Martyn’s career is an unusual blend of the media, charitable and corporate worlds. During his 32 years as a television journalist he delivered thousands of reports for ITN, and went on to anchor every mainstream television news programme on ITV and BBC, including the Six O’Clock News and News At... Read more
Martyn’s career is an unusual blend of the media, charitable and corporate worlds. During his 32 years as a television journalist he delivered thousands of reports for ITN, and went on to anchor every mainstream television news programme on ITV and BBC, including the Six O’Clock News and News At Ten. He has been a long-time campaigner for Constructive News, arguing for a shift in the news agenda to achieve a fairer balance between negative and serious positive stories, analysing success and achievement alongside failure.
His charitable involvement began with the Hospice movement, and expanded over four decades to include the founding of the UK’s first internet charity YouthNet (now themix.org.uk), and embrace areas as diverse as disadvantaged young people, learning disabilities, dementia, military families, volunteering and leadership. He is President of EACH (East Anglia Children’s Hospices) and a Vice-President of Hospice UK. A former Chair of NCVO (the National Council for Voluntary Organisations), the main umbrella organisation for the voluntary sector, he is in his fifteenth year chairing the King’s (formerly the Queen’s) Award for Voluntary Service, a part of the UK Honours system and the equivalent of an MBE for groups of volunteers working at grassroots level in communities.
On the business front he is a non-executive director of the revolutionary vertical wind turbine company Alpha 311, (alpha-311.com) and the international procurement company Elcom (elcom.com) He is on the Global Advisory Board of Diversity Economics (diversityeconomics.ai) and advisor to the international charity fund-raising company GiveStar (givestar.io). He recently returned to broadcasting as Lead Interviewer for the newly established Inside Saudi Media (insidesaudi.media) covering business developments in Saudi Arabia.
He was awarded a CBE in 1997 and a knighthood in 2016 for his extensive work in the voluntary sector. On a lighter note, Martyn played himself in brief cameo roles in the TV series “The Vicar of Dibley” and in the James Bond film “The World is Not Enough”.