Sir Trevor McDonald is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN. McDonald was knighted in 1999 for his services to journalism.
Career
Early career
Trevor McDonald was born on 16 August 1939 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago to Josephine and Lawson McDonald. McDonald is of Dougla heritage, his mother being of African descent and his father being of Indian descent.After working as a print and broadcast journalist in Trinidad during the 1960s, in 1969, McDonald was employed by BBC Radio as a producer, based in London but still broadcasting to the Caribbean. In 1973, he began his long association with Independent Television News, first as a general reporter, later as a sports correspondent, but ultimately concentrating on international politics. In the 1980s, he spent some time with the ITN-produced Channel 4 News, but returned to ITV in 1989, presenting the early-evening news.
''News at Ten''
McDonald was promoted in 1992 as the sole presenter of News at Ten and became a well-known face on British television screens. McDonald stayed with ITN when News at Ten was axed in 1999, moving to present the new ITV Evening News. News at Ten was briefly relaunched on 22 January 2001, to which McDonald returned as a presenter. He presented the ITV News at 10.30 following News at Tens second axing.
''Tonight''
From 1999 to 2007, McDonald hosted ITV's flagship current affairs programme Tonight with Trevor McDonald. The show was revived in 2010 with presenter Julie Etchingham.
First retirement
McDonald presented his last ITV News bulletin on 15 December 2005. The veteran newsreader stepped down from his role as anchor after more than 30 years at ITN, but said he had no plans to retire completely from television. At the end of the final programme, he signed off with the words: Over the closing titles of the last bulletin that McDonald presented, the November 1992 to March 1999 ITV News at Ten theme was played as a tribute to him.
Return to ''News at Ten''
On 31 October 2007, ITV announced that, early in 2008, McDonald would come out of retirement to present the relaunched News at Ten together with Julie Etchingham.
Second retirement
It was announced on 30 October 2008 that McDonald would step down from News at Ten once the 2008 US presidential election was over, to be replaced by Mark Austin. His last bulletin was on 20 November 2008. It was reported at the time that he would continue to present links for The Tonight Programme.
Documentaries
In 2009, McDonald travelled to the Caribbean and hosted the series The Secret Caribbean with Trevor McDonald. Three parts ITV.
In 2011, McDonald travelled around the Mediterranean and hosted the series The Secret Mediterranean with Trevor McDonald. Four parts.ITV
In 2012, McDonald travelled along the route of the Mississippi River and hosted the series The Mighty Mississippi with Trevor McDonald. Three parts.
In 2013, McDonald visited death row inmates in Indiana and hosted the series Inside Death Row. Two parts.
In early 2015, McDonald travelled to New York City and hosted the 2 part series The Mafia with Trevor McDonald.
In late 2015, McDonald presented Las Vegas with Trevor McDonald, a two-part series for ITV.
In September 2016, McDonald presented a two-part series called Inside Scotland Yard With Trevor McDonald for ITV.
In February 2017, McDonald presented two-part documentary Mafia Women with Trevor McDonald for ITV.
In late 2017, McDonald presented a documentary called An Hour to Catch a Killer for ITV.
In February 2018, McDonald presented Death Row 2018 with Trevor McDonald for ITV.
In February 2018, McDonald presented ' for ITV.
In September 2018, McDonald presented To Catch a Serial Killer with Trevor McDonald for ITV.
In February 2019, McDonald presented ' for ITV.
Other work and media appearances
McDonald presented the TV series Undercover Customs which created reconstructions of major HM Customs and Excise investigations in the UK.
On 21 April 2006, McDonald presented an episode of Have I Got News for You; he delivered a number of autocue jokes, some of which were extremely, in his usual somber newscaster manner, the juxtaposition of which prompted team captain Paul Merton, who usually maintains a straight face on the show, to laugh heartily in disbelief on numerous occasions. It was McDonald's first appearance in any capacity on the show since 1992.
McDonald has worked as an editor of poetry anthologies, and his autobiography Fortunate Circumstances was published in 1993.
Lenny Henry's comic character Trevor McDoughnut is a parody of McDonald. McDonald once surprised Henry during a performance of "McDoughnut" on Tiswas by walking into the studio to sit with Henry. McDonald returned to Tiswas on two further occasions. First, a number of weeks after his original surprise appearance, he cropped up during a spoof edition of This Is Your Life to "reminisce" with Lenny Henry about the earlier event. The other appearance occurred during the Tiswas Reunited show where McDonald joined Lenny on the sofa once again to look back at the old clips and comment on Henry's impersonation.
McDonald performed live in Hyde Park in summer 1996 with the Who, as the newsreader in the group's staging of their Quadrophenia.
In June 2007, McDonald hosted the new ITV version of This Is Your Life, Simon Cowell being the programme's "victim".
