David Dimbleby was born on 28 October 1938 and is an English journalist and former presenter of current affairs and political programmes, best known for having presented the BBC topical debate programme Question Time.
34 Facts About David Dimbleby
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David Dimbleby is the son of broadcaster Richard Dimbleby and elder brother of Jonathan Dimbleby, of the Dimbleby family.
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Long involved in the coverage of national events, Dimbleby hosted the BBC Election Night coverage from 1979 to 2017, as well as United States presidential elections on the BBC until 2016.
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David Dimbleby has presented and narrated documentary series on architecture and history.
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David Dimbleby was born in Surrey, the son of the journalist and Second World War war correspondent Richard David Dimbleby, by his marriage to Dilys Thomas, from Wales.
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David Dimbleby was educated at two independent schools, the Glengorse School in Battle, East Sussex, and Charterhouse in Godalming, Surrey, where he was a contemporary of the journalist Adam Raphael.
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David Dimbleby joined the BBC as a news reporter in Bristol in the 1960s and has appeared in news programmes since 1962, early on co-presenting the televised version of the school quiz Top of the Form, and was a reporter on the BBC's coverage of the 1964 general election with his father as linkman.
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On 24 July 1967, David Dimbleby was one of seventy signatories to an advertisement in The Times advocating the decriminalisation of cannabis use, which had been written by campaigner Stephen Abrams.
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David Dimbleby became involved in a number of projects that combined his established role as presenter and interviewer with documentary making.
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An early example of this was Yesterday's Men, a film which the BBC recognises "ridiculed" the Labour opposition and led to a major conflict between the Corporation and the Labour Party; David Dimbleby had his name removed from the credits because of the concessions that were made.
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David Dimbleby anchored the BBC's overnight coverage of the 1979 general election, and continued in this role for the following ten general elections.
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David Dimbleby was the main presenter of the BBC's political series This Week Next Week, broadcast on Sunday early afternoons, as a competitor to ITV's established Weekend World series.
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David Dimbleby served as chairman of the BBC's Thursday evening topical debate programme Question Time from 1994 until 2018.
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One of the most memorable moments from Question Time was when Dimbleby accidentally referred to Robin Cook as "Robin Cock", to which Cook responded by jokingly referring to Dimbleby as "David Bumblebee".
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In 1999, David Dimbleby opened 2000 Today, the BBC's coverage of the millennium celebrations, from Greenwich, England.
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David Dimbleby commentated on the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 2002 and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 2013, as well as the state visit of US President George W Bush to the UK in 2003.
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In 2002, David Dimbleby hosted the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II coverage.
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David Dimbleby was a contender for the chairmanship in the corporation's tumultuous period following 2001, which went to Gavyn Davies.
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David Dimbleby has instead remained, according to Mark Duguid for the BFI's screenonline website, best known for his "gravitas, journalistic integrity and consummate professionalism" and as "a paragon of impartiality" as a narrator and moderator, of British politics.
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David Dimbleby presented a new series on BBC One, Seven Ages of Britain.
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On 12 November 2009, David Dimbleby missed his first Question Time in over fifteen years, having been taken to hospital as a precaution after being briefly knocked out by a rearing bullock at his farm in Sussex.
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David Dimbleby hosted the third of three televised election debates featuring the leaders of the three main political parties held in the run-up to the 2010 general election.
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In 2013, David Dimbleby presented Britain and the Sea and a year later, he presented The European Union: In or Out.
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On 17 June 2018, the BBC announced David Dimbleby would leave Question Time after 25 years at the end of that year.
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In 2020 David Dimbleby continued his foray into podcasting, presenting a series on the lead-up to the Iraq War.
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In October 2020 David Dimbleby said he was again considering putting his name forward for chairman of the BBC.
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In September 2022, David Dimbleby came out of retirement to commentate on the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II for the BBC, in particular the committal service at St George's Chapel, Windsor.
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In October 2022, David Dimbleby stated that the BBC does not appropriately question the power of the royal family.
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David Dimbleby said that the BBC would not address controversial topics to do with the monarchy, such as its ability to change tax legislation or the fact that the Duchy of Cornwall doesn't pay capital gains tax, and stated his disagreement that such matters were not examined.
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David Dimbleby stated his shock for the amount of control the monarchy have over broadcasting covering them.
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David Dimbleby has three children with his first wife, Josceline David Dimbleby, a cookery writer: Liza, an artist; Henry, a chef and co-founder of the fast-food chain Leon; and Kate, a jazz and folk singer.
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In 2000, David Dimbleby married Belinda Giles, a granddaughter of Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr with whom he had a son, Fred, in February 1998.
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David Dimbleby is a supporter of Tranmere Rovers Football Club.
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David Dimbleby was made an honorary graduate of the University of Essex in 2005, and is the President of the Institute for Citizenship.