The Sunday Times December 19, 2021 5NEWS
BBC’s Ros Atkins finds sudden fame with ‘assertive impartiality’ news videos
reassuring experience that these broad-
casters bring to the screen. It remains to
be seen whether I have the talent and the
stamina to do the same thing, but I will
certainly give it a good go.”
Berry is 86, Attenborough is 95 and
Dimbleby 83. George, 82, used to present
the nightly Welsh news programme
Newyddion and still has a show on BBC
Radio Cymru. Edwards, a fluent Welsh-
speaker, has signalled that he wants to
make more programmes in Wales. He
says that as a Welshman he has never felt
he belonged in England. Next year he will
be one of five presenters to take over BBC
Radio Cymru’s Sunday morning show.sacrificing its ability to
probe.”
Atkins is the son of a
fisherman. He grew up in
Newlyn, Cornwall, but spent
time in the Bahamas and in
Trinidad and Tobago, as his
father also worked for the UN
as a fisheries trainer. He
attended the independent
Truro School before reading
history at Cambridge.
He is married to Sara, a
tribunal judge. They have two
daughters, aged 15 and ten.
“My daughters’ main
observation is that the videos
have taken up a lot of time,”
he said. “They often say:
‘Dad, get off Twitter!’ And
when I say: ‘I’m sorry I’m
busy — it’s a big week’, they
reply: ‘You always say that!’”
@RosamundUrwinthis statement is true, and
this part isn’t.’”
In 2019 he began
experimenting with a more
direct script. “I thought: ‘If I
were talking to people in the
pub, how would I tell that
story?’” Although they have
been praised for seeming
“effortless”, the videos take a
lot of work, with Atkins
rewriting the script “ten or 15
times”.
The broadcaster Andrew
Neil said: “I think Ros is a
success because he is cool,
fair, analytical, factually
based and his scripts are
tightly written and never
embellished.
“That seems to me the
definition of impartiality —
and shows the BBC can do it
when it wants withoutcomplaints about her
comments on Dominic
Cummings last year.
Atkins said: “My
commitment to being fair and
factual is the same as other
BBC journalists’, but I am
being more direct than
perhaps I would have been in
the past in saying what is
correct and what is not
correct.”
He has presented Outside
Source on the BBC News
Channel since 2015, but he
realised some time ago that
the clips for digital audiences
were not attracting many
viewers.
“They wanted more than a
straight digest,” he said.
“They wanted the BBC — me
— to help them through a
story; to assert: ‘This part offire on impartiality grounds.
BBC Breakfast’s Naga
Munchetty apologised for
liking “offensive” tweets that
criticised a minister for using
the Union Jack as an
interview backdrop.
Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis
received tens of thousands ofrepeatedly afflicted the BBC,
which led Davie to launch a
ten-point plan this year to
combat accusations of bias
and to introduce strict
guidelines for social media
usage last year.
A number of Atkins’s
colleagues have come under“[Right-wing journalist] Julia
Hartley-Brewer and [liberal
LBC presenter] James O’Brien
tweeted the same video.”
He has been praised by
executives in profiles for
displaying “assertive
impartiality”, meaning that
he sticks to facts but does not
pull his punches. One BBC
insider said that Atkins
“embodied what [the
director-general] Tim Davie
wants from his news staff ”.
The videos last up to ten
minutes — noticeably longer
than items on TV news
bulletins. Atkins never
expresses subjective
opinions, instead supporting
every assertion with
evidence. That is what has
protected him from the
impartiality rows that haveThe BBC presenter Ros Atkins
was “sweating and
spluttering” after a 5km
parkrun last weekend when a
man congratulated him on his
work. The following evening
he was recognised as he
picked up a takeaway curry. It
happened again when he
went to play his regular game
of squash.
For Atkins, who has
worked at the corporation for
20 years, this level of fame is
a novel experience. It is the
result of his viral videos,
which have turned him into
one of the BBC’s biggest news
stars. “I was amazed the
parkrun guy recognised me,
given how I look with TVmake-up versus how I look
after a 5km,” he said. “But if
someone stops you and says:
‘I appreciate your work’, that
is always going to be lovely,
and I’m very grateful for it.”
Viewers have dubbed
Atkins “the Facts Man” and
“2021’s explainer-in-chief ”
for the videos, which are
broadcast on BBC Breakfast
and the World Service,
shared on Twitter, posted on
the BBC website and put on
iPlayer. One of his most
recent, about the Downing
Street Christmas parties, has
been watched 5.7 million
times on Twitter.
Atkins, 47, said he was
“particularly pleased” that
his videos were being shared
by commentators from across
the political spectrum:Rosamund Urwin
Media EditorViewers like the
fact that Ros
Atkins sticks to
impartiality
without pulling
his punchessaid: “Sibling rivalry is a big
thing.”
