Bill Turnbull Biography – Bill Turnbull Wiki
Bill Turnbull was a British journalist and presenter, who in later life worked as a presenter for the radio station Classic FM, following many years as a host with the BBC. He was the main male presenter of BBC Breakfast from 2001 until 2016 and presented the religious series Songs of Praise and the game show Think Tank. He started his career at the Scottish local station Radio Clyde in 1978, and later, he freelanced for a number of years in the USA.
He joined the BBC as a reporter for the Today program in 1986 and Breakfast Time as a reporter in 1988, before becoming a correspondent for BBC News in 1990. He covered a wide range of domestic and international stories, reporting from over thirty countries including a four-year stint as Washington Correspondent, based in the USA. His producer for a while was Sian Williams. In this role, he reported on a number of major American stories, including the O. J. Simpson murder trial and the Monica Lewinsky scandal that rocked Bill Clinton’s presidency.
In 1997, Turnbull moved back to the UK and became one of the main presenters on BBC News 24, appearing alongside Valerie Sanderson. He also presented regular programs on Radio 5 Live, including a stint as a presenter on Weekend Breakfast. Turnbull joined the BBC Breakfast team in 2001 as a weekend presenter, presenting with Sian Williams initially and then later with Sarah Montague, Mishal Husain, and Susanna Reid. He also regularly appeared as a relief presenter on the weekday program, with Sophie Raworth, Natasha Kaplinsky, Kate Silverton, and Louise Minchin. He became the main weekday presenter of Breakfast in 2008, rejoining Williams and replacing Dermot Murnaghan. Turnbull was also an occasional relief presenter of News at Six and News at One.
As well as anchoring programs in the studio, he regularly presented on location. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he was sent to New Orleans to report for BBC News, presenting both Breakfast and the News at Six live from Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi. In the wake of the July 7, 2005, London bombings, Turnbull anchored Breakfast’s coverage live from King’s Cross railway station. He fronted the program’s coverage of the 2008 US presidential election live from Washington, D.C., and New York, and was in Washington once again for the 2012 US presidential election.
In 2005, he was a contestant in the third series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with Karen Hardy. In spite of a serious ankle injury in the second week, he stayed in the competition for seven weeks, finishing sixth out of twelve contestants. In April and May 2010, Turnbull traveled around the UK presenting and reporting for Breakfast on the general election campaign trail. In June 2010 he presented Breakfast live from Whitehaven in the aftermath of the Cumbria shootings. He joined the presenting team of the BBC’s Songs of Praise in 2013.
It was announced on September 2, 2015, that Turnbull would be leaving Breakfast in early 2016, after fifteen years. He presented his last episode, with Louise Minchin, on February 26, 2016. In 2015, he began narrating the CBBC sketch comedy series Class Dismissed, also appearing in a cameo as himself in episode 12. In March 2016, he began presenting the daytime BBC One quiz show Think Tank. In July 2016, Turnbull narrated another CBBC mockumentary comedy series based on Paignton Zoo called The Zoo, broadcast on CBBC in 2017.
Beginning in April 2016, he presented his own radio show on Classic FM. The show aired from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Turnbull was a guest presenter of three episodes of The One Show in 2016, alongside Alex Jones. In March 2018, just as his cancer diagnosis was made public, BBC One aired 10 episodes of Holding Back the Years, featuring Bill Turnbull with Fiona Phillips offering information on living well in later life.
In August 2006, he agreed to take part in a polyphasic sleep experiment presented on BBC One’s The One Show. In this experiment, he slept for a total of three hours per day, in six thirty-minute bursts, for ten consecutive days. The effect of this sleep pattern on his health was visible, as he presented Breakfast almost every weekday during the duration of the exercise and became increasingly sleep-deprived. In November 2006, he appeared alongside fellow BBC News presenters in performance for Children in Need that Jan Moir, writing for The Telegraph, described as “charisma-free”, adding that although Turnbull dressed up like James Bond, he looked like a “dodgy sommelier”.
