Krishnan Guru-Murthy

Guru-Murthy's father, a consultant radiologist, worked in Blackburn and Burnley; the family lived in West Bradford, Lancashire, before moving to a 'gothic folly' with four acres of land in a village outside Burnley.[3][4] Guru-Murthy was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Blackburn, which was independent at the time but is now a Free School, followed by Hertford College at the University of Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Guru-Murthy's career began in 1988 on BBC2's DEF II discussion programme Open to Question and the youth current affairs programme Reportage. While at Oxford University he presented BBC2's Asian current affairs programmes East and Network East and took over presenting and reporting for the BBC's children's news programme Newsround from 1991 to 1994.

He then spent three years as a producer and reporter for BBC2's Newsnight and in 1997 became one of the launch presenters of the BBC's new rolling news channel BBC News 24, in the 12-4 pm slot. During his ten years at the BBC he also presented the news on BBC World, took part in various special events, such as the 1997 general election programme and the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and co-presented The National Lottery Live on Saturday nights on BBC1.

He joined Channel 4 News in 1998, aged 28, and is the second longest serving presenter after Jon Snow. Between 2003 and 2009 he was also the main presenter of Channel 4 News at Noon. He has reported and presented from around the world covering many disasters, conflicts and political movements, such as the Arab Spring in Egypt. He received nominations for the News Presenter of the Year Award in the Royal Television Society Journalism Awards in 2010 and 2014.

For Channel 4, Guru-Murthy presented The Operation: Surgery Live, which featured live heart, brain and abdominal surgery and he hosted The Event – How Racist are You?, The Autopsy and The Exorcism. He also appeared in a comic documentary about the band Gorillaz, entitled Gorillaz: Charts of Darkness.[5]

Guru-Murthy presented his own weekly radio programme on LBC 97.3 from 2003–2005, hosted UK Leaders Live, in which he interviewed the three main party leaders in the 2005 UK general election, and has appeared on BBC Radio 4 as a broadcaster and commentator, presenting the series Hindu Lives in 2005.

He has appeared as a guest on the comedy news show The News Quiz on Radio 4 and has had cameo appearances in several productions and one movie, including regular appearances in Bremner, Bird and Fortune, and Shaun Of the Dead. Guru-Murthy also hosted the Channel 4 quiz show Number One and two series of Going Cold Turkey. Going Cold Turkey featured drug addicts enduring withdrawal, live on television, as part of their attempts to stop using drugs. He used to write a weekly column in the Metro newspaper and the Asian newspaper Eastern Eye.

He presented The TV Show on Channel 4, a discussion programme about television. In the month before the 2010 General Election, Guru-Murthy moderated the first debate featuring the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his counterparts, in a special programme called Ask the Chancellors. He also hosted How to save £100 Billion – Live the night before the new government's Emergency Budget.

In February 2010, Guru-Murthy interviewed the former Labour MP Jim Devine at length about his expenses in which the politician admitted "moving money around". The interview became key evidence in court when Devine was prosecuted for fraud and sentenced to sixteen months in jail.[6]

In 2011, Channel 4 announced that Guru-Murthy would become an "ambassador" for its foreign affairs programme Unreported World, which involved him reporting some documentaries and introducing others from the news studio. His first film was from South Africa called Trouble in the Townships. He has since made Unreported World documentaries in Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, India, America and Cambodia.[7]

In January 2013, Guru-Murthy interviewed Quentin Tarantino, who was promoting his latest film, Django Unchained. When he asked Tarantino his opinion on whether there is a link between film violence and real-life violence, Tarantino refused to answer even after Guru-Murthy kept reverting around to the point, and stated that his views on the matter was well-documented. A few of Tarantinos responses include, "I'm not doing this, I'm not taking the bait", "I refuse your question. I'm not your slave and you're not my master. You can't make me dance to your tune. I'm not a monkey," "It's none of your damn business what I think about that!" and "I'm shutting your butt down." [8]

In October 2014, Guru-Murthy interviewed the writer, actor and director Richard Ayoade. During the interview in which Ayoade became increasingly blunt, his co-presenter Jon Snow was reduced to fits of laughter off-screen, with Guru-Murthy later calling it "the perfect joke interview".[9]

In April 2015, he interviewed Robert Downey Jr., who was promoting Avengers: Age of Ultron, where the interview started off normally until Guru-Murphy asked deeply personal questions about Downey's upbringing. After what appear to be several subtle looks from Downey that the interview is becoming uncomfortable, he interrupts a stuttering Guru-Murthy with "Your foot's starting to jump a little bit. You'd better get to your next question." Guru-Murthy then asks Downey if his relationship with his father, drug use, and alcoholism had anything to do with his career, to which Downey replies, "I'm sorry...What are we doing here?" A moment later Downey is signaled by his agent that it is okay to leave, and gets up. Guru-Murthy attempts to reconcile the situation in a final effort, to which Downey chirps, "it's just getting a little Diane Sawyer in here, and you're a bit of a schmuck". The interview has been watched several million times on YouTube.[10] Guru-Murthy, in an account published in The Guardian newspaper, stated that the question areas had been discussed in advance with Downey's public relations man, and that he should have said in response to Downey's question "are we promoting a movie?" that "you are, but I'm not". He also went on to say that Channel 4 News does not do promotional interviews and "if a movie star has no interest in engaging, maybe don't offer them up to the news. Find one of the cast who does."[11]

Guru-Murthy has appeared as himself in a number of movies and TV dramas including Shaun of the Dead and Dead Set.[12]

He has also been Channel 4's commentator on events such as the opening and closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Paralympics,[13] the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi and the reburial of Richard III in Leicester in 2015.[14]

Guru-Murthy is Patron of the Duchenne Children's Trust and founded the Duchenne Dash in 2013, a London to Paris cycle ride in twenty four hours. The ride is done by various media executives and news presenters and in three years has raised over one million pounds.[15][16]

Guru-Murthy is married with two children.[17] His sister, Geeta Guru-Murthy, is a news presenter and journalist with BBC News and his brother Ravi Guru-Murthy is a Chief Innovation Officer of the International Rescue Committee.[18]

Guru-Murthy has played in a rock band with Peter Barron, the former editor of Newsnight and Tim Hincks, the chief creative officer of Endemol UK.[19]

Guru-Murthy suffers from Crohn's disease.[20]

• Krishnan Guru-Murthy on IMDb