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Justin Webb

Journalist

Americast and Today Presenter, Former BBC North America Editor

About

Gender: Male

Nationality: United Kingdom

Languages: English

Travels from: United Kingdom

Engagement Types

Topics

Table of Contents

Biography Highlights

BBC North America Editor: Provided in-depth coverage of U.S. politics, including the 2008 Presidential election, and was the first British journalist to secure a full television interview with President Obama.
Radio 4's Today Programme Presenter: Co-presents BBC Radio 4's Today programme, engaging with key figures and discussing pressing issues alongside colleagues such as Mishal Husain and Nick Robinson.
Americast Co-Host: Co-hosts the BBC podcast Americast, offering insightful analyses of American political and social developments.

Biography

About Justin Webb

After his tenure as the BBC North America Editor, Justin Webb joined the team of presenters on Radio 4’s influential Today programme. He now interviews prominent figures and those making the day’s headlines alongside Mishal Husain, Emma Barnett, Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson.

During his time in the US, Justin covered the 2008 Presidential election, capturing the rise of Illinois Senator Barack Obama to become the nation’s first black President. He continues to analyse the American political, social, and economic landscape, reporting on the dramatic events on Capitol Hill, Wall Street, and Main Street. Justin became a senior member of the White House press corps and was the first British journalist to conduct a full television interview with President Obama.

Before his Washington assignment, Justin served as the BBC’s European Correspondent in Brussels. He has reported on elections in Australia, a coup in the Maldives, the final days of the Soviet Union, and Mafia trials in Italy. In addition to his international roles, he has anchored Breakfast News and The World Tonight.

Justin now spends his mornings interrogating British politicians and newsmakers the agenda-setting Today programme. He also co-hosts the popular Americast podcast and radio show, offering both serious and irreverent perspectives on US events. As a conference chair and awards host, Justin is known for his assured presence and engaging speaking style, covering topics from Brexit to Trump. In his after-dinner speeches, he delves into the realities of America and Americans, drawing from his books Have A Nice Day and Notes on Them and Us, and illustrating the differences in interviewing styles between ‘Old’ and ‘New World’ journalists. He has also published a memoir of the 1970s, The Gift of a Radio, which the Sunday Times described as ‘fascinating and hugely entertaining.’

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Justin'S

Testimonials

His contribution was invaluable

KPMG

Fantastic - chaired the virtual event with thoughtful questioning and commentary throughout the morning, as well as keeping it perfectly to time, which was quite a feat given how much we had crammed in!

SMMT

Funny and topical and quite a few people had said they would love to see him again. The feedback was brilliant.

Hills Balfour

Terrific - his insights, stage presence and humour made a memorable experience for everybody.

Arup Group

Books

Notes on Them and Us: From the Mayflower to Obama – the British, the Americans and the special essential relationship.: From the Mayflower to Obama - The ... and the Special Essential Relationship

An amusing, myth-breaking, unflinchingly honest read, this is not an attack on either the English or the Americans. Webb concludes there is a fault line in the marriage between these two great nations, a cultural divide that separates us. And he argues that recognising this divide, even celebrating it, is the key to a rich future collaboration.

Cheers, America: How An Englishman Learned To Love America

An editor at BBC-TV takes a witty and honest look at the “special” relationship between the US and the UK. IMAGINE INVITING A BRIT TO A BARBECUE – THAT’S THIS BOOK. Justin Webb was the BBC’s man in America. He covered politics and interviewed presidents, but more importantly he reported, as Alistair Cooke once did, on the rich tapestry of American life. This is his toast to a country he called home for the best part of a decade. Webb’s America is a place of possibility and promise. He is scornful of those who think the nation is in decline, and posits an exciting new diplomatic era in which America diversifies its international relationships. Cheers, America will make you smile. Its wry and heartfelt observations provide a redeeming vision of our country at a time when it is redefining its identity.

The Gift of a Radio: My Childhood and other Train Wrecks

Justin Webb’s childhood in the 1970s was far from ordinary. Between his mother’s un-diagnosed psychological problems, and his step-father’s untreated ones, life at home was dysfunctional at best. But with gun-wielding school masters and sub-standard living conditions, Quaker boarding school wasn’t much better. Candid, unsparing and darkly funny, Justin Webb’s memoir is as much a portrait of a troubled era as it is the story of a dysfunctional childhood, shaping the urbane and successful radio presenter we know and love now.

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