6 The Times Magazine
news anchor Huw Edwards, 60, grew up in Wales. since joining the
BBc as a trainee in 1984, he has presented the channel’s election
night coverage, the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle,
and BBc news at ten. After the gender pay gap scandal at the BBc
in 2018, he took a voluntary pay cut. He will be presenting trooping
the colour next week for the queen’s Platinum Jubilee. He is
married with five children and lives in south London.
If I had an official fan club, my mum would be president, chairman
and secretary. My sister made the point that it was utterly
ridiculous for her to record several [of my] bulletins in one
day, if I was saying the same thing on each of them, but my
mum doesn’t buy that at all. When I leave the building at
10.45pm, she’ll be in bed, but she’ll give me a verdict on the
[News at Ten] programme, which can be encouraging or
rather depressing – things like, “You’re not sleeping well. You
looked tired. You’ve got big bags under your eyes.”
I was afraid of speaking about my depression. I didn’t know
what people’s response would be, whether they would
consider me to be some flawed personality at the heart of
this big news machine. One of the most touching things
has been the dozens of colleagues who have approached
me to say, “I’ve never been able to open up about it, but I’ve
actually suffered very badly from depression or anxiety.”
I feel much better for having spoken about it, but I don’t
want to be known just for that.
When I was three stone overweight, I didn’t feel good about
myself. It has a terrible impact on your mental outlook.
I felt unfit; I didn’t like the way I looked. It’s a different kind
of depression, where you cannot put a finger on why you’ve
descended into a dark place.
I didn’t confront my dad’s death until ten years later. It’s quite
easy to distract yourself – the kids were quite young at the
time; you immerse yourself in work, a busy family life. It’s
not until you have a little time to think and you’re slightly
more aware of your own mortality that you then realise
what’s happened and can feel the loss. It was quite a blow
when it hit me, because I hadn’t properly thought about it.
I wasn’t processing it.
Nobody wants to take a pay cut, and I was bloody angry about it.
I was being paid what the BBC had agreed to pay me; it
wasn’t my fault. When a senior manager, a middle-aged
white male, called me in to ask me to take a pay cut, the first
thing I asked was, “Are you taking one?” He looked horrified
at the very idea. But I thought, do I want my girls being paid
less than some bloke for doing the same job? Of course
I don’t. So, ultimately, it was the right thing to go along
with it. I couldn’t stay in the newsroom, look female
colleagues in the eye and be someone who had refused
to acknowledge there had been an injustice.
The boxing gym has been important for me physically and
mentally. I’m somebody who spent a lot of money in gyms,
buying a bike or very good running shoes, which I then
never used. Boxing was different, much more down to
earth. All I needed was a pair of gloves, an old T-shirt and
shorts. Partly because the boxing gym was shut, I put on
a stone during lockdown. I did start to run, just to try to
keep some weight off, but I hated it. Running is just an
appalling activity.
My BBC instructor told me, “You’ll need to get rid of that accent.”
He wasn’t being unkind; he thought he was being helpful.
When I arrived in 1984 in Broadcasting House for the
news trainee scheme, I felt like a total impostor. I was
the only non-English person on the course, and I felt a bit
intimidated by the whole thing.
I cringed at being called a “silver fox”. Thankfully it’s calmed
down a bit. I will often get young women coming up to me
and saying, “Do you mind if I have a selfie?” Smiling broadly,
I’ll say, “Of course.” They then say, without missing a beat,
“My grandmother is a huge fan of yours.” I just think, well,
I am 60. It does keep your feet on the ground. nHuw Edwards will present Platinum Jubilee: Trooping the Colour
on BBC1 at 10.30am on June 2INTERVIEW Georgina Roberts PORTRAIT Robert Wilson
What I’ve learnt
Huw Edwards