Fiona Bruce The Fierce Question Time Host with a Glittering Career
Fiona Bruce has a fierce track record in presenting political debates and is one of the BBC’s highest-paid stars. With just two weeks to go until polling day, the General Election campaign is ramping up, and Fiona Bruce is no stranger to presenting the news during political chaos.
Tonight, she will host a four-way panel of political party leaders in a Question Time special. Sinking Tory leader Rishi Sunak will be joined by Keir Starmer, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, and SNP frontman John Swinney. Fiona will moderate the debate, and each party leader will get 30 minutes to answer questions from a live audience, via BBC.
The sizzling debate will feel like second nature to Fiona, who has a glittering career as a broadcaster. She made history as the first female anchor of the BBC Ten O’Clock News in 1999, having co-presented with Huw Edwards before taking the reins. The television presenter currently hosts Fake or Fortune? Question Time, and Antiques Roadshow, and was named the sixth highest-paid BBC star in 2022, reportedly earning nearly £400,000.
But throughout her hugely successful career, there are a few things fans might not know about Fiona’s life on and off-screen. For instance, she was awarded Female Rear of the Year in 2010, which she later called ‘demeaning.’ She also had a tiff with Jeremy Clarkson after he commented on her ‘nice bottom,’ to which she got her revenge in her own witty manner. Ahead of tonight’s Question Time debate, we look at Fiona’s busy life away from the cameras.
Fiona was born in Singapore, then part of Malaysia, and moved to the UK for primary school. She got her first taste of fame when she modeled in the teenage girls’ magazine Jackie. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in French and Italian, she struggled to find work that suited her interests. However, her big break came when she met Tim Gardam, the editor of BBC’s Panorama, at a wedding. He gave her a job as a researcher on the program in 1989, and her career took off from there. She worked her way up the ranks before becoming the face of BBC News.
In 2010, she was awarded the female Rear of the Year and accepted it in person, but the following year, she declared her acceptance of it had been ‘hypocritical.’ The BBC star has hosted the likes of Crimewatch, News at Ten, and Question Time, but her talents extend much further than presenting. She is also a revered motivational speaker and can speak three languages, including French and Italian.
Away from the cameras, Fiona lives a low-key private life with her husband, businessman Nigel Sharrocks, and their two grown-up children. Fiona first met Nigel when they both worked at an advertising agency, and they tied the knot in July 1994. They had a son Sam in 1998 and a daughter Mia in 2001. They currently have two homes, one in London and the other in Oxfordshire. Fiona previously told the Guardian that Nigel is “happy to be in the background and let her get on with her thing.”
As Fiona Bruce prepares to moderate the highly anticipated Question Time election special, her extensive experience and sharp acumen will undoubtedly bring clarity and insight to the evening’s debate.