They learnt two musical
instruments, competed in a
number of sports, were told
never to be afraid of making a
mistake and tutored their
friends and their younger
siblings.Their father’s unorthodox
teaching methods included
letting the children play
computer games with
cartoon characters and giving
the children medals for
getting puzzles right.
He encouraged them to
compete with each other andWhen Anne-Marie Imafidon
took over Rachel Riley’s
duties last week, becoming
the first black presenter on
the long-running Channel 4
quiz show Countdown, her
father had mixed feelings.
Professor Chris Imafidon
said he was “very proud”
watching his daughter — a
child prodigy who passed
GCSE maths aged 10, speaks
six languages and started an
Oxford degree at 15 — but he
also felt sad when he watched
the contestants struggling
with mathematical questions.
“I pity them,” he said.
“They freeze when it comes
to numbers... that seed of
fear was planted at a young
age ... our education system
reduces children’s
confidence and makes them
feel so much of a failure they
cannot do anything.Ban textbooks, says father who nurtured Countdown prodigy
Sian Griffiths
Education Editor“When this happens
parents can step in to help.
Many ten-year-olds could
pass GCSE maths.”
Imafidon, a researcher in
ophthalmology who grew up
in Nigeria, is the father of
“Britain’s brainiest family”:
five children who passed
GCSEs when they were as
young as six and went on to
study for degrees at
universities including Oxford
and Harvard.
The Imafidons — who are
“not geniuses”, he insists —
succeeded despite living in
Waltham Forest, the
northeast London borough
with one of England’s worst
education records.
Anne-Marie, 31, the oldest,
passed A-level maths aged 11;
Christiana, 28, passed GCSE
maths at nine; Samantha, 24,
passed GCSEs in maths and
statistics aged six; while twins
Paula and Peter, 21 — “with
their competitive streak” —“I want the government to
ban all black and white
textbooks from schools and
teach Shakespeare as an app
with Bart Simpson quizzing
Shakespeare,” Imafidon said.
“Children are digital natives.
The ways of teaching them
are Victorian.
“The materials to study for
GCSEs were on the internet in- Before that you had to
go to school for materials;
teachers were gatekeepers.
They said, ‘These are the
appropriate books for your
age. This is the appropriate
syllabus.’ On the internet they
do not ask the age of your
child. I never wanted to limit
my children’s curiosity.”
Now his children are
adults, Imafidon is using his
methods on pupils from inner
London. “We have young
black inner-city kids studying
German and Italian GCSE.
Some are 11, 12 and 13.”
Imafidon’s belief in the
difference parents can make
to their children’s success is
born of personal experience.
When he was a child,
teachers told his mother he
was autistic and would never
amount to anything. It was
his grandmother who told
him to keep trying, using
different ways to learn.
This weekend, Anne-
Marie, appointed an MBE in
2017 for her work as founder
of the Stemettes charity to
champion the work of
women in science, said: “My
parents were not pushy. They
gave us the space to be
creative and they had a belief
in and ambition for their
children. We did not study all
the time. We had TV, we had
tech, we went to normal
schools. I credit my parents:
my dad did not kill me for
taking apart that VCR player
he loved, or for always being
on the computer. His attitude
was, ‘Give it a go’.”Countdown’s Anne-Marie
Imafidon is the oldest of
five maths prodigiesProfessor Chris
Imafidon’s top tips:6 Let siblings compete
to spur each other on
and improve their
abilities.
6 Don’t think a six-year-
old can’t pass a GCSE.
6 Let your child use apps
to learn on screen.
6 Encourage your child
to feel fine about making
mistakes — errors help
children to learn.
6 Make sure your child
has a range of interests,
including sport and arts.HOW TO HELP
YOUR CHILD
SUCCEED
passed GCSE maths aged six
and A-level maths aged seven.
Last year in England, about
one in three 16-year-olds
failed GCSE maths.Edwards, who is expected to lead the
BBC’s coverage of the Queen’s death,
joined the corporation as a news trainee
in 1984. He has also presented the Six
O’Clock News, led the BBC’s royal and
election coverage and been the broad-
caster’s chief political correspondent.
In the documentary he speaks openly
about his depression, saying he believes
it was linked with his ballooning weight.
“The worst was when the doctor told me I
weighed far too much and was at risk of
dying early.
“That’s when I decided: right, I’m
going to do something about it,” he says.
“Like everyone who suffers fromI had gained so much
weight, the doctor said I
was at risk of dying
early. I decided to do
something about it
Adele and Ed Sheeran are
competing against each other
for the first time to win
Britain’s biggest music prize
after organisers abolished
gender-specific categories.
They are vying with the
rappers Dave and Little Simz
and the rock singer-
songwriter Sam Fender for
the best artist Brit award.
The change from having
male and female categories,
announced last month, was
introduced as organisers
sought to make the awards
more “inclusive”. The singer
Sam Smith, who identifies as
non-binary, was not included
in this year’s best artist
nominations. Smith, 29, said
that the awards should
“celebrate everybody
regardless of gender, race,
age, ability, sexuality and
class” and be more “reflective
of the society we live in”.
