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John Simpson CBE
John Simpson CBE, the BBC’s World Affairs Editor, is one of the world’s most respected foreign correspondents and a leading voice on global politics and international affairs. Described as the “David Attenborough of news,” John is a multi-award-winning broadcaster and acclaimed author who has reported on nearly every major geopolitical event since the 1960s.
About John Simpson CBE
Over his illustrious career, John has delivered groundbreaking reports on historic moments including the Iranian Revolution, the First and Second Gulf Wars, the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, the end of apartheid in South Africa, the genocide in Rwanda, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Known for his frontline reporting, John famously entered Taliban-occupied Kabul in 2001 at the head of the BBC team, having previously infiltrated Afghanistan disguised in a burka. He was on the plane with Ayatollah Khomeini as he returned to Iran to depose the Shah, danced on top of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and witnessed the missile strikes on Baghdad during the First Gulf War.
John has reported from 140 countries, interviewing more than 200 world leaders and key figures including Mikhail Gorbachev, Vladimir Putin, Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro, Colonel Gaddafi, Robert Mugabe, and Saddam Hussein. He has also met with leaders of the IRA, Hezbollah, Hamas, Taliban, and the notorious Medellin and Cali drug cartels. Osama bin Laden even placed a bounty on his life in 1989.
His career extends beyond conflict zones, with extraordinary assignments such as sailing around Cape Horn, man-hauling a sledge in the Arctic, living with an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, and reporting the first sunrise of the new Millennium from a desert island in the South Pacific.
John’s accolades include a CBE for his reporting (1991), three BAFTAs, an International Emmy, a Peabody Award, and twice being named RTS Journalist of the Year. He holds honorary doctorates from twelve universities and is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, as well as a Freeman of the City of London.
The author of numerous books, including the bestselling memoir A Mad World, My Masters, John continues to offer sharp insight into global affairs. His current affairs programme Unspun World with John Simpson airs weekly on BBC2.
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