Events archive
Sussex Festival of Ideas launch - BBC journalist Clive Myrie reflects on his career
To help launch the Sussex Festival of Ideas – a free, four-day festival celebrating the work of the newly-formed School of Media, Arts and Humanities – a distinguished Sussex alumnus, Clive Myrie, will deliver a keynote talk on why the arts and humanities matter and how his time at Sussex helped shape his career. Clive will reflect on his career as a BBC journalist and his current projects, including his new role as presenter of BBC TV quiz show 'Mastermind'.
A life in journalism
The distinguished BBC journalist Clive Myrie reflects on his career (which began when he was a student at Sussex) and his current projects, including his new role as presenter of 'Mastermind'. He’ll also discuss the value of media, arts and humanities education in journalism with Prof Ivor Gaber, Professor of Journalism in the School of Media, Arts and Humanities.
Clive studied Law at Sussex in the 1980s and was awarded an honorary degree in 2019.
His career has seen him report from more than 80 countries, covering wars in Croatia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the rise and fall of the Taliban. Clive has a particular interest in US politics and has covered four Presidential races, including Barack Obama’s victory in 2008 and his inauguration the following year. In 2013 he co-anchored coverage of Nelson Mandela’s funeral from South Africa.
He is a regular presenter across BBC News programmes including 'BBC News at Six' and 'BBC News at Ten'. In 2021 he was announced as the new host of BBC’s 'Mastermind' and won two Royal Television Society journalism awards – for network presenter of the year and television journalist of the year. Clive is also host of a Jazz FM documentary series called 'The Definitive History of Jazz In Britain', scheduled for broadcast from April to June 2021.
Sussex Festival of Ideas
Clive’s talk takes place on Wednesday 28 April at 4pm. Access it via the festival website.
The launch of the festival programme begins at 2pm with an exclusive introduction as the festival’s full programme goes live on its website; this will be led by Artistic Director Professor Mary Krell.
To complete the launch events there will be a special edition of the Media, Arts and Humanities podcast ‘On the Record’ featuring Sussex Chancellor Sanjeev Bhaskar, as final-year American Studies student Rosie Graham discovers the music he would choose for a road trip.