Nicholas David Ross (born 7 August 1947) is a British radio and television presenter. During the 1980s and 1990s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters but is best known for hosting the BBC TV programme Crimewatch, which he left in 2007 after 23 years. He has subsequently filmed a series for BBC One called The Truth About Crime and has made documentaries for BBC Radio 4. He is chairman, president, trustee or patron of a number of charities. Early life He was brought up in Surrey. His German Jewish father, Hans Rosenbluth, fled Germany in 1933 soon after the Nazis came to power. In 1940 Rosenbluth was interned as an 'enemy alien' and sent from England to Australia on HMT Dunera. When allowed to return, Rosenbluth changed his name to John Caryl Ross and joined the British Army's Pioneer Corps; he became an officer in 1945. His paternal grandfather was Pinchas Rosen (born Felix Rosenblüth). Ross went to Wallington County Grammar School and then read psychology at Queen's University Belfast. He graduated with a BA (Hons), later became a Doctor of the university (honoris causa) and he was deputy president of the Student Union and a leader of the student civil rights movement in 1968 and 1969. He started in journalism by reporting on the violence in Belfast for BBC Northern Ireland. Career He began working part-time for the BBC in Northern Ireland while still a student and reported on the violence as the Troubles became acute. He returned to London and presented British radio programmes such as Radio 4's The World at One, PM and The World Tonight, and moved to TV in 1979 as a reporter for Man Alive on BBC Two. He made several documentaries in a brief stint as a director and producer. "The Biggest Epidemic of Our Times" was a polemic on road accidents which was made for Man Alive but transferred to BBC1. It was later described as a broadcast that "would transform road safety," and according to another commentator, by reframing the whole concept of road safety Ross's campaigning changed public attitudes and public policy to such an extent that, "in significant consequence British mortality rates of people under 50 are among the lowest in the world." Ross also produced and directed two programmes on drug addiction, The Fix and The Cure, which followed an addict called Gina. He