Jeremy Paxman joined the BBC in 1972, initially at BBC Radio Brighton, relocating to London in 1977.
62 Facts About Jeremy Paxman
2.
Jeremy Paxman became known for his forthright interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians.
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In 2014, Jeremy Paxman left Newsnight after 25 years as its presenter.
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Jeremy Paxman was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of steel company employee and former Royal Navy lieutenant and typewriter salesman Keith Jeremy Paxman, who left the family and settled in Australia, and Joan McKay.
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Keith Jeremy Paxman's father was a worsted spinner, who became sufficiently prosperous as a travelling sales representative to send his son to public school in Bradford.
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Jeremy Paxman is the eldest of four children: one of his brothers, Giles Jeremy Paxman, was the British Ambassador to Spain, and the other, James, is chief executive of the Dartmoor Preservation Association.
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Jeremy Paxman's sister, Jenny, is a producer at BBC Radio.
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Jeremy Paxman was brought up in Hampshire, Bromsgrove, and Peopleton near Pershore in Worcestershire.
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Jeremy Paxman went to Malvern College in 1964, and later read English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the university student newspaper Varsity.
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Jeremy Paxman has since been made an honorary fellow of the College.
11.
The documentary concluded that he was descended from Roger Packsman, a 14th-century politician from Suffolk who had changed his name to Jeremy Paxman to impress the electorate.
12.
Jeremy Paxman started in local radio, at BBC Radio Brighton.
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Jeremy Paxman moved to Belfast, where he reported on the Troubles.
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In February 2003, Jeremy Paxman was criticised by the Broadcasting Standards Commission over a Newsnight interview in which he questioned the then Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy about his drinking.
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The programme is chiefly remembered for the fact that Jeremy Paxman asked Blair if he and US President Bush prayed together.
16.
On 11 April 2012, Jeremy Paxman interviewed Russell Brand about Brand's political views and the article he wrote for the New Statesman.
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Jeremy Paxman questioned the apparent change in her views on fuel duty.
18.
Jeremy Paxman had told Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the Director General of the BBC, and James Harding, BBC Head of News, that he wished to leave in July 2013, but agreed to stay on Newsnight for another year after the programme had been damaged by the Savile and Lord McAlpine scandals.
19.
Jeremy Paxman has presented the weekly TV programme review Did You See.
20.
Jeremy Paxman appeared as himself in an episode of BBC comedy The Thick of It which aired in January 2007.
21.
Jeremy Paxman is seen grilling Junior Minister Ben Swain in a disastrous Newsnight interview.
22.
In 2014, Jeremy Paxman presented Britain's Great War, an accompaniment to his 2013 book Great Britain's Great War.
23.
On 26 March 2015, Jeremy Paxman co-presented, with Kay Burley, David Cameron and Ed Miliband Live: The Battle for Number 10, in which he interviewed both British Prime Minister David Cameron and Opposition Leader Ed Miliband regarding their track record in politics and their plans if elected Prime Minister in the general election set for May of that year.
24.
Jeremy Paxman hosted Channel 4's Alternative Election Night with David Mitchell.
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In 1985, Jeremy Paxman published Through the Volcanoes: A Central American Journey, an eyewitness account of people, places and politics.
26.
Jeremy Paxman kept a detached tone while writing his memoir, A Life in Questions, which was published in October 2016.
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Jeremy Paxman presented the flagship BBC Radio 4 show Start the Week from 1998 to 2002.
28.
On 24 August 2007, Jeremy Paxman delivered the MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.
29.
Jeremy Paxman expressed concern that as a consequence of recent production scandals the medium was "rapidly losing public trust".
30.
Jeremy Paxman called on the television industry to "rediscover a sense of purpose".
31.
In November 2012, Jeremy Paxman publicly defended George Entwistle following his resignation as Director-General of the BBC in connection with a Newsnight report which falsely implicated Lord McAlpine in the North Wales child abuse scandal.
32.
