Entertainment

Chris Mason credits Yorkshire Dales as having ‘massive influence’ on his career

The 41-year-old is taking over from Laura Kuenssberg next month.
The 41-year-old is taking over from Laura Kuenssberg next month.

Chris Mason is stepping into one of the most prolific roles as political editor at BBC News leading coverage at a critical time for the Prime Minister who is facing a leadership crisis.

Mason, 41, is taking over from Laura Kuenssberg in May, who will be at the helm of the BBC’s Sunday morning politics show, replacing Andrew Marr.

Growing up in the Yorkshire Dales, Mason has previously spoken about how they had a “massive influence” on him, giving him a sense of “belonging and identity”.

Chris Mason
Chris Mason has been promoted (BBC/PA)

This year he competed on Celebrity Mastermind where his specialist subject was the Yorkshire Dales, finishing second to comedian Rufus Hound.

He told BBC Radio 4: “I still subscribe to the local paper, the Craven Herald and Pioneer.

“It drops proudly onto my doormat in south east London every week.

“It’s the perfect thing to kick back with, in the company of a cuppa, when I get home after Any Questions at the weekend.”

Mason has presented the BBC Radio 4 programme Any Questions? since 2019. The radio show hosts a panel of personalities from the world of politics and media who are posed questions from the audience.

Mason has previously said that apart from a “brief flirtation” with wanting to be a bus driver, he “only ever wanted to be a reporter”.

“I was obsessed by radio, TV news and newspapers,” he said.

He went to Ermysted’s Grammar School in Skipton, before enrolling at Christ’s College to study geography at the University of Cambridge while “mucking about on student radio, telly and newspapers” in his spare time.

Mason began working at ITN as a trainee the week after the 9/11 terror attack in the US and he has previously said Trevor McDonald’s News At Ten was a “massive influence” on him.

He later moved to BBC Radio Newcastle as a reporter, before becoming a political correspondent for the corporation in 2012.

In that time, he has reported from Westminster across TV, radio and online.