News about Jeremy Paxman

Investigative reporter Michael Crick has joined a backlash against changes to the flagship BBC2 current affairs programme as part of corporation-wide plans to save £500million. The show, currently presented by Victoria Derbyshire, is lined up to be cut from 40 to 30 minutes while losing more than half its staff - with a new approach involvement more Question Time-style live debates. Its team of dedicated reporters is being dropped and the show's own investigative films will cease, in a move ex-Newsnight political editor Crick today condemned - as he warned a 'grossly inferior' show is likely. Viewers of Newsnight, which launched in January 1980, have almost halved to 300,000 since 2020 - while Jeremy Paxman 's final show in 2014 was watched by 1.1million people, though this was double the average at the time.

The TV presenter, 73, has said his condition has now worsened to the point where he's had to stop writing his magazine column after five years. He considered going to the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, but decided not to, as it would be 'very hard on those left behind'. Speaking candidly in an interview with Saga magazine, he said Parkinson's is 'tough' knowing that 'one will carry on being like this forever'. He added: 'PD may not be listed as my cause of death, as people don't technically die of it, but it will almost certainly be a contributing factor'.

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were damningly described as 'f*****g grifters' by a Spotify executive hours after the parting of the ways was announced between them and the audio giant last year. So I'm sorry to hear that Meghan's new deal with a much smaller podcast company is struggling to get off the starting blocks. Prince Harry's wife announced amid great fanfare in February that she had signed a deal with Lemonada Media, a female-founded company that wants to 'make life suck less'.

BBC stalwart Mark Urban  has confirmed his departure from the broadcasting giant after 35-years in front of the camera. Addressing social media followers on Sunday, Urban, 63 - best known for his appearances on Newsnight alongside Jeremy Paxman - announced he will part ways with the BBC within weeks after deciding it was 'time for a change.' Taking to X, formerly Twitter , he wrote: 'Personal news. I'll be leaving the BBC at the end of May. Newsnight in its current format will end then, so most posts will go. I decided not to apply for other BBC jobs. Working there for 35 yrs has been life defining: an eyewitness to history collaborating with such brilliant colleagues. But it's time for a change.'

Jeremy Paxman (left) has said Parkinson's disease 'makes you wish you hadn't been born', as he presented a petition to Downing Street demanding more help for sufferers. The former University Challenge and Newsnight presenter and fellow members of the Movers and Shakers podcast - which discusses the challenges of living with the disease - marked World Parkinson's Day by presenting the Parky Charter and a petition with tens of thousands of names to Number 10. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the charter, saying he is 'very supportive of the excellent work that the Movers and Shakers do and the charter will rightfully receive the attention it deserves'. However, Paxman himself said he believes the charter and petition will have 'no effect whatsoever' on the Government: 'The fact that they (the Government) have ignored all their responsibilities to date indicates to me that they're not going to get any better.'

The BBC broadcaster, who has completed his first year of presenting the popular quiz show, has decided to finally give in after years of being unsure whether the letter is pronounced 'haitch' or 'aitch'. 'All my life I've pronounced it 'haitch', dimly aware that I was getting it 'wrong', he confessed in a BBC blog about the seven things he has learnt since he took over Jeremy Paxman as University Challenge host. Mr Rajan, who also co-presents Today on Radio 4, added: 'Everyone I grew up with says 'haitch'. My mates say 'haitch'. But, dear reader, I'm here to tell you: it's 'aitch'. 'This matters a lot to a lot of people, which is fair enough. This matters a lot to a lot of people, which is fair enough.'

EMILY PRESCOTT: I'm pleased to announce that former BBC newsman Sopel has just joined the Covent Garden club following a long wait, although the timing could be improved. The £11,000-per-year club is embroiled in the controversy surrounding its all-male membership policy. After their names were revealed on a leaked list of members last week, top civil servant Simon Case and MI6 boss Sir Richard Moore resigned. Critics also said that their membership in the 193-year-old club mocked their efforts to make their organizations more inclusive.

