His parents moved to Ghana in 1961 so George therefore had his primary education there. He went to secondary school in Portsmouth, England however. He is a graduate of Durham University.
He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2008 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to journalism.
Since 3 December 2007, he has been the sole presenter of the BBC News at Six and has also been the main presenter of GMT on BBC World News since its launch on 1 February 2010. He is also the main relief presenter for the BBC News at Ten and has held this role since its launch in 2000, making him the longest serving presenter of the flagship news programme. In 2004, he returned to his grandfather's original home in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami to survey the damage. The family's former home had been destroyed, though he was able to recognise an old well he had played at with his sisters, although the well was unsalvageable.
Alagiah has described himself in the past as being "a hopeless Otaku”
Civil War in Somalia 1990s-ongoing
The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war taking place in Somalia. It began in 1991, when a coalition of clan-based armed opposition groups ousted the nation's long-standing military government.
Various factions began competing for influence in the power vacuum that followed, which precipitated an aborted UN peacekeeping attempt in the mid-1990s. A period of decentralization ensued, characterized by a return to customary and religious law in many areas as well as the establishment of autonomous regional governments in the northern part of the country. The early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations, culminating in the establishment of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in 2004. In 2006, the TFG assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the nation's southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union (ICU).