Sir Trevor McDonald's Biography

Sir Trevor McDonald began his broadcasting career in Trinidad in 1962, working in newspapers, radio and television.

McDonald became a producer with the BBC World Service and moved to London in 1969 to work for BBC Radio.

However, it was with Independent Television News (ITN), who produce the news for ITV and Channel 4, that Sir Trevor McDonald rose to become one of the country's most respected broadcasters.

McDonald joined ITN in 1973. He had various roles there including being diplomatic editor of Channel 4 News.

In 1992, Sir Trevor McDonald became the sole presenter of ITN's landmark news programme, News At Ten, until the slot closed in 1999 and he presented, in succession, ITV's early evening news programme, the resurrected News at Ten, and then the news in the 10.30pm slot.

On December 15, 2005, Trevor McDonald signed off ITV's news seemingly for the last time, saying: "That brings to an end my association with the news at 10.30. Thank you for watching."

In 1999 Trevor McDonald was knighted for his services to journalism. In the same year, Sir Trevor McDonald was awarded Bafta's Richard Dimbleby Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television.

After apparently finishing with the news, Sir Trevor McDonald continued to present other ITV programmes, including Tonight with Trevor McDonald, Extinct, This is Your Life, News Knight, and Britain's Greatest View.

McDonald himself had been the subject of This is Your Life, back in January 1990. Caspar Weinberger, Benazir Bhutto, Clive Lloyd and Lenny Henry, who based the Tiswas character Trevor McDoughnut on him, were amongst those interviewed.

Sir Trevor McDonald told the Manchester Evening News that one of his favourite moments in his career was meeting Nelson Mandela:

"He was so wonderfully and conspicuously unbitter about his life. He had such a clear view about what he needed to do if South Africa were to join that international community of democratic nations. When you've been imprisoned for 27 years you'd think you'd become ever so slightly warped, but I've never met anybody quite like him, so statesmanlike."

Trevor McDonald is a keen cricket fan and has written biographies of the West Indian batsmen Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd.

On 14 January 2008, News at Ten returned to ITV presented by Sir Trevor McDonald along with Julie Etchingham and Mark Austin.

On 20 November 2008 Sir Trevor McDonald made his last appearance hosting ITV's News at Ten.

In May 2011, it was revealed that Sir Trevor McDonald would be given the Academy Fellowship at the TV Baftas.

More recent TV credits include Trevor McDonald's Indian Train Adventure. 

In 2019, he released his autobiography An Improbable Life.