MEMBER: SIM CASE & Sir Richard Moore, our most senior civil servant, and MI6's Chief Richard Moore, who resigned in reaction to the unveiling of the Garrick Club's membership list, is bizarre and troubling. These two guys are supposed to be both governing the country and shielding it from hostile foreign powers. But, at the first sign of incoming criticism from a Left-wing newspaper, the Guardian, who chastised them for being banned from attending a club that excludes women supporters, they resigned and apologised sincerely for the appalling offence of enjoying the occasional lunch or drink in a single-sex private club's convivial atmosphere.

Newsnight will soon host more live debate shows as it takes inspiration from Question Time and chooses a new editor in a battle to reclaim lost viewers. Jonathan Aspinwall, who has worked with the corporation for 27 years and now runs BBC News Podcasts, will lead the news and current affairs program. He will be executive editor four months after the BBC decided to cut more than half of the show's 60 employees and minimize it to 30 minutes in order to save £7.5 million. While struggling to recover viewer numbers in recent years, the BBC is struggling to make £500 million of savings in the face of rising inflation and a licence fee freeze. Viewers have nearly halved to 300,000 since 2020, with Jeremy Paxman's final exhibition in 2014 bringing in 1.1 million, but this was double the normal at the time. Mr Aspinwall, who edited Laura Kuenssberg's Sunday newsnight, would 'lead Newsnight' as it progresses into a debate, discussion, and interview-based programme,' according to the BBC.

Since taking over University Challenge viewers from fan favorite Jeremy Paxman in July last year, the former BBC Media Editor had his work cut out winning over University Challenge viewers. However, in recent weeks, the 40-year-old has received a slew of praise, with some commenting that he's a better host than Jeremy Paxman and Bamber Gascoigne. (Pictured from left: Amol Rajan presenting University Challenge)

EXCLUSIVE: But the scheme ended many years ago, taking the bulk of the pension funds from it. HMRC received a petition for £285,000 in unpaid tax, with the sum increasing each month with esteem. The pair were each worth £43,000 each by the Financial Conduct Authority as a result of mis-selling by the financial advisor who recommended the scheme, Elysian Fuels, aimed at high net-worth individuals. But Simon is open about his own part: 'It's embarrassing to admit it, but it was greed and naiveté that led us into it,' he told MailOnline. I kept asking if this scheme was legitimate, and I suspect the old saying is correct - if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely isn't.'

Since appearing on Strictly Come Dancing last year, Krishnan Guru-Murthy has confessed to falling in love with show business. The Channel 4 newsreader, 53, who is also on the current Strictly UK tour, says he now wants to be a more diverse star rather than simply doing serious broadcasting. He explained how, 30 years ago, the BBC's head of news said he had to choose whether he wanted to be 'Bruce Forsyth or Jeremy Paxman' because he 'couldn't do both.'

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Caroline Stanbury, an 18-year-old woman, is alarmed by her toyboy husband's allegiance to another woman. Fortunately for the socialite, 47, Sergio Carrallo's other woman is his mother. 'The way we've been raised is very different,' she says, and, in fact, I was taught that you should marry someone that was born the same way as you, but Sergio is definitely a complete mama's boy.'

Our questionnaires reveal that your results are important. They help us identify what kind of people we are. Thousands of pubs hold their own quiz nights every week. Few other occasions bring the generations of people together in the same way. And on television, they can have a huge effect. Britain had its own scandal in 2001 when contestant, the Coughing Major, was accused of cheating on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? With the help of accomplices, we were able to get home. However, perhaps the biggest controversy of the University Challenge has been turned into a festival of political correctness, with some of whose answers being more or less impossible to answer, and many more (I suspect) being answered because so many teams now prepare for them.

MYRIE: It's time to upgrade party hats with thinking caps for the Daily Mail Quiz of 2023. How much do you really know about the year gone by? So buckle up, switch off the smartphones, thus silencing any assistance from Mr Google, and resume your brains with my little challenge. As I tell the brave contestants on Mastermind who are eager to sit in the black chair, good luck to you all.

After being refused for every position he applied for during his final year at university, veteran broadcaster Jeremy Paxman tried to get recruited by MI6 while at Cambridge. However, he failed at that because his tutor didn't think he'd be banned from life as a spook. In the new issue of Saga Magazine, Paxman, who hosted University Challenge for 29 years before stepping down last year, wrote: "I was summoned to my tutor's classroom" at the end of my last term at university.' Augustus Caesar (actually - his father was named Julius) was rumored to be the university's recruiting officer for MI6.'

