond to the west. ... (Hon) Jackie Ashley (born September 10, 1954), is a British journalist and broadcaster. ... For other uses, see Guardian. ... The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... Jack Ashley, Baron Ashley of Stoke, CH PC (born 6 December 1922), is a Labour member of the House of Lords. ...

Awards

He was named Columnist of the Year 1995 and Columnist of the Year in the British Press Awards and received the Journalist Award in the Channel 4 Political Awards of 2001. The British Press Awards is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. ... This article is about the year. ...

He was considered for honorary membership of The Coterie for 2007 ^[10]. Marr was on the nominations list for the 2004 Richard Dimbleby Award at the Bafta Television Awards ^[11]. The Coterie comprised a fashionable and famous set of English aristocrats and intellectuals of the 1910s, widely quoted and profiled in magazines and newspapers of the period. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organization that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ...

Trivia

• As a teenager Mr Marr wrote and drew a cartoon strip for the punk fanzine Chainsaw.[1]

• In one of his books, Andrew Marr claims to have been mistaken for President Vladimir Putin of Russia. He recounts that he was once lost on his way to a briefing at the Kremlin and was spotted by two soldiers, but instead of being arrested for trespassing they looked alarmed and saluted him. Marr also recounts an incident where he was approached by a man in a shop who said, "Here, you look just like that Andrew Marr... you poor bugger."^[12]

• He appeared as himself in the 2005 series of Doctor Who in the episodes "Aliens of London" and "World War Three". He has also appeared in several episodes of The Amazing Mrs Pritchard.

• He appears in the novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday and reads his part in the audiobook.

• He likes to keep fit, and can often be spotted jogging through open spaces in south-west London such as Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common.

Chainsaw fanzine no. ... Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Russian pronunciation: ) (born October 7, 1952, in Leningrad, U.S.S.R., now Saint Petersburg, Russia) is a Russian politician who was the 2nd President of the Russian Federation from 2000 to 2008. ... This article is about Russian citadels. ... This article is about the television series. ... Aliens of London is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on April 16, 2005. ... World War Three is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on April 23, 2005. ... The Amazing Mrs Pritchard is a television programme produced by Kudos for BBC One. ... It has been suggested that King Henry VIIIs Mound be merged into this article or section. ... Wimbledon and Putney Commons consist of a large open space south west of London comprising 1140 acres (4. ...

References

There have been several well-known people named David Edwards, including: David Edwards (actor) David_Edwards_(journalist) David Edwards (singer) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Dr. David Cromwell is a Scottish oceanographer, writer and activist. ... There have been several well-known people named David Edwards, including: David Edwards (actor) David_Edwards_(journalist) David Edwards (singer) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Dr. David Cromwell is a Scottish oceanographer, writer and activist. ... There have been several well-known people named David Edwards, including: David Edwards (actor) David_Edwards_(journalist) David Edwards (singer) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Dr. David Cromwell is a Scottish oceanographer, writer and activist. ... The Daily Mail is a British newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The New Statesman is a left-of-centre political weekly published in London. ... This article refers to the Radio 2 presenter and journalist. ...

External links

• Press Office — Andrew Marr — BBC biography
• 'Marr quits as BBC political chief' — BBC News
• Off The Telly: The Day That Britain Died — A review of BBC2's The Day That Britain Died
• TV is less up itself than newspapers — The Guardian
• Transcript - The Big Idea - BBC, 1996