Stephen Sackur, the presenter of HARDtalk, BBC World News' flagship current affairs
interview programme, has been a journalist with BBC News since 1986.
He has interviewed presidents, prime ministers and leading personalities from all over
the world over the past decade. Before taking over HARDtalk, Stephen was based in
Brussels for three years as the BBC's Europe Correspondent. He travelled across Europe
to cover major stories around the continent, including the accession of the former
communist east European states in 2004.
Prior to this, Stephen was the BBC's Washington Correspondent from July 1997.
With a keen interest in politics, he has interviewed President George W. Bush,
and Bill Clinton; covered the 2000 U.S. Presidential Elections, the “Lewinsky scandal”
and the Clinton impeachment trial. He also made a documentary for the BBC's current
affairs programme “Panorama” on the issue of guns in the U.S..
Stephen has also been the BBC Middle East Correspondent in both Cairo from 1992
to 1995 and Jerusalem from 1995 to 1997, covering the peace process, the assassination
of the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He has contributed countless articles
to The Observer, The London Review of Books, New Statesman, The Guardian and Daily
Telegraph. He is the author of “On the Basra Road” (1992). In November 2010,
Stephen was awarded the "International TV Personality of the Year Award" by the
Association of International Broadcasters. Born in Lincolnshire, England, Stephen was
educated at both Cambridge and Harvard University.