Paxman, a woman 30 years his junior and some tricky questions
HE became famous for putting people on the spot by asking difficult questions, but yesterday it was Jeremy Paxman who was refusing to answer any.
Paxman, 66, was spotted in public for the first time following revelations he has split from Elizabeth Clough, the mother of his three children and his partner of nearly 35 years.
It is alleged he has grown close to book editor Jillian Taylor, who at 37 is 29 years his junior.
Yesterday the former Newsnight presenter was, for once, apparently lost for words as he left his £1.5million London bachelor pad with a woman believed to be divorcee Ms Taylor.
The University Challenge host declined to comment as he emerged with his companion shortly after 11.30am yesterday.
He fended off questions about their alleged relationship simply saying “no – goodbye”.
At the weekend it was revealed that Paxman had separated from Ms Clough, 64, after a relationship spanning more than three decades. They have three children – eldest daughter Jessica, 26, and twins Jack and Victoria, 19.
It is believed Paxman moved out of the family’s farmhouse near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire last November.
In a brief statement, the TV presenter’s agent said at the weekend: “Jeremy Paxman and his partner separated last year. They retain a mutual respect for each other and a deep love for their children.”
Cheerful
Yesterday Ms Clough declined to comment about the split.
Paxman quit Newsnight in 2014 after signing a four year deal with the BBC in 2010 worth £3.2million.
He recently published his memoirs and has worked for the BBC since joining as a graduate trainee back in 1972.
Educated at Malvern College and Cambridge, where he studied English, Paxman is the author of a number of popular books on history and politics.
It was while working on his books that he met Ms Taylor who helped him with his research.
Previously he has said of her: “She is probably the perfect researcher – bright, resourceful, cheerful and indefatigable.”
Ms Taylor works for publisher Penguin where she was an editorial assistant before being promoted to an editor in May 2015.
It is not the first time Paxman has been at the centre of reports of an affair with a younger woman.
In 1998 he was linked with TV executive Joanna Cecil, who was aged 36 at the time.
In his memoirs, Paxman outlined a difficult relationship with his father Keith who left the presenter’s mother and three other siblings when he was in his 50s to find a new life in New Zealand and Australia.