Nicola Beckford
Back to client list »Nicola Beckford is an award-winning BBC Journalist. She presents the regional television news programme, ‘Midlands Today’ on BBC One during BBC Breakfast and at lunch time.
Her career includes presenting Woman’s Hour, You & Yours and Pick of the Week on BBC Radio 4. She has also presented Midlands Today’s evening news programme and BBC television news bulletins in Bristol and Cambridge. Prior to her presenting career, Nicola reported for the BBC’s One and Six o’clock news, Radio 4’s Today Programme and Radio 5 Live. Nicola was one of the first BBC journalists in the UK to discover the power of the Freedom of Information Act to uncover stories. Her commitment to journalism has influenced the Government to make changes in UK law. In 2012 Nicola revealed on BBC Radio 4’s The World at One, how hundreds of children were being detained in police cells because of a shortage of mental health hospital beds. This story led to a change to the Mental Health Act.
Reporting for the BBC Six o’clock news, Nicola also uncovered how hundreds of hospital patients in England were victims of life changing “never events”, preventable errors considered so serious the NHS says they should never happen. As a result, she was invited to speak at conferences in the UK and internationally including at the Health and Safety Executive, the Foreign Office and at the Scottish Parliament.
Nicola is also an accomplished conference and awards host and excellent communicator, as a result of her working for more than twenty years in broadcasting. Her highlights include hosting the Interchange Conference and interviewing retail expert Mary Portas on her “Work Like a Woman” book tour. Prior to embarking on her broadcast career, Nicola worked as a secondary school teacher in inner city schools in her home city of Birmingham, where she was determined to encourage her students to fulfil their potential. Nicola’s research and presentation skills, honed as a journalist on some of the country’s most respected news programmes, makes her an ideal choice for a variety of corporate events.
Nicola Beckford is available for conference facilitation, awards hosting, panel debates, interviewing and voice overs.
Twitter: @NicolaBeckford
Gallery photo credit: DENISE MAXWELL OF LENSI PHOTOGRAPHY
It was a pleasure working with you – thank you so much! You really brought the whole Awards alive and the feedback has been absolutely amazing! Look forward to working with you again.
Nicola was very professional while keeping a real personal human touch too. She was very kind and engaging with all delegates taking the time to speak to everyone who wanted to speak to her, and she was a fantastic host, adapting to some of the changes that occurred during the day with ease. We would definitely recommend Nicola.
Nicola did an outstanding job! The event was a big success and Nicola was fantastic!
Nicola was an amazing host with such grace and poise… It was a pleasure to work with her as she hosted the event well and moved things along in a timely fashion and bought a fresh and uplifting approach to the event. She is a consummate professional, very thorough and we were grateful to have her as the host for the inaugural Global View Dinner.
Not only was your speech perfect, but inspirational too, and touched us all.
Nicola was terrific to work with: ahead of the event she was keen to understand how best to prepare by gaining full appreciation of the values of the school and nature of the event. She spoke with fluency and humour, conveying great personal warmth…when meeting guests she was easy to work with at all points and left a very positive impression on all who met her on the day, tuning into the event skillfully and with great professionalism. She was inspirational.
Just wanted to formally write and say a huge THANK YOU for agreeing to host our Community Spirit event at Symphony Hall in Birmingham on Sunday!
You were outstanding and really added another layer of quality to what has become an amazing event for Black Voices and B:Music.