Turnbull also appeared in an episode of the game show School’s Out broadcast on BBC One on August 11, 2007. In September 2007, he appeared on the celebrity version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with his BBC Breakfast co-presenter Sian Williams to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care. On October 28, 2007, Turnbull made a guest appearance on the children’s television show SMart. In January 2008, he appeared on Celebrity Mastermind. His specialist subject was beekeeping. In 2009, he took part in the BBC series Around the World in 80 Days with Breakfast colleague Louise Minchin for Children in Need, traveling from Mongolia, through Russia and South Korea, before crossing the Pacific on a container ship and landing in California.
In 2011, he also made an appearance on the BBC One game show Pointless Celebrities alongside Sian Williams, which they won. He also appeared alongside Lee Mack and Louie Spence on Would I Lie To You? and made a guest appearance as himself in “The Wedding of River Song”, the sixth series finale of Doctor Who, with his then Breakfast co-presenter Sian Williams. In 2012, he appeared in Professor Green’s music video for “Remedy”.In 2013, he appeared in an episode of Room 101, and in 2016, he was a contestant in a celebrity episode of The Chase. On 24, 25, and February 26, 2020, Turnbull presented Good Morning Britain with Susanna Reid. He later returned to the program in May 2021. In October 2021, he was a contestant in Richard Osman’s House of Games.
He was educated at Eton College and the University of Edinburgh, where he edited the student newspaper. He graduated from Cardiff University in 1978. On September 8, 2009, Turnbull was awarded an honorary doctorate from Buckinghamshire New University in recognition of his charity work within the Buckinghamshire community. In May 2010, he published The Bad Beekeepers Club, a comic book about the ups and downs of beekeeping.
Bill Turnbull Age
His birth name was William Robert Jolyon Turnbull. He was born on January 25, 1956, in Guildford, Surrey, England, and died on August 31, 2022, in Suffolk, England. He was 66.
Bill Turnbull Wife
He married his wife, Sarah McCombie in March 1988 in the London Borough of Hackney. The couple had three children. Turnbull and his wife previously lived in Buckinghamshire but relocated to Rainow, Cheshire in 2012 following the move of BBC Breakfast to Salford. Subsequently, he moved to Suffolk. He remained married to his wife until the time of his death.
Bill Turnbull Children
With his wife, the couple had three children, a son named Henry who was born in October 1988, Will born in October 1989 and daughter Flora born in August 1991.
Bill Turnbull Family
He was born in Guildford, Surrey, to an English father of Scottish ancestry and an English mother.
Bill Turnbull Death
In March 2018, Turnbull revealed he had been diagnosed the previous November with prostate cancer. He succumbed to the illness at his home in Suffolk, on August 31, 2022, at the age of 66.
According to bbc.com, his family said: “Bill will be remembered by many as a remarkable broadcaster who brought warmth and humor into people’s homes. Following a challenging and committed fight against prostate cancer, Bill passed away peacefully at his home in Suffolk surrounded by his family on Wednesday, 31 August.”
“He was resolutely positive and was hugely buoyed by the support he received from friends, colleagues, and messages from people wishing him luck. It was a great comfort to Bill that so many more men are now testing earlier for this disease,” they said.
“Bill was a wonderful husband and father to his three children; his family and friends will miss how he always made them laugh, and the generosity and love he shared with those around him,” they said, adding he was a devoted Wycombe Wanderers fan and “an ever-aspiring beekeeper”.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie called Turnbull “a much-loved and respected broadcaster and journalist – not just by viewers but by all those lucky enough to have worked with him. He always struck the right tone, no matter what the story. Warm, wise, professional, and caring, he will be much missed by us all,” he said.
Bill Turnbull Cause of Death
In March 2018, Turnbull revealed he had been diagnosed the previous November (2017) with prostate cancer. He passed on at his home in Suffolk, on August 31, 2022, at the age of 66.
