John Tusa was born on 2 March 1931 in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, the son of John Tusa and Lydia Tusa (née Sklenarova). He moved to the United Kingdom with his family in 1939, where his father was managing director of the British Bata Shoe Company at East Tilbury, in Essex, and the family settled nearby in Horndon-on-the-Hill. He was educated at St Faith's School, Cambridge; Gresham's School, Holt; and Trinity College, Cambridge, 1956-60. In 1960, he married Ann Hilary Dowson (died 2021) and they have two children.

He joined the BBC as a trainee in 1960, working in-house and then freelance as a radio and television producer, journalist and presenter. He presented BBC Two's news and current affairs programme Newsnight from its launch in 1979 until 1986. He was Managing Director of the BBC World Service, 1986-92. He left the BBC to become President of Wolfson College, Cambridge, 1993, and returned again as a presenter on BBC Television's One O'Clock News. He was Managing Director of the Barbican Centre in London, 1995-2007; Chairman of the Court of Governors of the University of the Arts London, 2007-13; and Executive Chairman of the Clore Leadership Programme, 2009-14.

His other roles in the arts have included: Trustee, 1993-5, and Chairman, 1999-2011, of the Wigmore Hall Trust; Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Government Art Collection, 1993-2003; and Trustee, 2000-4, and Deputy Chairman, 2004-9, of the Board of Trustees of the British Museum. He has remained active in broadcasting, making programmes for both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, including the John Tusa Interview, 2000-5, and Day By Day, 2009.

He was awarded a Knighthood in 2003.

His publications include: (with Ann Tusa), The Nuremberg Trial (1983); (with Ann Tusa), The Berlin Blockade (1988); Conversations With the World (1990); A World in Your Ear (1992); Art Matters: reflecting on culture (1999); On Creativity (2003); The Janus Aspect: artists in the twenty first century (2005); Engaged With the Arts: writings from the front line (2007); Pain in the Arts (2014); Making a Noise: getting it right, getting it wrong in life, the arts and broadcasting (2018); and On Board: the insider's guide to surviving life in the boardroom (2020).