By Dan Bloom
CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Richard Quest is a popular news reporter and desk anchor for CNN, and while his name doesn’t sound Jewish, the British lawyer and journalist is Jewish. I once asked him a few years ago by email what kind of of ethnic name ”Quest” was, and he told me an interesting story in a return email from London.
“My ancestors were Sephardic Jews,” he said. “They lived in Amsterdam, Holland for a long time and one part of the family came to Britain. That’s where I was born.”
Richard Quest’s unique reporting style — and TV voice — results a lot of media attention and fan mail. And believe it or not, Quest publishes his email address publicly and invites viewers to email him.
And the busy globe-trotting CNN reporter replies, too.
There’s something very interesting about Richard Quest that I have observed over the past few years during the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day coverage on CNN, and I’m not sure this story has ever been published before.
Since most of the other CNN reporters and news anchors want to spend time home with their families at Christmastime, and since Quest as a Jewish man does not celebrate Christmas, he volunteers each year to man the news desk at CNN on long Christmas Eve and Christmas Day work shifts and he does it with a bright smile and happy demeanor, more than content to give his Christian colleagues time off for their special days.
I am sure the CNN bosses are happy with Quest’s Christmastime shifts, and I am also sure his TV colleagues appreciate the ecumenical gesture. So yes, Richard Quest is one of many Jews worldwide who volunteer to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day every year to give their Christian co-workers some quality time at home for the holidays.
Who’s Richard Quest, you ask?
Based now in New York, where he anchors the “Quest Means Business”business news program, ”Quest is arguably one of the more interesting personalities in news broadcasting today,” as the Jersualem Post has noted.
His bosses refer to the Quest on-air style as “dynamic and distinctive.” Fans comment online that they love his style of presenting, that it’s original and upbeat, and in emails to me over the years he has always been a warm and friendly landsman.
Born into a Jewish family in Liverpool, Quest was a curious and creative youngster who was always walking around with a tape recorder, accoridng to family lore. His father, a doctor and a lawyer, once brought home a dictation machine for his young son to play with and the future CNN news reader was hooked.
Following his father’s wishes at first, Quest studied law, but later decided to go into the news business. He did, spending 13 years with the BBC, and then moving on to CNN, and yes, Quest means business and he’s at the top of his game now.
And next Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, he’ll be working the holiday shifts not as a Shabbos goy but as a Jewish mensch. That’s Richard Quest!
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Bloom, based in Taiwan, is an inveterate web surfer. Your comments may be posted in the box below or sent to the author at dan.bloom@sdjewishworld.com