SELINA SCOTT: This Christmas, the traditional crib has been at the center of our celebrations throughout the country, in cathedrals, churches, and schools. Any cribs are overspent, store-bought representations of Jesus' birth in the manger. Plasticine, straw, and toys were among those that may have been more lovingly made by children; others may have been more sophisticatedly made by children. Of course, all depict the Nativity in its humble roots. With mother Mary and Joseph, the shepherds tending their flocks, the three wise men, and the lowing animals, the stable, baby Jesus.

After a blind contestant said they could not participate without a confirmed audio description, the BBC cancelled an episode of University Challenge, but a neurodivergent contestant who struggles with audio processing was told they could not have subtitles. After the pair, who have declined not to be identified, said that their needs were not fulfilled, Bosses apologised. The Christmas episode was cancelled due to 'ability issues,' according to BBC News.

1. CRAIG BROWN: 1. In March, which one of these people was banned from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election? Jeremy Corbyn b) Jeremy Clarkson c) Jeremy Clarkson d) Jeremy Clarkson d) Jeremy Paxman e) Jeremy Hunt. 2. Nigel Farage is the most recent celebrity to appear on I'm A Celebrity. Which one of these politicians has not been on it?a) Nadine Dorries b) Edwina Currie c) Matt Hancock d) Robert Kilroy-Silk e) Jacob Rees-Mogg

As the BBC looks to save £500 million, Newsnight will be reduced from 40 to 30 minutes and will lose more than half of its workforce. The flagship BBC2 current affairs service, which was launched in January 1980, will no longer be able to provide a team of dedicated reporters and no longer be doing its own investigative films. Mark Urban, the current Newsnight presenter, condemned the move, saying, 'I have been on the program for 32 years, around the world, and have put my life in jeopardy several times for its journalism.' At cuts to our employees and budgets of more than half, I can quite imagine my feelings.' More than half of the nearly 60 jobs on the program are expected to be laid off, according to reports. According to the National Union of Journalists, further changes in the corporation's news division would result in the loss of 127 posts in total. 'funding cuts' would also reach Panorama,' the union said, adding to the Newsnight savings, a "major blow."

This week, UK writer Kathryn Flett (left) shares her thoughts on Henpocalypse! Zara (Lucie Shorthouse), her family, and friends are centered on this comedy-drama. The BBC news shows a deadly (though not for men) 'crab-measles pandemic, causing the ladies to lockdown with nothing to eat or drink, but a jar of Maxwell House as the prosecco runs out. Pictured right, from left to right: Bernadette, Shelly, Zara, Veena and Jen in Henpocalypse!

Amol Rajan, the current host of the University Challenge, has said that his French is so rusty, camera crews are compelled to reshoot questions containing the language. This week, the host took over from Jeremy Paxman, who resigned from his role as quizmaster after 29 years. Mr Rajan confessed to being 'worrying' about his French pronunciations before starting his new job due to the fact that he never had never really learned the language himself. The former newspaper editor has now admitted that he was 'right to be concerned' as he said camera crews were coerced to're-take' questions in French. The former BBC Media Editor also expressed disappointment with his selection as Paxman's replacement, who resigned in May due to ill health.

After taking over from Jeremy Paxman, 73, who resigned from the legendary quiz show after a Parkinson's diagnosis in 2021, Amol Rajan, 40, had a lot of shoes to fill. However, Rajan had a huge desk to fill, as well as some viewers of the BBC2 show that the chair, which seemed particularly low, had been changed since his 6ft 2in predecessor's departure. On Twitter, one fan wrote that the journalist'looks like a kid sitting on his dad's office chair,' while another jibed, 'He seemed as authoritative as a four-year-old at the dinner table.' Another asked: 'Could they have possibly found a larger desk or a smaller chair for Amol Rajan?'

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Where is the sarcasm?The supercilious disdain?Without the mocking eye-rolls and the hint of despair at youthful ignorance, can this even be called University Challenge (BBC2)? Amol Rajan, who was taking the questionmaster's chair for the first time, opened by stating that very little had changed since the last series. He didn't have to tell the world that Jeremy Paxman, who supervised the quiz for 30 years, has resigned. But he promised that 'all the important stuff stay the same,' and that one radical difference would be made. He was generous to everybody.