Katy Hill.
Katy Hill (born 15 April 1971) is an English television presenter, who worked on the BBC children's magazine programme Blue Peter for five years.
Early life
Born in Poole, Dorset, her father, Chris Hill, was the local vicar and he now regularly contributes to Trans World Radio. Hill has two siblings, an elder brother Simon and a younger sister Naomi. She gained 9 'O' levels and 4 'A' Levels at St. Edwards Church of England School in Romford, Essex and before she started acting she worked in a record shop.[1]
Career
Hill began her media career with voluntary work in Essex at EastWard hospital television, and presented "Katy's Capers" on BBC Radio Essex, before transferring to Nickelodeon. While working as a secretery for BBC channel controllers and the Head of Children's Television, she bombarded the Editor of Blue Peter with ideas and showreels, which resulted in an audition.
On 23 June 1995, Hill joined the CBBC TV programme Blue Peter[2] and left the show on 19 June 2000. While on the show, she quickly became the "action girl", regularly taking on difficult and sometimes dangerous challenges. Her assignments included such challenges as:
- Living in Mongolia with a family for a week,
- Training with the England football squad for a World Cup special,
- Joining the Cirque du Soleil,
- Learning to escape from the Royal Navy's underwater helicopter crash simulator,
- Being sawed in half by a magician,
- Driving a British Touring Car Championship racing car,
- Flying with the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows display team,
- Swimming with sharks,
- Making a free-fall parachute jump.
She won the 2000 Children's BAFTA Award for Best Presenter, for her time at Blue Peter. She returned to Blue Peter for one episode on 30 March 2010 for the Blue Peter pet 'Mabels final programme.
As a result of her work on Blue Peter, Hill also presented Live & Kicking, Top of the Pops, Football Fever (she supports Newcastle United) and The Millennium Quiz Show with Michael Parkinson. Hill has also presented the weekend breakfast show on 95.8 Capital FM, and writes a regular column for Cosmopolitan Hair & Beauty Magazine. In both 2000 and 2001 she presented the final of the Song for Europe, the competition to select the United Kingdom's entry for the annual Eurovision Song Contest. She revealed she had been a keen follower of the contest since seeing the 1984 victory of her all-time favourite entry, "Diggi-Loo, Diggi-Ley" by Sweden's the Herreys.
In 2004, she appeared on the Channel 4 reality TV show, The Games, in which she came overall second in the female contenders. She is mostly remembered for her antagonism towards the eventual winner, Lady Isabella Hervey. After Neil Fox quit as the long running host of the networked Hit40UK also in 2004, Katy - one of his stand-ins previously - was recruited, initially with Hirsty to host the programme each Sunday from the studios of Capital Radio in London, although Hirsty eventually went on to host the programme alone. During her time presenting Hit40UK, Katy had her ears pierced for the very first time, in order to sport large hoop earrings at the producer's request for TV appearances. She co-presented the concert held in Trafalgar Square where the host of the 2012 Olympics was announced, for which London was a candidate. When London was announced as the victor, Hill was seen cheering and shouting with joy with Olympian Kelly Holmes. Currently she is in a TV commercial for Arm & Hammer.[3]
In February 2008, Hill joined Independent Media News in London, providing news and content to Radio stations across the country. She currently resides in West Hampstead, following a period of time in the USA. In December 2008, Hill presented a six-part fitness show on UK Living called "Katy's Hills." The show tracked her journey on a variety of Britain's most challenging hill walks. Along the way she interviewed ramblers and fitness experts in a bid to find the ultimate hill-walking experience. The Kate Bush song "Running up that hill" was aptly used as a theme tune.
In May 2010, she joined women's lifestyle website iVillage.co.uk as a weekly blogger. Her blog, Here Are Two We Made Earlier, explores her day to day experiences of motherhood from a 'refreshingly honest' angle.[4]
In late December 2010, Hill acted as relief co-presenter on ITV's Daybreak breakfast programme.
Personal life
In the early stages of her career, Hill proclaimed herself as "the ultimate virgin", describing herself as "one of the few women to get married in white and was justified in doing so." She married childhood sweetheart and record producer Andrew Frampton in 1999.
The marriage lasted two years before they split. Hill then modified her image, appearing in men's mags such as GQ and Maxim, bought a Porsche Boxster and began dating fellow Live & Kicking TV presenter Trey Farley. Hill became engaged to Farley after he proposed to her whilst on holiday in Venice, and the couple married in Tuscany on 28 June 2004, with white highly in evidence.[5] The couple lived in Los Angeles, USA,[6] and have a daughter called Kaya Skye born on 17 July 2006 weighing 9 lb 6oz, at Kingston Hospital in Surrey.[7] They also have a son, Akira.
Quotes
- "Yes, I did stay a virgin until I was 28 and married, but it was worth the wait. Feeling my husband entering and moving inside me for the very first time on our wedding night, knowing that I was giving him a very special gift, made it all the more wonderful."
- "One of the producers thought I'd look great with big hoop earrings, and suggested that I wear them when I did personal appearances. I told her that I couldn't, as I'd never had my ears pierced, and she seemed really surprised at that. But she still thought I'd look good wearing them and managed to persuade me to go with her to get my ears pierced."
References
- ↑ http://www.myhounslow.co.uk/hounslow/celebs&gossip-media.htm
- ↑ BBC Cult: I love Blue Peter http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/bluepeter/presenters/hill.shtml
- ↑ Katy Hill - A Glittering CV
- ↑ iVillage Blogs - Katy Hill
- ↑ the mighty crumb
- ↑ [GMTV Interview 31st July 2008]
- ↑ Edd Parsons - Biography