Nicky Campbell

Over the last few years, Nicky Campbell has become a stalwart of television and radio, he is a consumate professional and ideally suited to facilitating conferences on any subjects or presenting Awards.  He is also a witty and erudite after dinner speaker.

Nicky was born in Edinburgh in 1961 of Irish birth parents and adopted at six days old.  He went to the city’s Edinburgh Academy and then onto Aberdeen University to study History.  It was there that his broadcasting career started at Northsound Radio in 1981 - at first as a jingle writer then as presenter of the ‘World of Opera’ and eventually hosting the Breakfast Show.

After moving to Capital Radio in 1986 he began his long association with the BBC at Radio 1 in 1987.  There he hosted the iconic “Into the night” programme with its mix of music and speech.

A decade later Nicky moved to Radio Five Live to present the award winning mid-morning show and phone in.  He began hosting the Breakfast programme in 2003 which he presents with Rachel Burden.  The show won two Sony Gold awards in 2009 including the prestigious prize for best Breakfast Show.

His career in television began in the late 80’s presenting ITV’s Wheel of Fortune and Top of the Pops. In the 1990s Campbell fronted the legendary debate series Central Weekend Live which transferred to London as Carlton Live and also became an ITV Network show. He has finished a nine year stint on Watchdog, the longest running presenter of that show and currently hosts the flagship live faith and ethics debate show, ‘The Big Questions’ on BBC One on a Sunday morning.

He also presented game shows including ITV’s ‘For the Rest of Your Life’ and the ‘Battle of the Brains’ on BBC2. Campbell featured in the BBC’s ‘Who Do You Thing You Are’ in 2007 where he traced his adoptive family's roots in Scotland and Australia.

Nicky is Patron of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). He wrote a critically and commercially successful exploration of adoption – Blue Eyed Son in 1994 and speaks all over the country about his own adoption and tracing story.

He has written and co-produced  a jazz/swing album, ‘Moonlight’s Back in Style’ released in Sept  2009 and performed by the actor and brilliant singer Mark Moraghan whom he met when they both appeared on the BBC’s celebrity singing contest ‘Just the Two of Us’ in 2006.

Nicky plays the piano, guitar, ukulele and lives in South London with his wife, four daughters and dog Maxwell.