Tom Mangold was born in Hamburg and came to England in 1939. He was educated at Dorking Grammar School then completed his National Service with the Royal Artillery in Germany.

After working on local newspapers he became a reporter in London's Fleet Street first with the Sunday Mirror then with the Daily Express where he covered the notorious Christine Keeler scandal for two years.

In 1964 he joined BBC TV News where he became a war correspondent covering conflicts in Aden, Vietnam, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, the Middle East and Afghanistan. In 1971 he moved to BBC TV Current Affairs working first for `24 Hours', then `Midweek'. It was here that he helped pioneer the BBC's first news background investigative documentaries including the first ever film about the now legendary and infamous Kray twins.

In 1976 he moved to Panorama, then the BBC's top prime time current affairs programme comprising a single subject running for 40-minutes (there are no advertisements on BBC TV). Mangold remained on Panorama for 26 years making over 100 Panorama documentaries specialising in investigative stories. In 1993 his investigation into problems with the sleeping pill `Halcion' won the Business or Consumer Investigative Reports category in the prestigious 14th Annual Cableace Awards in Hollywood. One month later he won Britain's most coveted current affairs prize in the Royal Television Society's Journalism Awards with his investigation into the false arrest and imprisonment for the murder of three men in Cardiff, Wales. The men were subsequently freed. Mangold's investigation into a dental AIDS mystery in the United States won the bronze award in the Best Investigative Report Category at the New York Television Festival in 1996 and in 1999 he was further honoured at the Chicago International Television Competition with a Gold Plaque (the top award) in the Investigative Reporting/News Documentary Category for one of a series of two networked films on biological warfare.

Mangold's films have been syndicated around the globe. In the United States much of his work has been carried by WGBH Boston the PBS channel and more recently his material has appeared on the Learning Channel and other cable networks.

In 1996, following his own copious research into the subject, he proposed a drama-documentary series to HBO and the BBC called "Hostile Waters" about a real-life Soviet/American submarine drama in the Atlantic during the dying days of the Cold War. The subsequent multi-million dollar production starring Rutge Hauer was an international success.

Tom Mangold's five year investigation together with a Kentucky housewife, into a brutal murder is currently being developed by BBC Films and Rainmark Films as a feature film and is intended for production in 2013. His BBC radio documentary "Something Rotten in Mayfield" was transmitted in May 2012 and met with considerable acclaim.

Mangold is currently working as a freelance reporter specialising in intelligence reports, media comment diaries and travel features. A review of one of his BBC radio documentaries (on the scandal of an oil tanker disaster) in the prestigious London `Guardian' newspaper in August 2000 states:

"Tom Mangold's investigation...was a shining example of intelligent, impartial and thorough investigative journalism....non-partisan, yet on the side of the angels it was exemplary TV news journalism."

A review in March 2003 in the London Spectator of his BBC radio series on the history of the CIA, noted the:

“well-crafted informative series of the kind one would expect from such a seasoned, experienced reporter.”

In October 2003, Mangold reported and presented the very first documentary for Channel 4 on the scandal surrounding the suicide of government scientist David Kelly.

In September 2006, Mangold wrote, reported and presented a major 4-part landmark series for BBC Radio 4, "Driven By Oil". The series which investigated the major issues surrounding global oil was much praised:

`Don't miss it....it's highly listenable with Mangold personifying the kind of reporter television used to have - seasoned, reasoned, one who knows the best sources for information and asks them the right questions, no matter how awkward their answers.' Gillian Reynolds. Daily Telegraph Sep. 5th 2006.

`The excellent Tom Mangold....provocative and stimulating'. Martin Hoyle. Financial Times Sep 4th 2006.

`Tom Mangold presents this important series...in an admirably clear opener.' The Observer Sep 3rd 2006.

In May 2007, Mangold made a full length documentary for BBC TV, "Race Hate In Louisiana." The film was widely acclaimed for its graphic revelation of a new kind of 'stealth racism' in America's Deep South.

In March 2008, Mangold's follow-up documentary for BBC 2 TV on race relations in Louisiana - "Deep South Divide" was reviewed by AA Gill in the Sunday Times:

"(Tom Mangold) was sent to America and showed us precisely how an outside eye can see, if not more, then with a new clarity...he went through the evidence with a rigorous thoroughness....I wanted to reach into the screen and shake Mangold by the hand. He'd done something so rare these days it seemed almost miraculous. He'd gone to a story and asked questions without first determining what the answers needed to be."

Also in March 2008 Mangold reported, wrote and presented a full ten-part series - 'The FBI at 100' - for BBC Radio 4 celebrating the centenary of the FBI. The Times reported:

"It says much for his raw material that Tom Mangold's dry-as-dust delivery fails to detract from the excitement of this ten-part history."

The Daily Telegraph praised Mangold's "taut" script.

The Observer reviewed the series as "lively...with sobering reminders of just how shameful were the Bureau's early years....with some great description."

"The crowning achievement of the series has been to allow its presenter, Tom Mangold, to speak in whole paragraphs...like a director in a chair waving a megaphone, Mangold wields total control with his electric delivery, stopping off for a bit of contemplation, throwing up images of things to come." New Statesman. March 17th 2008.

In November 2008, Mangold made the first exclusive one-hour film documentary for BBC TV on the background to the notorious Russian arms dealer Victor Bout who was arrested in Bangkok following a `sting' run by the American Drug Enforcement Adminitsration.

In September 2009 Mangold completed a highly successful ten part investigation into the Bermuda Triangle story for BBC Radio 4. The series was greeted with acclaim by Gillian Reynolds in the Daily Telegraph:

"The reporter is sharp-eyed television veteran Tom Mangold...he's spent a year investigating...he's met witnesses and checked the original documents."

And by Paul Donovan of the Sunday Times:

"Tom Mangold carefully, convincingly and comprehensively debunks the myth disguised as a mystery in this new 10-part series."

The Sea Gangsters - A Radio 4 programme about Somali Pirates was aired in April 2011. The Guardian reported:

'Mangold's story was comprehensively and clearly told...never let up in its punchy delivery.... and he proved a dogged interviewer when faced with flannel.'

In July 2012 Mangold was invited to return to BBC TV Panorama to follow up on his prize-winning 1992 documentary about alleged corruption in the South Wales police force. He returned to Cardiff to investigate the twenty-year on-going scandal following the murder of a prostitute and the conviction of three innocent men.

"Justice Denied - the Greatest Scandal" was shown on BBC 1 on August 13th 2012.

Mangold is also a best selling author with four books to his credit:

• "The File on the Tsar", an investigation into the murder of Tsar Nicholas II by the Bolsheviks;
• "The Tunnels of Cu Chi", a Vietnam war book;
• "Cold Warrior", the biography of CIA counter-intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton
• and in 1999, "Plague Wars" an investigation into biological warfare.

He lives in London, his hobbies are playing the blues harp, gossiping and writing.

See also entry in `Who's Who'.