Huw Edwards : The Welsh wizard who earned a fortune.

Huw Edwards was one of the most respected broadcasters at the BBC in a career at the corporation spanning nearly 30 years. Between 1994 and 2003 he presented the Six O’Clock News in a period when it was the most-watched news programme in the country. Among the elders of the country, he was seen as a calm, measured and credible voice at the microphone. He certainly earned a fortune with his skill. 

One of the biggest earning news presenters in the land. 

The presenter earned more than £ 435,000 a year, making him one of the highest-paid news presenters in the land. He commentated on the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth and the coronation of King Charles and received a bonus for this.

A Welsh childhood.

Edwards, born in Bridgend in Wales comes from an academic background and grew to speak Welsh in Llangennech, near Llanelli. His father Hywel Teifi Edwards was an academic and professor of Welsh language literature at University College Swansea.

Edwards earned an honours degree at University College Cardiff and was working on a post-graduate thesis on mediaeval French at Cardiff University when he started broadcasting on local radio ahead of joining the BBC as an elite news trainee in 1984.

Humphries and Edwards – the Taffia!

At the peak of his powers, journalists used to call Edwards and fellow Welshman John Humphries the “Taffia” for their domination of the presentation of the BBC’s top programmes.

Vicki Flind, the wife who named him,  and Edwards live in Dulwich in South London and have five children. Reports say Edwards has been suffering from depression since 2002. A condition he was very candid about.

“I couldn’t get out of bed”

“Things that you usually enjoy, you dread. You come into work and obviously, you do a professional job, but you’re kind of pushing your way through it,” he told the BBC in an interview last year..

“And, of course, if it’s very bad – as it has been a few times over the course of 20 years – you can’t work. During the worst one I had, I couldn’t get out of bed.”

Edwards – a devout man.

Edwards is a churchgoer and will need his faith in the difficult days ahead.

Whatever happens, it is highly likely that one of the most illustrious careers in British broadcasting history, and the huge pay packet that goes with it – is over.