Owen Thomas has an enviable background in broadcasting. Before joining CNN in 2007, he was a newscaster for ITN, anchoring the ITV News Channel and the ITV Morning News. He was well known in the capital for many years as a presenter of London Tonight. In the 1990s, he helped wake up the nation as a newsreader on Radio One's Newsbeat. He's also presented on BBC World and BBC News-24.
Owen has covered some of the biggest news stories of the past two decades. He was on air when details started emerging of the Asian Tsunami . He covered the death of Pope John Paul II. More recently he's been chairing studio debates and conducting interviews with CEOs regarding the American "sub-prime" crisis and the subsequent fall-out. He's also talked to Hollywood's finest, from Joan Collins to Susan Sarandon.
Owen's career really took off when he was chosen, out of thousands of candidates, to be one of the BBC's News Trainees in 1992. His big break came on his third day with the BBC's Business Unit; nobody had noticed that the BBC World TV anchor hadn't shown up for his shift. With ten minutes to go, amid cries of “who's going to read the 11 o'clock bulletin?”, he stuck his hand up, said “I'll do it!” and the rest is history.
As a local TV reporter in for Carlton and LWT Owen covered everything from riots, to court cases to showbiz red-carpet events. His scariest time came when he had a day to train as a Covent Garden street entertainer and then had to perform in front of the crowd. “My palms still sweat when I think about it”, says Owen. His performance was truly disastrous, the crowd disappeared in seconds. But it does show that Owen's one of those people who'll try anything – and it did make great TV.
Anchoring the news for CNN International was something of a dream job for Owen, although there wasn't much time for dreaming when he was presenting CNN Today. “I had to get up at 1.30am. I was in the office for 3am and I was on air at 5. It was something of a struggle to look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and have the mental functions to interview world and business leaders when you've been up all night”, he says. At least it showed his commitment.
Because of his background and quick-witted, warm personality, Owen's in increasing demand as a host for conferences and has recently facilitated a meeting for a thousand people for a major bank. He's also due to host a series of award ceremonies around the country for a big national charity.
Owen also donates his time to the Red Cross and last year spent a week in Zambia helping with water projects and is looking forward to doing something similar this year. “It totally changes your attitude to life when you see people who have virtually nothing”, says Owen. “It certainly puts life's priorities into perspective”, he added.
Owen graduated in French from Aston University in Birmingham and spent two years living in Paris and working for Radio France. He was once fluent in the language, although these days his skills have got particularly rusty. However, his French does improve greatly after a few days in Paris and a few glasses of red wine. Luckily the Eurostar now departs from St. Pancras, just a stop away from where Owen lives in North London. He's available for events, big or small, unless he's on that train.
Owen has covered some of the biggest news stories of the past two decades. He was on air when details started emerging of the Asian Tsunami . He covered the death of Pope John Paul II. More recently he's been chairing studio debates and conducting interviews with CEOs regarding the American "sub-prime" crisis and the subsequent fall-out. He's also talked to Hollywood's finest, from Joan Collins to Susan Sarandon.
Owen's career really took off when he was chosen, out of thousands of candidates, to be one of the BBC's News Trainees in 1992. His big break came on his third day with the BBC's Business Unit; nobody had noticed that the BBC World TV anchor hadn't shown up for his shift. With ten minutes to go, amid cries of “who's going to read the 11 o'clock bulletin?”, he stuck his hand up, said “I'll do it!” and the rest is history.
As a local TV reporter in for Carlton and LWT Owen covered everything from riots, to court cases to showbiz red-carpet events. His scariest time came when he had a day to train as a Covent Garden street entertainer and then had to perform in front of the crowd. “My palms still sweat when I think about it”, says Owen. His performance was truly disastrous, the crowd disappeared in seconds. But it does show that Owen's one of those people who'll try anything – and it did make great TV.
Anchoring the news for CNN International was something of a dream job for Owen, although there wasn't much time for dreaming when he was presenting CNN Today. “I had to get up at 1.30am. I was in the office for 3am and I was on air at 5. It was something of a struggle to look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and have the mental functions to interview world and business leaders when you've been up all night”, he says. At least it showed his commitment.
Because of his background and quick-witted, warm personality, Owen's in increasing demand as a host for conferences and has recently facilitated a meeting for a thousand people for a major bank. He's also due to host a series of award ceremonies around the country for a big national charity.
Owen also donates his time to the Red Cross and last year spent a week in Zambia helping with water projects and is looking forward to doing something similar this year. “It totally changes your attitude to life when you see people who have virtually nothing”, says Owen. “It certainly puts life's priorities into perspective”, he added.
Owen graduated in French from Aston University in Birmingham and spent two years living in Paris and working for Radio France. He was once fluent in the language, although these days his skills have got particularly rusty. However, his French does improve greatly after a few days in Paris and a few glasses of red wine. Luckily the Eurostar now departs from St. Pancras, just a stop away from where Owen lives in North London. He's available for events, big or small, unless he's on that train.
Former anchor on CNN International Owen Thomas is now a familiar face around the world on BBC World. Combining calm professionalism with great warmth, Owen is just as much at home covering breaking news events in the studio, anchoring live on-location, hosting conferences for blue-chip companies or chairing debates with business or political leaders.
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