Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – October 2013

 

Trevor McDonald 1

October is Black History Month and with this in mind we have chosen Trevor McDonald as our Inspirational Diversity Champion.

Trevor McDonald was born in Trinidad in 1939, he worked in various aspects of the media including local newspapers, radio and television before he joined the Caribbean regional service of the BBC World Service in 1960 as a producer.  He moved to London at the end of that decade to work for the corporation (BBC Radio, London).

In 1973 he moved to Independent Television News (ITN) and rose steadily through the ranks to become the first black newsreader in the UK.  He was twice voted Newscaster of the year, and is perceived as the face of ITN after years of fronting its flagship ‘News at Ten’ bulletin.

He is an accomplished journalist, he has written several books including autobiographies on cricketers Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards. His own biography, ‘Fortunate Circumstances’, was published in 1993.

Once viewed as the best-spoken person in the country, he fronted a two-year inquiry into the state of language learning. It warned that government education policy failed to teach pupils the necessary language skills needed for later life.

Trevor McDonald read the news for ITN for over 30 years, in 1992 he received an OBE in the Queen’s Honours List, and in 1999 received a knighthood for services to journalism.  Although now retired from reading the news Trevor continues to broadcast on TV most recently last month when he presented the show ‘Women Behind Bars’ an insight into the Indiana Rockville Correctional Facility.

 

April Ashley, Transgender Icon: Liverpool Exhibition Opens

A year-long exhibition has recently opened at Liverpool Museum dedicated to the astonishing life of April Ashley. It examines how one of the first British people to undergo gender reassignment surgery helped to change society.

The exhibition focusing on her extraordinary journey from George Jamieson to April Ashley MBE draws on her own photographic archive and documents to look at the wider impact of changing social and legal conditions for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-24271931

April Ashley