Fears among critics,
including Nadine Dorries, the
culture secretary, that doing
away with gender categories
would lead to a dearth of
recognition for women
appear to be misplaced. The
nominations, announced
yesterday, feature 18 female
performers, the most for a
decade. Four new genre-
specific categories will be
decided by a public vote on
the video app TikTok.
The Brits, which have been
running since 1977, are
organised by the record
industry and the British
Phonographic Industry lobby
group. It already had gender-
neutral awards, including for
best album, group, new artist
and song. The best British
album award has been won
by male and female solo
artists nine times apiece.
Male-only groups have won it
22 times.
Sir Elton John has his first
Brit nomination in two
decades for Cold Heart, his
duet with Dua Lipa. Abba,
who released their first studio
album in 40 years last month,
have been nominated for
their first Brit in the best
international group category.
The awards will be
presented in February in a
ceremony at London’s O 2
Arena.
@iamliamkellyEd takes
on Adele
at unisex
Brits
Liam Kelly
Entertainment CorrespondentI’ve enough fight in me to work
till my eighties, says Edwards
Huw Edwards has signalled that he
expects to leave the BBC’s News at Ten in
early 2023 but says he wants to keep
broadcasting into his eighties or beyond.
The presenter, 60, who has been the
face of the corporation’s flagship news
programme since January 2003, revealed
his desire to reach the milestone of two
decades in the role before he steps down.
However, he added that the idea of retire-
ment feels strange to him, and that he
wishes to follow broadcasters such as Sir
David Attenborough, David Dimbleby
and Dame Mary Berry, who have
remained on screen past the age of 80.
Edwards’s future at the BBC has been
the subject of intense speculation since
he said in August that he was thinking of
quitting News at Ten.
His expected departure from the role
will be part of a jobs merry-go-round at
the BBC, with Andrew Marr leaving the
corporation and his self-titled Sunday
morning show and Laura Kuenssberg
expected to step down soon as political
editor, possibly to become a presenter on
Radio 4’s Today programme.
In an upcoming documentary
Edwards, who earned at least £425,
from the BBC last year, says: “By [ Janu-
ary] 2023 I’ll have done 20 years as the
face of the News at Ten. That is a mile-
stone, isn’t it? I can’t foresee what’s going
to happen, but do I want to leave now?
No. Would I like to reach the ‘20 years’
milestone? Yes.
“When the time will come for me to
quit the job — or for them to let me go — I
don’t want to put my feet up and do noth-
ing. I’ll be looking for other work,
because keeping busy is one of life’s best
secrets.”
This weekend Edwards elaborated on
his remarks: “I would like to keep work-
ing in broadcasting — and maybe teaching
journalism — for years to come, but not
necessarily in daily news in the longer
term.
“For me the key to staying fit in every
sense is to keep active and busy, and it fol-
lows that the concept of retirement to me
is rather alien. I have the greatest respect
and admiration for people like David
Attenborough, David Dimbleby, Mary
Berry, my good friend Beti George and
other distinguished broadcasters who
show exemplary professionalism as vet-
erans, and their enduring popularity
with our audiences speaks for itself.”
He added: “Viewers appreciate theSian Griffiths and Rosamund UrwinThe Welshman will soon
complete 20 years as the
face of BBC news, but he
has no intention of
putting his feet updepression, [I find] it tends to come and
go. For me it started around 2002 ... I
didn’t want to get out of bed and didn’t
want to go to work and didn’t want to talk
to anyone.
“It might be something to do with the
fact that I wasn’t completely happy at
work, but that wouldn’t explain how
overwhelming it was.
“The problem is you are a familiar face
and you have to maintain a public image.
Before going on the air, a few minutes
before 6 o’clock, I had to tell myself, ‘OK,
you’ll be fine — you just have to do it.’”
Taking up boxing helped him shed the
weight, but he says it has many other
advantages beyond fitness, such as help-
ing him find “some kind of peace of
mind”.
He also discusses his fraught relation-
ship with his father, Hywel Teifi Edwards,
an academic and Welsh nationalist.
Edwards, who has five children, was rec-
onciled with his father before he died.
“It is never too late for parents who’ve
spent little time with their children as
they grew up to make up for that time and
to develop a closer bond,” he says. “That
is my experience with my father, who at
the end of his life was far closer to me
than he had ever been previously.”
He describes his mother, Aerona, as a
“rock”. He still rings her after finishing
his nightly filming.
“If I go for a drink or forget and I
haven’t called, then you give me hell!” he
tells her in the documentary.
Aerona, who either watches or records
him every night, replies: “All I ask him to
do is give a text of a small kiss so that I
know he’s home safe.”Huw Edwards yn 60 (Huw Edwards at 60)
is on S4C at 9pm on December 29. Also on
demand on BBC iPlayerHuw Edwards with his mother, Aerona