Once upon a time a 14 year old school boy from Larne got in touch with me asking if he could come into the Ask Anne office to learn his trade.
Wind on 30 years and Thomas Magill has a CV to envy. He worked for BBC radio Essex, has been editor of fashion and theatre magazines, is currently a senior television reporter with BBC TV London and often to be seen on the main channel at weekends and that’s only a snapshot of his media work.
Obviously visiting Ulster Television studios made an impression on the teenager who went home knowing that some day this would be his world. From St. Comgalls Comprehensive he ended up in Larne Grammar then to London South Bank university and a degree in town planning and spent the next 12 years with Westminster City Council where his patch was Oxford Street and Soho and then into the private sector with one of UK’s biggest building contractors.
“But the bubble burst and they closed the planning department down. At 32 I went from a very substantial wage, a flat in central London and a company car to being unemployed. So in 2009 I took my redundancy money, went back to school and gained a degree in journalism and began looking for work.”
He found it with BBC Radio Essex where he began at the bottom of the ladder to contributing regular packages.
“I was working with Allison Hodgkins Brown and she taught me my craft. One of my first assignments was in a field reporting on a local greenbelt – Alison told me it was unbroadcastable, worst moment of my life!” But she saw promise in the young man and took him back to the spot next day and explained that the piece was dead, there was no atmosphere. “Don’t walk on soft grass she said, we want to hear your feet walk through the fields, we want to hear that creaking gate and so I was able to build up a piece with a sound background”.
It reminds me of a director in Ulster Television who would insist on ‘bird twit and atmos’ in all his outside recordings!
A career with many highlights.
He got an exclusive in October 2011. “I was told – you’re Irish go and get the story.” It was the eviction of 80 Traveller families from Dale Farm, the largest such site in Europe. “Although hundreds of press were at the front gate waiting for the fireworks, I decided to go to the other end of the site where the bailiffs were gathering with police in riot gear and gas masks.” As they swept in dismantling trailers. smashing the holy shrines in the vans and chasing the people. He followed them in, running alongside describing the scene as he went, his report so impressed his bosses that they immediately gave him a permanent BBC contract.
He also remembers the tragedy in Harlow Essex in which six members of one family were burned to death in an arson attack on their home.
Dr Abdul Shakoor lost his wife and five children in the summer of 2022. Thomas reported from the funeral and outside the Harlow Islamic Centre as he watched the five little white coffins carrying the children he broke down. “I was unable to give a commentary without showing emotion.” It’s this empathy which endears him to his public.
Thomas moved from radio to television and this year has brought high profile reporting. “It’s been an historic year, first the Jubilee celebrations, then covering the Queen’s funeral live from the steps of St. Pauls and then the Coronation which was huge, an honour having a ring side seat, I was on the Mall and then outside Buckingham Palace, it’s the best job in the world.” But it doesn’t always go according to plan.
“On Thursday before the coronation, live from our Buckingham Palace studio, I was giving the build up to the procession and going through the route with graphics.
“All was going well but when I got to the third point on the graphics I realised I’d left my notes beside the camera, I thought, sugar, how am I going to get through another 14 points without them so I smiled at the viewers and said, sorry I have to get my notes and bent over to pick them up – thank goodness I’m not bald!”
He has built a personality which viewers love, his style has been called quirky although his sister prefers ‘geek chic’, his distinctive owlish spectacles and his specialist ties which have become a fashion statement however he’s conscious they must never be a distraction. “Balance is so important especially, for instance, when covering stories within the LGBT+ community, being aware not to promote yet recognising that they are under represented, it’s all about telling the story fairly and without prejudice.”
Special interviewee?
“Kylie Minogue when she received an honorary degree in recognition of her work promoting breast cancer awareness. it was a serious interview rather than show biz and they say never meet your idol but this was an exception she was sweet and my favourite – but then I’ve yet to meet Madonna!”
His most disappointing interviewee was Liam Neeson. “We talked about Carnlough where I told him my mum and dad had met at Smith’s dance hall, it was a great and warm interview but when I asked could I get a photo for the BBC records he barked ‘that’s not allowed’ and stormed off.”
It makes him laugh looking back to the start of his career and being told ‘you’ll never get to read the news with that accident’. Well, he proved them well and truly wrong. As a car picks him up at 3 a.m. to travel to BBC London TV studios for the early news bulletin, he can sit back and think how far that 14 year old boy has come. I feel a sense of pride that his visit to Ulster Television set him on his way.
Regardless of what is going on in the rest of the world, the focus is on these two television reporters and their fall-out. I don’t ever watch morning tv but it’s hard to avoid the clips that appear on Face Book and I found them so irritating, they seemed to just giggle all the time rather like presenters on 5 Live in the early morning. Not only that, they seem to be having their own party and talk over each other and have in jokes. I like light hearted moments but I also like to hear what’d being said.
A TREE OF CHARACTER
Who on earth is advising Prince Harry? He was mislaid into demanding the photos and videos from the newspapers who were responsible for chasing him and his wife through the streets of New York. It was pointed out that no one, not even the king let alone his son, can demand in the US of A. The hole he’s digging gets ever deeper.
Today, millions of products – cars, washing machines, smartphones, and more – rely on computer chips, also known as semiconductors.
This report is very concerning. Just look around your room or where ever you are just now and consider how many chip reliant items you can see. I see my laptop, my mobile phone, my house phone, my iPlayer, Alexa , the cooker, the microwave. The clock. That’s just a cursory look round one room. All these things require ‘chips’ to work. And what about my precious car? It’s just full of chips. What about hospitals, major companies, supermarkets and the hospitality industry. It goes on and on. The report continues:
Right now, there just aren’t enough of them to meet industry demand. As a result, many popular products are in short supply
The bottom line is: the pandemic accelerated an already precarious situation for chip makers – we’re in the middle of a tech boom, supply can’t quite keep up – and it won’t get sorted out overnight.
When everything seems to be negative, an invitation to a 90th birthday party brings positivity and joy. Yesterday afternoon I joined a family for their celebrations. Children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, neighbours and friends all met and gave this surprise party to a beautiful lady who is kindness itself. Through the years she has been close to my family, a special friend to my late parents and then of mine. The love in that home and in the garden and the wonderful barbecue and birthday cake was a tonic. Thank you Josie for being a lady of such beauty and replacing a negative world with positivity and fun.
