19 Facts About Peter Horrocks

Peter John Gibson Horrocks CBE was born on 8 October 1959 and is a broadcast executive and a former Vice-Chancellor of The Open University.

Peter Horrocks was educated at the independent King's College School in Wimbledon and at Christ's College, Cambridge.

Peter Horrocks was previously director of the BBC World Service Group.

Peter Horrocks worked on Newsnight as an assistant producer and then producer.

Peter Horrocks edited BBC television's coverage of the 1992 general election.

Peter Horrocks edited the coverage of the Budget, by-elections and local elections, as well as the 1994 European Election results and General Election results programmes in May 1997.

In May 1992, Peter Horrocks was appointed editor of BBC Two's social affairs programme, Public Eye, a position he held until he launched Here And Now, a current affairs magazine intended to capture high audience figures, in January 1994.

Peter Horrocks became editor of Newsnight in April 1994, and editor of Panorama in December 1997.

Peter Horrocks was executive producer of Brits, True Spies, Smallpox 2002, The Day Britain Stopped, Dirty War and of the documentary trilogy The Power of Nightmares.

Peter Horrocks won Bafta awards in 1997 and 2005 for his editorship of Newsnight and for The Power of Nightmares.

Peter Horrocks became Head of Television News in September 2005.

Peter Horrocks is the chairman of the BBC Media Action Board of Trustees.

The Open University announced on 11 December 2014, that Peter Horrocks had been appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University, taking over the role vacated by Martin Bean.

In 2018 Peter Horrocks took part in a Parliamentary hearing on value for money in higher education, with MPs criticising the level of pay of vice-chancellors and asking them to justify their salaries.

Peter Horrocks described the changes, reducing courses by a third, as "reprioritising".

Peter Horrocks had angered some staff by saying academics "get away with not teaching".

Peter Horrocks later issued a letter of apology and stated: "I sincerely regret that my careless language caused offence or hurt".

Peter Horrocks resigned from the post of Vice-Chancellor on 13 April 2018 "with immediate effect".

Peter Horrocks remained as a consultant to the institution for a further three months.