Here are five things about Peter Mansbridge, who announced Monday night that he will retire as anchor of the CBC News flagship program The National next summer.

1. Born in London, England in 1948, Mansbridge began his radio career in 1968 in Churchill, Man., where he helped develop CBC Radio’s news service to Northern Canada.

2. Mansbridge joined CBC Radio in Winnipeg as a reporter in 1971 and joined CBC Television the following year. He became The National’s reporter in Saskatchewan in 1975, joined the network’s parliamentary bureau in Ottawa in 1976 and became chief correspondent and anchor of The National in 1988.

3. Mansbridge, who has covered every federal election since 1972 and has anchored all 10 since 1984, remains the only Canadian journalist to interview both U.S. President Barack Obama and former British Prime Minister David Cameron.

4. Mansbridge has won 13 awards for excellence, is an officer of the Order of Canada and has nine honorary degrees from eight Canadian universities and one in the United States. He was named Chancellor of Mount Allison University in New Brunswick in 2009 and named to the Canadian News Hall of Fame earlier this year.

5. He has hosted eight Olympic Opening Ceremonies (Seoul in 1988, Albertville in 1992, Atlanta in 1996, Athens in 2004, Torino in 2006, Beijing in 2008, Sochi in 2014 and Rio in 2016).

(Source: CBC)

The Canadian Press