Katty Kay

Early life and education

Kay was born on 14 November 1964 in Wallingford, Oxfordshire and grew up in Blewbury. She has two brothers and one sister; and is of English and Swiss descent. As a child, she spent time in various Middle Eastern countries where her father was posted as a British diplomat. She studied modern languages at St Hilda's College, Oxford, and speaks fluent French and Italian. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988.

Career

After graduation, Kay briefly worked for the Bank of England. Deciding against a career in economics, she left to work for an aid agency in Zimbabwe.

A short time later, a friend, Matt Frei, came to her with a tape recorder and persuaded her to become a journalist. Kay joined the BBC in 1990 as Zimbabwe correspondent for the African section of the BBC World Service. She then returned to London to work for BBC World Service radio, before being posted to Tokyo for BBC News television in 1992 and then Washington, D.C., in 1996. Soon afterwards, she joined The Times news bureau, but returned to the BBC as a freelance journalist in 2002, based in the United States.

From June 2004, Kay co-presented the BBC World news bulletins with Mike Embley in London, shown on 230 public broadcast-television stations throughout the US and on BBC America. In October 2007, she became correspondent to presenter Matt Frei of BBC World's one-hour Washington-based news broadcast, BBC World News America. She anchored the show until June 2021.

Kay also makes frequent appearances as a guest panellist on Morning Joe and Meet the Press on NBC, Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, and in the past also appeared on The Chris Matthews Show, and Larry King Live on CNN. She occasionally substituted for Diane Rehm on The Diane Rehm Show on National Public Radio (NPR). In November 2025, Kay was mentioned in a BBC internal review, which claimed her guest appearances on Morning Joe and The Rest is Politics US podcast was a breach of impartiality, saying the shows "are widely regarded as partisan and regularly express strong opinions in favour of the Democratic Party".

Kay anchored coverage of US presidential election nights across all BBC platforms in 2016 and 2020, on both occasions presenting with Andrew Neil. In 2021, she anchored the BBC's coverage of the Presidential inauguration of Joe Biden.

On 24 June 2021, Kay announced that the night's broadcast would be her last for the BBC. She immediately joined Ozy Media, but resigned when she became aware of allegations that the company had engaged in fraud. It was announced in March 2022 that Kay would return to the BBC as US Special Correspondent for BBC Studios, working across documentaries, podcasts and news, as well as US Election Night anchor.

In April 2024, it was announced that Kay would host The Rest is Politics: US Edition alongside Anthony Scaramucci (former White House Director of Communications for Donald Trump).

Personal life

In 1989 Kay married Tom Carver, an ex-BBC reporter and head of global communications at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Kay has four children. In 2021, she became a Swiss citizen; her father, who died in January 2021, was Swiss.

Works

References

References

1. "When Katty Met Carlos".
2. Kay, Katty. (29 September 2021). "Yesterday morning I handed in my resignation to Ozy Media. I was looking forward to working with the talented young reporters but I did not expect this! https://t.co/fc5Ii6ifav".
3. Robertson, Katie. (29 September 2021). "At Ozy Media, a Star Journalist Quits, and a Key Investor Backs Away". [[The New York Times]].
4. (2013). "Board of Directors". [[International Women's Media Foundation]].
5. Griffiths, Sian. (22 April 2018). "Katty Kay and Claire Shipman: When girls hit a teen crisis, Dad can sort it best". [[The Times]].
6. (10 June 2020). "Katty Kay".
7. "FreeBMD Entry Info".
8. Kurtz, Howard. (26 February 2007). "Katty Kay, Calibrating Britney for the Beeb". The Washington Post.
9. Kay, Katty. (24 September 2021). "What I've learned about myself and my career after becoming an empty nester". [[MSNBC]].
10. (21 April 2021). "Katty Kay – "I went to six different schools in the space of five years"".
11. Kurtz, Howard. (26 February 2007). "Katty Kay, Calibrating Britney for the Beeb". [[The Washington Post]].
12. "Results for England & Wales Births 1837-2006: Katherine; Kay; 1964". [[Findmypast]].
13. HarperCollins. "Katty Kay".
14. "BBC News - World News America - Katty Kay". BBC News.
15. "She said... Katty Kay". BBC World Service.
16. "Katty Kay". BBC World.
17. "Search for "katty kay"".
18. Farber, Alex. (2025-11-10). "BBC review found US election coverage was ‘markedly anti-Trump’".
19. (24 June 2021). "Katty Kay: 'It's been a privilege to sit in this chair'". BBC News.
20. Thomas, Daniel. (29 September 2021). "Katty Kay: Former BBC journalist quits US media firm". BBC News.
21. (4 March 2022). "Katty Kay returns to the BBC". BBC.
22. "Why I'm married to my maiden name".
23. (19 January 2011). "Tom Carver to head global communications for Carnegie Endowment". [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]].
24. "BBC – Katty Kay". BBC.
25. Kay, Katty. (2 June 2020). "Georgetown totally quiet tonight. No one on the streets. Police have shut roads into the neighbour hood. @MayorBowser told me thisAM she wanted to stop cars in order to stop looters. It seems to have worked.".
26. Kay, Katty. (17 May 2021). "Today I became Swiss. The application process took 3 years and I cried when I opened the email. My dad, who died in January, was Swiss. As a child growing up in the Middle East, holidays with my Swiss grandmother were a refuge. When I arrive at Interlaken station I feel I'm home.".