Leaving the BBC

On Thursday, 30th June, I will read the Six O’clock News on BBC Radio 4 for the last time. I am going to spend more time on my writing and concert performances — there will be more broadcasting too …

I am deeply proud to have served the BBC and its audiences for a quarter of its century and will love and defend it until my last breath — but it is time for an exciting new chapter — and I intend to visit Auntie often.

Being a Radio 4 announcer is unquestionably one of the very best jobs in broadcasting, over the course of which I have been fortunate to call childhood heroes my friends and work with some of the finest producers and journalists in the business. Conveying the news in all its nuance and complexity, through these especially tumultuous past few years has been a great privilege.

The BBC is a special place. To quote the great Douglas Adams, ‘So long, and thanks for all the fish.’ [shipping forecasts]

Zeb