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Hugh Pym
Hugh Pym
Born	Hugh Ruthven Pym; 18 October 1959 (age 65); Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England
Nationality	British
Education	Cothill House; Marlborough College
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford (BA)
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	1986–present
Employer	BBC
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Title	Health editor of BBC News
Spouse	Susan Neill
Children	3

Hugh Ruthven Pym (born 18 October 1959) is a British journalist and author. A financial and political journalist by origin, he currently works for BBC News as its health editor.

Early life and education

Hugh Ruthven Pym was born on 18 October 1959 in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. He was educated at Marlborough College, a private school in Wiltshire. He went on to read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Christ Church, Oxford. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1981. He undertook post-graduate study in Broadcast Journalism at Falmouth College and gained a Certificate in Journalism Cert.Jour

His great-grandfather was Walter Pym, a bishop, and his great-uncle was Leslie Ruthven Pym, a Conservative MP, whose son was Francis Pym, Baron Pym, who was notably Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs during the Falklands War. His grandfather was Leslie's brother Thomas Wentworth Pym, a vicar. His mother was a member of the Clark family (who own Clarks Shoes, with Hugh being a minor shareholder).^[2]

Career

Pym began his career in radio at Viking Radio in Hull, and was a BBC Radio journalist from 1986 to 1987. He was the producer of Business Daily at Channel 4 from 1987 to 1988, a correspondent with ITN from 1988 to 1998,^[3] and a freelance broadcaster with Sky Television from 1999 to 2000. He rejoined the BBC in 2001 after a spell of work at Sky News.^[3] He was a BBC special correspondent covering economics until 2008, when he took on the role of acting economics editor during the maternity leave of Stephanie Flanders. Following her return, he became the BBC's chief economics correspondent, a newly created role. When she left the BBC in late 2013 he took over again as acting editor. In March 2014 he was appointed as health editor.^[3]

Pym has published What Happened? And Other Questions About the Credit Crunch, a book co-written with Nick Kochan, and a study of Gordon Brown's first year in the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, also co-written with Kochan. His latest book is Inside the Banking Crisis (published by Bloomsbury in 2014).^[3]

Pym was the recipient of the 2020 British Journalism Review Charles Wheeler award in recognition of his coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was bestowed upon him in a ceremony on 16 November, when a keynote speech was delivered by Sir Peter Bazalgette.^[3] On 8 December, Pym tweeted that the second person to get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was a man named William Shakespeare from Warwickshire. The tweet went viral due to the man's name and home county being the same as that of the renowned playwright William Shakespeare.^[4]

Parliamentary candidacy

In the 2001 general election Pym stood as the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate in the North Wiltshire constituency. He achieved 20,212 votes but lost to the Conservative James Gray.

General election 2001: North Wiltshire^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Gray	24,090	45.5	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Hugh Pym	20,212	38.2	+0.4
	Labour	Joanne Garton	7,556	14.3	+0.1
	UKIP	Neil Dowdney	1,090	2.1	+1.4
Majority			3,878	7.3	+1.3
Turnout			52,948	67.3	−7.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.7

Personal life

Pym is married to Dumbarton-born Susan Neill.^[6] He has three children – two sons and one daughter – and is an Elder in the Church of Scotland.^[7] Hugh is also a keen fan of the Scotland rugby team.

Publications

The Guinness Affair: Anatomy of a Scandal (London, Christopher Helm Publishers, 1987, ISBN 978-0-7470-2605-1), with Nick Kochan
Unit and Investment Trusts (Allied Dunbar Money Guides) (London, Sweet & Maxwell, 1988, ISBN 978-0-85121-383-5)
Gordon Brown: The First Year in Power (London, Bloomsbury, 1998, ISBN 978-0-7475-3701-4), with Nick Kochan
Inside the Banking Crisis (London, Bloomsbury, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4729-0-2870)

References

^ "Reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic". Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. 16 December 2020. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
^ Donnellan, Aimee (17 July 2016). "City's Mrs Brexit sees a buying opportunity in the vote to leave". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Hugh Pym wins 2020 British Journalism Review Charles Wheeler Award". University of Westminster. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
^ "'Taming of the Flu': Twitter Channels Inner Bard as 'William Shakespeare' Becomes Second to Get Pfizer Jab". news18. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "All gowned up and somewhere to go". The Dumbarton Democrat. 7 July 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
^ Scotland, The Church of (14 May 2020). "Watch a special edition of Heart and Soul streamed online". The Church of Scotland. Retrieved 14 June 2024.

External links

Profile at BBC News
Hugh Pym at IMDb

Media offices
Preceded by Stephanie Flanders	Acting Economics Editor: BBC News 2013–2014	Succeeded by Robert Peston
New title	Health Editor: BBC News 2014–present	Incumbent