Andrew Peach is a radio presenter in the United Kingdom. He presents a daily news and phone-in show on

BBC Radio Berkshire BBC Radio Berkshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Berkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds studios at Thames Valley Park near Reading. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience ...

which was named 'Best Local Radio Show in the UK' at the 2021 Radio Academy ARIA Awards. He also presents network programmes such as PM and the Six O'Clock News on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

Newshour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). Each edition lasts one hour. It consists of ...

and The Newsroom on BBC World Service and reads news bulletins on BBC Radio 2. Peach celebrated 30 years on BBC Radio on 10th October 2022. He received messages from

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

Zoe Ball Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both '' Radio 1 Breakfast'' and '' The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & ...

Jane Hill Jane Amanda Hill (born 10 June 1969 in Eastbourne, Sussex) is an English newsreader working for the BBC. She is one of the main presenters for BBC News, and is the main presenter on the '' BBC News at One'' and the '' BBC News at Five'', as w ...

Jeremy Vine Jeremy Guy Vine (born 17 May 1965) is an English television and radio personality, presenter, broadcaster and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guest ...

Tim Davie Timothy Douglas Davie (born 25 April 1967 in Croydon, London) is the current and seventeenth Director-General of the BBC. He succeeded Tony Hall in the role on 1 September 2020. Davie was formerly the chief executive officer of BBC Studios. ...

and

Dermot O'Leary Seán Dermot Fintan O'Leary Jr. (born 24 May 1973) is an English broadcaster who currently works for ITV and BBC Radio 2. His radio career began when he worked as a disc jockey at Essex Radio, but he is best known for being the presenter of ' ...

Life

Andrew Peach was born in

Bloxwich Bloxwich is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is located between the towns of Walsall, Cannock, Willenhall and Brownhills. Early history Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as t ...

and educated at

Queen Mary's Grammar School Queen Mary's Grammar School (QMGS) is a boys' grammar school with academy status located on Sutton Road, Walsall, England, about a mile from the town centre and one of the oldest schools in the country. The sixth form is coeducational. Admiss ...

in Walsall and St Edmund Hall, Oxford where he achieved an MA in Modern History. He lives in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire with his wife and two children. He is patron of Thames Hospice, which runs hospices in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

and Ascot.

Career

Peach had early experience being on the radio when he won a competition on BBC WM in 1989. His prize was to travel to Germany and compile reports about life in Bonn and Cologne. His career started at

BBC Radio Oxford BBC Radio Oxford is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Oxfordshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Summertown area of Oxford. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audienc ...

in 1991. He joined

in 1992 and presented Saturday Breakfast on both stations from October that year. He began reading the news on BBC Radio 2 in 1998 and is the network's longest serving newsreader. He was the regular news voice on The Chris Evans Show from 2005–9. Peach hosted Sunday mornings on BBC WM from 2008-2011 and presented programmes on

BBC Radio Five Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcas ...

from 2010-2011. Peach has presented news programmes on BBC World Service since 2011 and on

since 2014. As well as winning gold for Best Local Radio Show at the 2021 Radio Academy ARIA Awards, Peach was nominated as Best Speech Breakfast Presenter in the 2018 ARIAs and UK Speech Broadcaster of the Year in the 2010

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

. His programmes have been nominated for 16 Radio Academy Awards 2002–2021. The judges described him as "an assured host, balancing great seriousness and warmth and displaying a strong bond with his audience” and said “he is empathetic and probing and formulates questions that are short, to the point and perfectly timed.” Peach's BBC Berkshire show was reviewed by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' in April 2010. His current co-hosts are ex-Reading Captain

Ady Williams Adrian Williams (born 16 August 1971) is a former Wales international footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, Ameri ...

and former CBBC presenter

Kirsten O'Brien Kirsten Lindsey O'Brien (born 23 February 1972) is an English television presenter and actress. She is perhaps best known for her work presenting for the BBC, including the popular CBBC art programme '' SMart'' from 1999 to 2009, and CBeebies ...

. His interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury in November 2010 was widely reported. His conversation with a tearful

Reading FC Reading Football Club ( ) is a professional football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. The team play in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is managed by Paul Ince. Reading are nicknamed ...

Captain the morning after the club was relegated from the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

was featured in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' in May 2008. In January 2014, his interview in which a UKIP Councillor blamed recent flooding on gay marriage made news around the world. Major broadcasts have included coverage of the

US Presidential Election The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not dire ...

in Washington, D.C. in November 2004,

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom The state visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom was held from 16 to 19 September 2010 and was the first visit by a Pope to Britain after Pope John Paul II made a pastoral, rather than state, visit in 1982. The visit included the beat ...

in September 2010 and the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Windsor Castle in May 2018. He has hosted BBC coverage of UK General Elections since 2001 and presented the results of the 2016 EU Referendum on BBC World Service. Peach marked 25 years on BBC Radio on 10 October 2017 with a message of congratulations from Prime Minister

References

External links

''Andrew Peach''
(BBC Radio Berkshire) {{DEFAULTSORT:Peach, Andrew Living people People from Walsall British radio personalities Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford People educated at Queen Mary's Grammar School Mensans Year of birth missing (living people)