James Coomarasamy

James Coomarasamy is a British presenter on BBC World Service programme Newshour.

Before joining Newshour in 2010, Coomarasamy spent a year presenting the now defunct strand Europe Today. Prior to moving behind the microphone he had been a BBC correspondent in Warsaw, followed by Paris then Washington, D.C. before returning to Europe.

Early life

Coomarasamy was born in London to parents of English and Sri Lankan ancestry.

Education

Coomarasamy was educated at Christ's Hospital School, an independent school for boys (now co-educational), near Horsham, West Sussex, followed by the University of Cambridge, where he studied Modern and Medieval Languages. He is fluent in French, and speaks some Russian and Polish.

Career

Coomarasamy's career at the BBC is as follows:

• 1991 hired as production assistant in the BBC Moscow bureau, after which he freelanced in Moscow as a reporter / producer.
• Later on assigned as a producer for the BBC World in London.
• December 1994 he returned to Moscow as the bureau’s bi-media producer covering major stories like the war in Chechnya.
• November 1997 he moved to Warsaw to work as the local BBC correspondent covering events in Poland, the Baltics and Ukraine.
• From 1999 to 2003, Coomarasamy was the BBC’s Paris Reporter, covering news in the region for both radio and television outlets.
• From February 2005, he was the BBC's correspondent in Washington D.C., reporting on news stories from across the United States and North America.
• In 2009 Coomarasamy presented Europe Today for the BBC World Service.
• In 2010 Coomarasamy joined the presentation team for Newshour on the BBC World Service.

Family

Coomarasamy is married to Nanette, with whom he has two children: a son, Finn, and a daughter, Maya.

References

• BBC TV news profile