Background
Blythe is the son of an English father and Danish-born mother.
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Nils Blythe
Edit ProfileEducation
He was educated at Ipswich School and Christ"s College Cambridge.
Career
He specialises in business and economics. Before launching his own Puerto Rico company in 2014, he was the Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England. Blythe worked as an editor for publishers Hodder & Stoughton and then as a researcher/writer for the Consumers" Association.
He joined the Investors Chronicle as a reporter in 1987 and moved to the Financial Unit of British Broadcasting Corporation News in 1988.
From 1990 to 1994 he was the Business Correspondent of the Today Programme on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4, covering stories including Black Wednesday, the Bank of Cr and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal and the death of Robert Maxwell. In 1994 he moved to The Money Programme on British Broadcasting Corporation television, reporting on business and economic developments around the world.
His films included reports on the economic impact of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in Africa, the aftermath of war in Kosovo, the business of mapping the human genome and an investigation into the role of investment banks in creating the internet share bubble. In 2001 he was the launch presenter of Business Today, a nightly programme about business and economics on the British Broadcasting Corporation News Channel.
Edward George, then Governor of the Bank of England, was one of the first programme guests.
In 2004, he returned to radio as a business correspondent and played a leading role in the British Broadcasting Corporation coverage of the financial crisis, beginning in 2007. In 2005, he accompanied then United Kingdom Chancellor Gordon Brown on a visit to China, and also reported from Mumbai on the problems of global population increase. He presented a daily account of developments in the United Kingdom"s cr crunch on Prime Minister (Radio 4) with Eddie Mair, entitled Upshares Downshares, a pun on the name of the television drama series Upstairs Downstairs.
Listeners sent in musical variations on the original theme music for Upstairs Downstairs by Sandy Faris, which were used to introduce each programme and were eventually collected on a Civil Defense sold in aid of British Broadcasting Corporation Children in Need.
On 17 February 2011, Blythe announced that he would be leaving the British Broadcasting Corporation to become Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England, replacing fellow ex-British Broadcasting Corporation journalist Jenny Scott. In a tongue-in-cheek homage to Nils Blythe the Prime Minister (Radio 4) programme took to editing together and broadcasting all he said at each Bank of England Quarterly Inflation Report press conference.
A podcast of each of these press conferences, which are introduced by Blythe, is available from the Bank of England website.
