Portrait of Peter Horrocks

Birthday profile

Peter Horrocks

Peter Horrocks, English journalist and producer

Born
October 8, 1959
Age in 2026
67
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1959

About Peter Horrocks

Peter John Gibson Horrocks CBE (born 8 October 1959) is a broadcast executive and a former Vice-Chancellor (chief executive) of The Open University. He was educated at the independent King's College School in Wimbledon and at Christ's College, Cambridge. He was previously director of the BBC World Service Group. == BBC == Horrocks joined the BBC in October 1981 as a news trainee. He worked on Newsnight as an assistant producer and then producer. After time as a senior producer, intake editor and output editor on Breakfast Time, he became deputy editor of Panorama in 1988. Horrocks edited BBC television's coverage of the 1992 general election. He edited the coverage of the Budget, by-elections and local elections, as well as the 1994 European Election results and General Election results programmes in May 1997. In May 1992, Horrocks was appointed editor of BBC Two's social affairs programme, Public Eye, a position he held until he launched Here And Now, a current affairs magazine intended to capture high audience figures, in January 1994. He became editor of Newsnight in April 1994, and editor of Panorama in December 1997.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Peter Horrocks timeline

  1. Horrocks won Bafta awards in 1997 and 2005 for his editorship of Newsnight and for The Power of Nightmares.
  2. Horrocks became Head of Current Affairs in June 2000.

The world when Peter Horrocks was born

Peter Horrocks was born in 1959. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1959

  • #1 song"Mack the Knife" – Bobby Darin
  • Top movieBen-Hur
  • Top TV showGunsmoke
  • Best-selling bookGoldfinger – Ian Fleming

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentIngemar Johansson knocks out Floyd Patterson for heavyweight title
  • Top headlineAlaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th US states
  • Technology milestoneMicrochip (integrated circuit) invented
  • Defining fadBarbie dolls
  • Notable inventionBarbie doll
  • World population2.98 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championLos Angeles Dodgers (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population177.1M

1959 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Peter Horrocks's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19592026
Gas$0.31$3.45/gal
Average home$12,400$435,000
Average income$7,000$67,500
Minimum wage$1.00$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.69$11.95
Postage stamp$0.04$0.73
Population177.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.