Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English former broadcaster, journalist and author, born in Yorkshire.
Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate newspaper Varsity. At Cambridge, he was a member of a Labour Party club and described himself as a socialist, in later life describing himself as a one-nation conservative. He joined the BBC in 1972, initially at BBC Radio Brighton, relocating to London in 1977. In following years, he worked on Tonight and Panorama, becoming a newsreader for the BBC Six O'Clock News and later a presenter on Breakfast Time and University Challenge.
In 1989, he became a presenter for the BBC Two programme Newsnight, interviewing many political figures. Paxman became known for his forthright interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians. These appearances were sometimes criticised as aggressive, intimidating and condescending, yet also applauded as tough and incisive. In 2014, Paxman left Newsnight after 25 years as its presenter. Since then, he has done occasional work for Channel 4 News. From its revival in 1994 up until he stepped down from the show in 2023, he presented University Challenge and its Christmas spin-off from 2011 to 2022. In 2022, he announced he was standing down, as he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
Paxman was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of steel company employee and former Royal Navy lieutenant and typewriter salesman (Arthur) Keith Paxman, who left the family and settled in Australia, and Joan McKay (née Dickson; 1920–2009). Keith 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. The Dickson family were wealthier, with Keith's father-in-law, a self-made success, paying the Paxman children's school fees.
Paxman is the eldest of four children: one of his brothers, Giles Paxman, was the British ambassador to Spain (having previously been ambassador to Mexico), and the other, James, is chief executive of the Dartmoor Preservation Association. His sister, Jenny, is a producer at BBC Radio.
Paxman was brought up in Hampshire, Bromsgrove, and Peopleton near Pershore in Worcestershire. He went to Malvern College in 1964, his time there was not without incident, his memoir touched on his housemaster's appraisal of him following the "students final rustication" while at the College, prior to taking his A-levels. He later read English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the university student newspaper Varsity. While at Cambridge, Paxman was briefly a member of the Cambridge Universities Labour Club, attending only one meeting, finding student politics "self-important and trivial at the same time." He has since been made an honorary fellow of the College.
In January 2006, Paxman was the subject of an episode of the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?. The documentary concluded that he was descended from Roger Packsman, a 14th-century politician from Suffolk who had changed his name to Paxman to impress the electorate (pax being Latin for 'peace'). Paxman's maternal grandmother was born in Glasgow, Scotland. The programme generated much publicity before its transmission by displaying him with tears in his eyes on camera when informed that his impoverished great-grandmother Mary McKay's poor relief had been revoked because she had a child out of wedlock.
Paxman joined the BBC's graduate trainee programme in 1972. He started in local radio, at BBC Radio Brighton. He moved to Belfast, where he reported on the Troubles. He moved to London in 1977. Two years later he transferred from the Tonight programme to Panorama. After five years reporting from places such as Beirut, Uganda and Central America, he read the Six O'Clock News for two years, before moving to BBC1's Breakfast Time programme.
Paxman became a presenter of Newsnight in 1989.
On 13 May 1997 he interviewed Michael Howard, who had been Home Secretary until 13 days earlier after he had held a meeting with Derek Lewis, head of Her Majesty's Prison Service, about the possible dismissal of the governor of Parkhurst Prison, John Marriott. Howard was asked by Paxman the same question – "Did you threaten to overrule him [Lewis]?" – a total of twelve times in succession (fourteen, if the first two inquiries worded somewhat differently and some time before the succession of twelve are included).
During a 20th anniversary edition of Newsnight in 2000, Paxman told Howard that he had simply been trying to prolong the interview because the next item in the running order was not ready: "By the time I'd asked the question five or six times ... it was clear ... that you [Howard] weren't going to answer it ... at which point a voice came in my ear and said 'The next piece of tape isn't cut, you'd better carry on with this for a while' and I'm afraid I couldn't think of anything else to ask you."
In 1998, Denis Halliday, a United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, resigned his post in Iraq, describing the effects of his own organisation's sanctions as genocide. Paxman asked Halliday in a Newsnight interview, "Aren't you just an apologist for Saddam Hussein?"
In February 2003, 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. The commission said that the questioning was "overly intrusive in nature and tone and had exceeded acceptable boundaries for broadcast".
In 2003, Prime Minister Tony Blair opted to make the case for the invasion of Iraq via questions from a TV studio audience, mediated by Paxman. The programme is chiefly remembered for the fact that Paxman asked Blair if he and U.S. President Bush prayed together. Blair replied, "No, Jeremy. We don't pray together." To which Paxman replied, "But why not?"
During the 2005 general election, some viewers complained to the BBC that Paxman's questioning of party leaders had been rude and aggressive. He was criticised for his 5 am interview with George Galloway after his election as the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow by the just defeated Oona King. Paxman asked Galloway more than once whether he was proud of having got rid of "one of the very few black women in Parliament." Galloway cut the interview short. King later said she "did not wish to be defined, by either [her] ethnicity or religious background."
On 11 April 2012, Paxman interviewed Russell Brand about Brand's political views and the article he wrote for the New Statesman. The interview went viral as Brand stated that it was "futile" to vote and that a "political revolution" was needed. After this interview, Paxman revealed that he had not voted either in some previous elections.
On 26 June 2012, he interviewed the Economic Secretary to the Treasury Chloe Smith about Chancellor George Osborne's decision that day to delay plans to increase fuel duty. Paxman questioned the apparent change in her views on fuel duty. Senior politicians, including John Prescott, questioned Osborne's judgement for sending a junior minister onto the programme in place of himself.
The BBC announced Paxman's departure from Newsnight at the end of April 2014. He had told Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the director-general of the BBC, and James Harding, the 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. In his statement Paxman commented: "After 25 years, I should rather like to go to bed at much the same time as most people."