Jeremy Paxman (born May 11, 1950 in Leeds, Yorkshire) is a BBC journalist and news reader whose career has diversified into the presentation of a number of other programmes, including the quiz programme, University Challenge. He is well-known for his abrasive and forthright manner on the BBC's Newsnight programme.
Famously, on one occasion, in an attempt to adduce a truthful answer, he put the same question fourteen times to the then Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard, relating to the sacking of the Head of the Prison Service following a well-publicised jail-break. Howard evaded the question each time and never gave a straight answer.
Paxman is a well-known public figure, nicknamed "Paxo", which is both a contraction of his surname and the name of a popular British stuffing mix.
Paxman became a focus of media attention in his own right in October 2000 when the stolen Enigma machine which had been taken from Bletchley Park Museum was inexplicably returned to him.
He is the author of a study of the English nation entitled The English: A Portrait of a People which was first published in 1998 to considerable critical acclaim, and also co-authored with Robert Harris A Higher Form of Killing.
