Andrew Marr's Biography

Who is Andrew Marr?

He is married to British journalist, Jackie Ashley and lives in London. They have three children.

Andrew Marr went to the High School of Dundee, Craigflower School and Loretto School in Musselburgh.

He studied English at Trinity Hall, in Cambridge, before he became a junior business reporter for the Scotsman at the age of 22.

Andrew Marr moved up the ranks and, in 1984, he became a parliamentary correspondent. Later, in 1986 he became a political correspondent.

He worked for two years at The Independent before being appointed political editor for the Economist in 1988.

He returned to the Independent in 1992 as the chief political correspondent and in 1996 he was promoted to editor.

In 1995 he had won the Columnist of the Year Award in the British Press Awards and in the What the Papers Say Awards.

After he left The Independent in 1998, Andrew Marr wrote for The Daily Express, The Economist and The Observer and in 2000 he took over as the BBC’s Political Editor which was his job until 2005.

Andrew Marr's books include: The Battle For Scotland (Penguin, 1992); Ruling Britannia (Penguin, 1996, 1998); The Day Britain Died (Profile, 2000) and My Trade (Macmillan, 2004).

In 2005, he started a new programme (replacing Breakfast With Frost) called Sunday AM (later becoming The Andrew Marr Show) which went out every Sunday morning on BBC 1. He also presented the BBC Radio 4 programme, Start the Week.

Marr kas been mistaken for President Putin of Russia. Once, when he was lost on the way to a briefing at the Kremlin, he ran into two guards, but instead of arresting him, they looked alarmed and immediately saluted him.

Some of Marr's hobbies are reading, painting and he's also an enthusiastic chef. 

In 2007, Andrew Marr wrote A History of Modern Britain with an accompanying 5 part TV series on the BBC.

Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain won a Bafta for best specialist factual series.

His other TV credits include presenting Prime Ministers, Britain From Above and Darwin's Dangerous Idea.

In 2009 he presented Andrew Marr's Making Of Modern Britain. The BBC Two series investigated the events that shaped Britain, from the death of Queen Victoria to the end of the Second World War.

In November 2010, the BBC announced that it had commissioned Andrew Marr to present for BBC One, History Of The World, an eight-part series produced in partnership with Discovery Channel US, The Open University and BBC Worldwide.

On 9 January 2013, the BBC reported that Andrew Marr was recovering in hospital after suffering a stroke.

In July 2013, the BBC revealed that Andrew Marr would be returning to his Sunday politics show in September.

In September 2016, the BBC announced that it had commissioned a documentary Andrew Marr: My Brain And Me telling the story of his recovery from a stroke.

In May 2018, it was revealed that Andrew Marr was to have an operation to remove a malignant tumour from his kidney.

On November 19 2021, Andrew Marr tweeted: "After 21 years, I have decided to move on from the BBC. l leave behind many happy memories and wonderful colleagues. But from the New Year I am moving to Global to write and present political and cultural shows, and to write for newspapers."

Laura Kuenssberg took over Marr's Sunday morning show on BBC One.

As well as having a daily show on LBC, Andrew Marr also became a regular columnist for the New Statesman.