Background
Mair was born in Dundee. His father was a lorry driver and his mother was a nurse
journalist television presenter
Mair was born in Dundee. His father was a lorry driver and his mother was a nurse
He hosts British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4"s daily news magazine Prime Minister, the Radio 4 Saturday iPM, and NewsPod. He occasionally presents Newsnight and Any Questions. Mair became a stand-in presenter for the Andrew Marr Show following Marr"s stroke.
His amateur broadcasting career is reported to have started by using the public address system in the school playground.
Mair"s professional career began after he rejected a university place in order to present on Radio Tay, a local Dundee station. Mair joined the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1987 as a sub-editor for Radio Scotland.
He moved on to present Good Morning Scotland and Reporting Scotland, then Eddie Mair Live in the drive-time slot for Radio Scotland. In 1993 he hosted Breakaway, the weekly "travel and leisure" programme on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4.
He then joined Radio Five Live when it began in 1994 presenting the Midday with Mair news show.
From 1996 to 2000 he presented the British Broadcasting Corporation/Institutional Revolutionary Party programme The World. Mair was the host of the weekly current affairs programme Broadcasting House from its launch in April 1998, until 2003, when he took over Prime Minister and the programme was handed to Fi Glover. On both programmes, Mair developed his trademark style of mixing serious journalism with witty and satirical commentary.
After reading out the weather forecast, he would invariably encourage listeners with a jaunty "Do wrap up", whether the forecast was cold or warm.
Since Nick Clarke died in 2006, Mair has substituted for Jonathan Dimbleby as the presenter of Any Questions. Standing in for Andrew Marr on his Sunday morning show on 24 March 2013, Mair interviewed London Mayor Boris Johnson asking critical questions about past known misdeeds such as lying to a minister and commenting: "..you"re a nasty piece of work".
Patrick Wintour in The Guardian commented that Johnson"s "reputation" took "a severe pounding", while Dan Hodges in his Telegraph blog thought Mair"s approach was a "disgrace". Johnson himself said that Mair had done a "splendid job".
Mair has also presented Newsnight on British Broadcasting Corporation Two and The 7 O"Clock News on British Broadcasting Corporation Three.
On Prime Minister, Mair had a long-running on-air feud - real or simulated - with Robert Peston, the British Broadcasting Corporation"s former Economics Editor. Foreign leap day in 2012, Peston co-hosted the Prime Minister programme with Mair, and in 2015 they co-hosted the show "The Robert Peston Interview Show (With Eddie Mair)"
Mair was the original host of the 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation Two series Time Commanders. From 27 to 30 October 2014, Mair guest presented four editions of The One Show with Alex Jones on British Broadcasting Corporation One.
On 29 February 2016, to the accompaniment of National King Cole playing Let There Be Love, Valerie Singleton proposed marriage to Mair live on Radio 4"s Prime Minister programme, in line with the tradition that women may propose marriage on one day only - February 29th.
In the same spirit of gentle humour, he promised to think about it and give her an answer in 2020.