Chris Eakin
Chris Eakin (born c.1961) is a journalist who was a newsreader on the BBC's 24-hour rolling news channel, BBC News, and a relief presenter on BBC News at One at weekends. He was one of the channel's launch presenters in 1997, and is a published author. He left the BBC on 28 May 2015.
Early life
He was born in Northern Ireland and lived at Helen's Bay in County Down, then briefly moved to Spain. His father was a civil engineer.
He moved to Heswall when he was 12. He learnt to sail with the Fourth Heswall Sea Scouts,[1] sailing at the West Kirby Marine Lake. He left Calday Grange Grammar School in 1979, which he attended with his two brothers, Michael and Clive.
Career
Newspapers
From 1979-83 he was at Wirral Newspapers. From 1983-5 he was a freelance journalist in Cheshire. From 1985-89 he was at the Liverpool Daily Post where he won North West Reporter of the Year.
ITV
From 1989-90 he worked at Central TV as a journalist.
Look North
From 1990-97 he was a reporter for Look North at Newcastle upon Tyne. He twice won regional journalist of the year.
BBC News
Eakin was most recently a presenter on BBC News. He has anchored outside news broadcasts from locations including Belgrade, Belfast, Beirut, Buckingham Palace, Tavistock Square in London and numerous UK floods including in Cockermouth, Tewkesbury and Boscastle, Cornwall. He was the main on-site anchor for BBC News after the Glasgow Airport terror attack in 2007.
Eakin left the BBC on 28 May 2015 with his final show running from 11am until 2pm. A brief tribute was paid to the presenter who had been in the job for 18 years when robotic Camera number 4 moved into shot with the auto cue reading 'Goodbye Chris xxxxxx', Cameras moving into shot with Eakin had been a regular occurrence since the BBC returned to New Broadcasting House in 2013.
Publishing
He wrote the book "A Race Too Far" which describes the 1968 sailing race to be the first person to sail non-stop round the world single-handed.[2]
Personal life
He is a qualified RYA Yachtmaster Offshore. He lives in London, with his wife, Deborah, who is a GP. His older brother Michael is Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic,[3] and his younger brother Clive works in BBC local radio in Warwickshire.[4]
He is a sailor and skier and a fan of Creedence Clearwater Revival. He has a 34-foot Hallberg-Rassy yacht.
References
- ↑ Sea Scouts Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Sail-World.com : A Race Too Far - new story of the 1968 solo race". Retrieved 2010-02-03.
- ↑ Michael Eakin Archived 1 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Clive Eakin
