ONE of the BBC's best known broadcasters, Andrew Marr, is recovering in hospital after suffering a stroke.
The Glasgow-born journalist and television presenter, who presents BBC One's Sunday politics talk show The Andrew Marr Show and travelled the world for his series Andrew Marr's History of the World, took ill on Tuesday.
The BBC said in a statement: "Andrew Marr was taken ill yesterday and taken to hospital. The hospital confirmed he has had a stroke.
"His doctors say he is responding to treatment. His family have asked for their privacy to be respected as he recovers.
"We will continue to broadcast The Andrew Marr Show and Radio 4's Start The Week with guest presenters in his absence.
"His colleagues and the whole BBC wish him a speedy recovery."
Politicians also wished Marr a quick recovery.
His illness came just two days after he interviewed Prime Minister David Cameron about the Coalition Government's mid-term report on his show.
Labour Ed Milliband said: "My thoughts are with Andrew and his family. I hope he gets well soon."
Scottish BBC presenter Andrew Neil said: "Very distressed to hear the news about Andrew Marr. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery."
Sky TV's political editor Adam Boulton said: "Best wishes for a speedy recovery."
Strokes come in several different forms, and are caused by a blockage to the brain's blood supply. Many sufferers make a full recovery, but strokes can lead to a range of debilitating conditions such as loss of speech, impaired movement, memory loss or paralysis.
It is not known how severe Mr Marr's condition is, but it is likely he will need an intensive period of therapy and a long period of convalescence.
The Stroke Association said it was deeply saddened to learn the BBC presenter had suffered a stroke.
The charity said one-quarter of the 150,000 people who are affected by the condition each year in the UK were of working age.
Joe Korner, director of communications at the Stroke Association, said: "We are deeply saddened to hear about Andrew Marr's stroke and our thoughts are with him and his family at this hard time.
"A stroke happens in an instant but the effects can often last a lifetime.
"However, with the right care and support it is possible to make a recovery and return to a life after stroke."
Marr, 53, is the corporation's former political editor. He began his career as a newspaper reporter, becoming the editor of The Independent before turning to television.
He has also presented a number of history programmes along with his politics show and has had five books published.
He is married to fellow journalist Jackie Ashley, and the couple have three children.
In May 2011 it emerged he had taken out a super-injunction to prevent the reporting of an alleged affair he had with a political journalist.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article