BBC royal and diplomatic correspondent
Nicholas Witchell became royal and diplomatic correspondent in 1998.
On 31 August 1997 Nicholas Witchell was the first journalist to broadcast the confirmed news of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and provided live radio commentary from outside Westminster Abbey at her funeral.
He first joined the BBC as a graduate news trainee in 1976 after completing a law degree at Leeds University.
Between 1979 and 1982 Nicholas was a BBC reporter in Northern Ireland, working on major stories such as the assassination of Earl Mountbatten and the IRA hunger strikes.
In 1982 he became a news reporter for television news where he covered the Falklands conflict.
He covered Margaret Thatcher's 1983 general election campaign for the BBC before returning to Belfast to become the BBC's Ireland Correspondent.
In September 1984 he was, with Sue Lawley, one of the founding presenters of BBC's Six O'Clock News.
From 1989 to 1994 he was the main presenter of the re-launched Breakfast News and frequently presented the programme live from the scene of major stories in Mosow, Berlin and South Africa.
In 1994 he returned to front line reporting for the BBC, for Panorama and then as a BBC diplomatic correspondent.
Nicholas has also been the BBC radio commentator at national or state occasions such as the Ceremony of Remembrance at the Cenotaph and was awarded a Radio Academy award in 2001 for his coverage of the event.