Sir Martyn John Dudley Lewis is a Welsh television news presenter and journalist. He was a presenter for various BBC News programmes between 1986 and 1999 and was known for his involvement in the coverage of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. He is also active in the charity sector and is the Founder & Executive Chairman of YourBigDay Ltd.
He was a news presenter and reporter on HTV and ITN, before joining the BBC in October 1986 to present BBC News bulletins until the major relaunch of all output in 1999–2000. Lewis became the first presenter of the One O'Clock News on BBC One on 27 October 1986 when it was launched as part of the introduction of the channel's daytime schedule, replacing News After Noon. Subsequently, he presented other bulletins including the Six O'Clock News and Nine O'Clock News. He created a modicum of controversy in 1993 when he claimed that television should feature more "good news". He subsequently stated that he had been misunderstood on the matter. Lewis played a prominent role in the announcement of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on Sunday 31 August 1997. He was called into the BBC in the early hours of that morning to present short national bulletins during a late night viewing of Borsalino about the car accident in Paris. He returned home afterwards to get some sleep – expecting the Princess to pull through – only to be drafted in again in time for the special 6am bulletin covering Diana's death. During the marathon coverage which was simulcast on BBC1, BBC World as well as broadcasters around the world which took in the BBC news feed, Lewis was almost brought to tears following Tony Blair's "People's Princess" statement. His uninterrupted presenting stint ended mid-afternoon when Peter Sissons took over. On 26 April 1999, a few weeks before the BBC relaunched its news programmes, he presented the Six O'Clock news bulletin with Jennie Bond on the day his co-host Jill Dando was murdered outside her home in West London. He also appeared on rival ITN that evening to pay tribute to his dead colleague. He presented his last bulletin at the start of May 1999 from Edinburgh, reporting on Scottish devolution, signing off with, "And from me, it's goodbye."
Other television
As part of the celebrations for ITN's 50th anniversary, he returned to television news to present a special edition of the ITV Evening News with Mary Nightingale in September 2005. Lewis was the long-running host, from 1993, of the BBC news-based quiz show Today's the Day and the primetime BBC TV series . He retired from newsreading in 1999 and since then has presented occasional programmes on ITV including Dateline Jerusalem and Ultimate Questions. He played himself in brief cameo roles in several films, appearing as a newsreader in the 1999 James Bond filmThe World Is Not Enough, in The Bill and The Vicar of Dibley in 2000, and in archive footage featured in the 2006 film The Queen, as well as Argo, Senna and The James Bond Story. In 2008, he appeared in the video on board the Heathrow Express as a guide to the airport security. In 2013, he appeared as the presenter in television commercials for Calgon, acting out interviews with 'experts' in a series entitled "Smart Washing with Calgon".
Other business
Lewis was chairman and co-founder of Teliris, one of the first telepresence systems developed. He was actively involved in the marketing of this solution through personal contacts, speaking engagements and "Telepresence Times", his vlog launched in 2009. He retired as chairman in 2012. He is Founder & Executive Chairman of , which uses the ITN & Reuters archives to produce birthday & anniversary videos covering most of the last century.
Charity work
Lewis is a vice-president of Hospice UK, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Macmillan Cancer Support, East Anglia Children’s Hospices and Demelza Children’s Hospice. He is president of United Response, a charity supporting people with learning disabilities or mental health needs to live in the community, in England and in Wales. He founded the youth charity YouthNet in 1995, and stayed as chairman until stepping down in July 2014, though he remains an advisor. The charity provides advice, information and support through websites aimed at young people. From 2010 to 2016 he was chair of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, an umbrella body for charities in England and Wales with over 13,000 members. He is also chairman of the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. He was chairman of Families of the Fallen 2010–15; trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust 2001–10, and is currently deputy chair of the Lord Mayor of London's Dragon Awards. He is a patron of The Patchwork Foundation, the quarterly broadsheet Positive News, and Dementia UK. In September 2015, it was announced that Lewis had become the first ambassador of Pennies, a fintech charity that enables charitable micro-donations.
Personal life
He married Liz Carse in 1970. They met while working at HTV Wales in the late sixties – she as a continuity announcer, he as a reporter and presenter. Liz died in 2012 after a long battle with Huntington's Disease. Martyn and Liz have two daughters, Kate Lewis and singer-songwriter Sylvie Lewis. Martyn is now married to Patsy Baker who is Senior Group Adviser to the Huntsworth Group of public relations companies.
