John Sergeant

John Sergeant is now a successful author and freelance journalist, having spent more than twenty years as a senior political correspondent at Westminster.

John joined the corporation as a radio reporter in 1970 where he was a general reporter for the BBC, his assignments included spells in Vietnam, the Middle East and Northern Ireland. He eventually covered stories in more than 25 countries. John progressed to become the BBC's chief political correspondent from 1988-2000.

In March 2000, John moved to ITN as Political Editor, reporting on all the key political issues of the day both at home and abroad. He reported on the G8 Summit in Genoa and the EU Summit in Stockholm when John was responsible for breaking the story of Tony Blair’s conversation with Romano Prodi during which he mentioned that the upcoming General Election would be postponed due to foot and mouth. He also reported from Camp David on the first meeting between Blair and President George Bush.

Soon after his arrival at ITN John was voted the Best Individual Television Contributor of the Year at the Voice of the Listener and Viewer Awards for 1999.

He left to concentrate on writing and other broadcasting work following the success of his memoirs “Give Me Ten Seconds”. The paperback edition was in the best seller lists for six months, and has sold more than 200,000 copies.

He has recently presented “Have I Got News for You” for the BBC and is a regular guest on R4’s “The News Quiz.” He is also a frequent after dinner speaker and has also fronted award shows, including the What the Papers Say awards for BBC2.

John's comedy career was revived in 1998 when he appeared in an edition of Have I Got News For You on BBC 2. Ian Hislop said recently he had been one of the funniest guests in the history of the programme. Other comedy successes followed, including a memorable encounter with Paul Merton in Room 101 on BBC2 when John listed his pet hates, including the BBC TV programme, Casualty. On Radio 4 he has been a guest on the News Quiz and many other programmes including A Good Read. He has also presented Pick of the Year.