James O'Brien (LBC)
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James O'Brien is a radio presenter and journalist in London, England. He is currently one of the presenters on LBC 97.3, a local London radio talk station, presenting the Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. slot with phone-in discussion of current affairs, news, views and real-life experiences.
Like American host Al Franken, O'Brien uses humour, bombast, knowledge and strong opinions to pursue an essentially liberal agenda, defending sections of society such as immigrants, single mothers and the travelling community. One past programme was recorded at an Essex travellers' site in 2005, and, the following year he promised an anti-paedophile campaigner that he would personally pay the £700 needed to reconnect the phones of her cash-strapped charity.
After a grounding in national newspaper journalism, culminating in a stint as show business editor of the Daily Express where he secured rare interviews with the likes of Eminem, David Beckham and John Travolta, O'Brien was drawn to the broadcast media. His first two engagements as a broadcaster were presenting BBC Radio Five Live's political eviction show 'The Magnificent Seven' and co-presenting Channel Five's current affairs talk show 'The Wright Stuff', respectively earning a Sony Bronze Award and a Royal Television Society Award nomination. Subsequently, he presented an eponymous late night chat show for regional ITV as well as fronting an array of documentaries and discussion programmes for most national broadcasters.
With his journalist wife Lucy McDonald, he fronted Channel Five's 2001 general election talk show, securing rave reviews from the likes of Clive James, who wrote: "James in particular is a pink-shirted walking encyclopedia of political savvy". His forthright opinions are now regularly sought by broadcasters including Sky, NBC, ABC Australia, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
His writing has been published in The Spectator, Cosmopolitan, the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian and elsewhere.
O'Brien was adopted, brought up in Kidderminster and went to public school. In 2006, James and Lucy O'Brien's first child, Elizabeth Rose, was born.