Jeremy Paxman claimed Entwistle had been "brought low by cowards and incompetents" and criticised appointments of "biddable people" to the BBC in the wake of the Hutton Inquiry, as well as cuts to BBC programme budgets and bloated BBC management.
33.
Jeremy Paxman gained another Richard Dimbleby Award in 2000 and was nominated for the award in 2001 and 2002.
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In total, Jeremy Paxman has won five Royal Television Society awards.
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Jeremy Paxman was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Leeds in the summer of 1999 and in December that year received an honorary degree from the University of Bradford.
36.
Jeremy Paxman is a Fellow by special election of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and an Honorary Fellow of his alma mater, St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
37.
In July 2016, Jeremy Paxman was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Exeter for achievements in the field of broadcasting and journalism.
38.
Jeremy Paxman formerly lived with TV producer Elizabeth Clough in Stonor, southeast Oxfordshire.
39.
Jeremy Paxman prefers to keep his private life "out of the spotlight" and is not interested in the private lives of others.
40.
Jeremy Paxman is vice-chairman of the Wild Trout Trust conservation charity.
41.
Jeremy Paxman is a patron of the charity Sustrans and east London homeless charity Caritas Anchor House.
42.
Jeremy Paxman had previously stood as a communist candidate in his school elections.
43.
Elsewhere, Jeremy Paxman has stated that he has no dominant political ideology:.
44.
In June 2014, Jeremy Paxman, speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival about his new book, Britain's Great War, complained that Newsnight was made by idealistic "13-year-olds" who foolishly thought they could "change the world".
45.
Jeremy Paxman joked that Belgium was a "pointless little country".
46.
Jeremy Paxman became a focus of media attention in October 2000 when a German Enigma machine, which had been stolen from Bletchley Park Museum, was inexplicably sent to him in the post.
47.
Jeremy Paxman said that he takes psychiatric medication and has undergone cognitive behavioural therapy.
48.
Jeremy Paxman stated that he regularly walks his dog, Derek, which "helps as he meets people", and that his dog "makes him laugh".
49.
In September 2021, whilst promoting his book Black Gold: The History of How Coal Made Britain, Jeremy Paxman revealed his support for Scottish independence.
50.
Jeremy Paxman revealed in May 2021 that he is receiving treatment for Parkinson's disease, describing his symptoms as "mild".
51.
Jeremy Paxman met Sharon Osbourne, the wife of fellow Parkinson's sufferer Ozzy Osbourne, to discuss the role of a partner or family carer; he agreed to her suggestion to one day try cannabidiol oil to relieve the symptoms of Parkinson's.
52.
The programme revealed that Jeremy Paxman recorded his very last episode of University Challenge on 15 October 2022.
53.
Jeremy Paxman was publicly criticised over his and his former partner's home help arrangements.
54.
The row came after a Cabinet minister had complained that Jeremy Paxman had been offensive about his Glasgow accent.
55.
Jeremy Paxman himself is quarter-Scottish through his maternal grandmother, a fact which he stated has led to many of his comments being misunderstood as he regards the Scots "with affection".
56.
Jeremy Paxman was criticised as "disrespectful" when commenting on the possible exit of Greece from the Eurozone on an edition of Newsnight on 31 May 2012.
57.
Jeremy Paxman said that Greece, "like a bad kebab", faced the possibility of being "vomited out of the single currency".
58.
In November 2013, while being interviewed by Graham Norton, Jeremy Paxman called Prime Minister David Cameron an idiot and admitted that he had not voted in his last local election.
59.
Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, later criticised his "sneering" attitude to politics and accused Jeremy Paxman of treating politicians as "rogues and charlatans".
60.
Jeremy Paxman said Paxman profited handsomely from politics through his television work but did not involve himself in the political process.
61.
Jeremy Paxman was criticised for his presentation of the BBC documentary Britain's Great War.
62.
The conscientious objectors, Jeremy Paxman said, "have always struck me as cranks".