ALISTAIR Stewart is a news broadcasting veteran with over 40 years’ experience in front of the camera.
But who is the man behind the ITV newsreader? Here’s all you need to know.
Alistair Stewart OBE, 67, was born on June 22, 1952 in Gosport, Hampshire.
The son of RAF recruits, he was educated at state school in Fife, Scotland and then at the independent Salesian College in Farnborough, Hampshire and St. Augustine’s Abbey School in Ramsgate, Kent.
He studied economics and politics at the University of Bristol before going on to work for the National Union of Students from 1974-1976.
Alistair then entered TV when he joined Southern Television in Southampton as a reporter and presenter.
He was one of the last journalists to interview Lord Mountbatten before he was assassinated by the IRA in 1979.
Alistair went on to join ITN in 1980 as an industrial correspondent, and quickly became a regular newsreader.
He spent three years as a presenter and reporter at Channel 4 News between 1983 and 1986, before going on to present ITN’s News at 5:45.
In 1989 Alistair moved to the ITV flagship News at Ten, becoming the lead presenter on major news bulletins.
He has since moved between the lunchtime, evening and ten o’clock shows and presented documentaries, special programmes and hosted election debates.
Most recently he anchored the ITV lunchtime news.
On January 29, 2020, Alistair sensationally quit ITV over “errors of judgement” in his use of social media.
The newsreader was accused of calling a black man an ape on Twitter.
In a statement, the veteran presenter said: “It was a misjudgement which I regret, but it’s been a privilege to bring the news to households throughout the UK for the past 40 years.”
Alistair married Sally Ann Jung in 1974 and they currently live in Hampshire.
Alistair and his wife Sally have four children together – Freddie, Clemmie, Oscar and Alexander Stewart.
