Clive Myrie is a British journalist and one of the BBC’s most recognisable presenters, known to millions as an anchor of BBC News at Ten and, since 2021, as the host of the quiz show Mastermind. His career has taken him from local radio in Bristol to war zones, presidential elections and live bulletins from Kyiv, with reporting from more than 80 countries along the way. This biography traces that journey — from his childhood in Bolton, as the son of Windrush-generation parents from Jamaica, to the newsroom, the foreign correspondent’s posting and the studio chair.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Full name | Clive Augustus Myrie |
| Born | 25 August 1964, Farnworth, Lancashire, England |
| Education | Hayward Grammar School; Bolton Sixth Form College; University of Sussex (LLB, 1985) |
| Occupation | Journalist, newsreader and television presenter |
| Employer | BBC |
| Joined BBC trainee scheme | 1988 |
| Best known for | BBC News at Six, BBC News at Ten, Mastermind and Celebrity Mastermind |
| Spouse | Catherine Myrie (married 1998) |
| Major roles | BBC foreign correspondent; BBC News Channel presenter; Chancellor, University of the Arts London (from 2024) |
| Memoir | Everything is Everything: A Memoir of Love, Hate and Hope (2023) |
Who Is Clive Myrie?
Clive Augustus Myrie was born on 25 August 1964 in Farnworth, Lancashire, near Bolton in England. He was one of seven children born to Jamaican parents who had come to the United Kingdom in the 1960s as part of the Windrush generation. His mother was a seamstress who worked for the fashion designer Mary Quant, while his father, Norris, worked in a factory making car batteries and carpets. His parents later divorced, and his father returned to Jamaica after retirement.
Myrie has spoken about growing up in Bolton and, as a young man, wondering whether someone with his background and accent could work at the BBC. He has described an early belief that “boys from Bolton don’t work at the BBC” — a belief his own career would go on to disprove many times over. That sense of being an outsider, and of having to earn a place in rooms where few people looked or sounded like him, later became a central theme of his memoir.
He was educated at Hayward Grammar School in the Great Lever area of Bolton, then at Bolton Sixth Form College, where he completed his A-levels. He went on to study law at the University of Sussex, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1985. Law was not, in the end, the career he pursued, but his time at Sussex was important for another reason: he worked on campus radio, and it was there that his interest in journalism sharpened into a clear ambition.
Starting Out at the BBC
After graduating, Myrie gained a place on the BBC’s prestigious journalism trainee scheme in 1988. He began in local radio, working for BBC Radio Bristol, before moving into regional television with Points West and then into the BBC’s network newsroom in London, working across radio and television from 1992. These were formative years. Local and regional journalism teaches a reporter to find stories, to write clearly under deadline, and to speak to people from every walk of life — skills that would serve him well when the stories became international.
Before his full-time BBC career, he also gained experience outside the corporation, including work with Independent Radio News and a spell in the London newsroom at BSB, the forerunner of Sky News. But it was the BBC that gave him his long-term home, and by the mid-1990s he was ready for the step that would define the next phase of his career: foreign correspondent.
Foreign Correspondent: More Than 80 Countries
Myrie became a full-time foreign correspondent in 1996, with his first posting in Japan. Over the following years he held some of the most important posts in BBC foreign newsgathering, serving as correspondent in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, Singapore, Washington, Paris and Brussels, and as the BBC’s Asia, Africa and Europe correspondent at different times. In total, he has reported from more than 80 countries — a figure that reflects not just longevity, but the sheer range of stories he has covered.
His assignments included wars and conflicts in Croatia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. In 1996 he covered the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and after the September 11 attacks in 2001 he covered their fall. During the Iraq War he was embedded with Royal Marines from 40 Commando, reporting alongside British forces in dangerous conditions. He has also covered conflicts and crises in East Timor, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, Georgia and, most recently, Ukraine.
Alongside war reporting, Myrie developed a particular interest in American politics. He covered the administrations of three United States presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — reported on the impeachment of Clinton, covered Barack Obama’s election victory in 2008 and his inauguration the following year, and anchored BBC coverage of American midterm elections. He has reported on every United States presidential election since 1996, a run that gives him a rare, long view of how American politics has changed.
He also covered major non-political stories: the Mozambique floods in 2000, for which the BBC team was shortlisted for a BAFTA; Nelson Mandela’s funeral in South Africa in 2013, which he co-anchored; and the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, reporting that would later win a Peabody Award. What links these assignments is a style that colleagues and audiences have come to recognise: calm under pressure, precise language, and a willingness to explain the background to a story rather than simply describe its latest development.
Becoming a BBC News Presenter
In 2009 Myrie became a presenter for the BBC News Channel, and he went on to become one of the BBC’s chief presenters, regularly anchoring BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten on BBC One, as well as presenting bulletins on the BBC News Channel. He has also made features and programmes for Panorama, Newsnight and BBC Radio 4, and presented documentaries including a BBC special on the life of Barack Obama and the acclaimed Mexico’s Streets of Blood, about the country’s drug gangs.
One of his most widely remembered assignments as a presenter came in February 2022, during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Myrie presented the main BBC One bulletins live from Kyiv, reporting from a hotel rooftop as the war unfolded around him, and later interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2022. The broadcasts were praised for their clarity and composure at a moment of intense uncertainty, and they introduced Myrie to viewers who may not previously have known his foreign reporting.
He has also become the BBC’s election results presenter, leading its election night coverage. In May 2024 he was announced as host of the BBC’s coverage of the United Kingdom general election, alongside Laura Kuenssberg, and he also hosted the BBC’s coverage of the 2024 United States presidential election. Election nights demand a particular combination of skills — stamina, numeracy, political knowledge and the ability to make sense of fast-moving results live on air — and Myrie’s decades of political reporting made him a natural choice.
Mastermind and a Wider Public Profile
In August 2021, Myrie took over as host of Mastermind and Celebrity Mastermind, succeeding John Humphrys, who had presented the long-running quiz for many years. It was a significant change of pace: from breaking news to a studio quiz built on general knowledge, specialist subjects and the famous black chair. Myrie brought to the role the same measured delivery audiences knew from the news, but with a warmth and lightness that suited the format.
The move also widened his public profile. He has appeared as a panellist and guest host on Have I Got News For You, presented the BBC Proms on television, made documentaries on jazz for BBC Radio 2 and Jazz FM, and appeared in the Alan Partridge film Alpha Papa. He presented The Crown Jewels, a BBC One documentary screened as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and he is a well-known lover of classical music and jazz, interests that have shaped several of his presenting projects.
His travel series have added another dimension. Clive Myrie’s Italian Road Trip, which aired on BBC Two in 2023, followed him around Italy, exploring its cities, food and culture. It was followed by Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventure in 2024, a series that also touched on his own family history. Both series showed a different side of Myrie from the news anchor: curious, personable and keen to listen, whether he was talking to a chef, a musician or a local historian.
Books, Awards and Academic Roles
In September 2023 Myrie published his memoir, Everything is Everything: A Memoir of Love, Hate and Hope, with Hodder and Stoughton. The book draws on his Windrush family history — including a great-grandfather who helped build the Panama Canal and a great-uncle who served in the First World War and later became a police detective in Jamaica — and reflects on what it meant to be a Black journalist reporting some of the biggest stories of the past three decades. It explores identity, race and class, but also love for his family, pride in his roots, and hope for a more open profession. The memoir was selected as a Big Read title by Kingston University and other institutions, and it cemented Myrie’s reputation as a writer as well as a broadcaster.
His journalism has won many awards. At the Royal Television Society Television Journalism Awards in 2021 he won both Television Journalist of the Year and Network Presenter of the Year, and he won Network Presenter of the Year again in 2023. His other honours include the Peabody Award for his reporting on the Rohingya crisis, the Bayeux-Calvados Award for war correspondents, the Golden Nymph Journalism Award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival in 2003, and the David Bloom Award for coverage of Mexico’s drug gangs. He has also been nominated for two BAFTA Awards and two Emmy Awards as part of BBC teams.
Beyond broadcasting, Myrie has taken on senior academic roles. In July 2023 he became Pro-Chancellor of the University of Bolton, in his home town, and in 2024 he was named Chancellor of the University of the Arts London, attending his first graduation ceremony in that role at the Royal Festival Hall in London in July 2024. He has also received honorary doctorates from several British universities, including the University of Staffordshire, the University of Sussex and Edge Hill University, in recognition of his contribution to broadcasting.
Personal Life
Myrie married Catherine Barry in 1998. He has generally kept his private life out of the headlines, preferring to let his work speak for itself, although his travel series and memoir have given audiences glimpses of his family story and his interests outside news — music, travel, food and a lifelong love of cinema. He remains a proud Boltonian, and he has often returned to the themes of his upbringing: hard work, curiosity, and the belief that background should not limit ambition.
Conclusion
Clive Myrie’s biography is a story of persistence and range. From a childhood in Bolton, through law at Sussex and local radio in Bristol, to postings in Tokyo, Washington, Paris and beyond, he has reported on wars, elections, disasters and moments of national celebration. As a presenter of BBC News at Six and News at Ten, he has become a trusted face in British living rooms. As host of Mastermind, he has shown that authority and approachability can sit side by side. And as the author of Everything is Everything, he has explained, in his own words, how family history and personal experience shaped the journalist he became.
In a media landscape that changes quickly, Myrie’s longevity is itself an achievement. More than three decades after joining the BBC’s trainee scheme, he remains at the centre of its news output, while also finding new audiences through quizzes, travel and writing. For readers who know him only from the Ten O’Clock News or the Mastermind chair, his full story is richer — and more global — than either role alone suggests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Clive Myrie?
Clive Myrie is a British journalist, newsreader and chief presenter for the BBC. He anchors BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten, has reported from more than 80 countries as a foreign correspondent, and has hosted Mastermind and Celebrity Mastermind since August 2021.
Where was Clive Myrie born?
Clive Myrie was born on 25 August 1964 in Farnworth, Lancashire, near Bolton in England, to Jamaican parents who came to the United Kingdom in the 1960s as part of the Windrush generation.
What did Clive Myrie study at university?
Clive Myrie studied law at the University of Sussex, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1985. He worked on campus radio while a student and later joined the BBC’s journalism trainee scheme in 1988.
When did Clive Myrie become the host of Mastermind?
Clive Myrie became the host of Mastermind and Celebrity Mastermind in August 2021, succeeding John Humphrys as presenter of the long-running BBC quiz show.
Which countries and conflicts has Clive Myrie reported from?
Clive Myrie has reported from more than 80 countries, including wars and crises in Croatia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, Georgia and Ukraine. He presented BBC bulletins live from Kyiv during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Has Clive Myrie won any awards?
Yes. Clive Myrie won Television Journalist of the Year and Network Presenter of the Year at the Royal Television Society Television Journalism Awards in 2021, and Network Presenter of the Year again in 2023. He has also won a Peabody Award, the Bayeux-Calvados Award for war correspondents and the Golden Nymph Journalism Award.
What is Clive Myrie’s memoir called?
Clive Myrie’s memoir is called Everything is Everything: A Memoir of Love, Hate and Hope. It was published in September 2023 and explores his Windrush family history, his experiences as a Black journalist, and three decades of reporting around the world.
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