Holly Samos (born 23 December 1970 in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

) is a radio broadcaster. A former member of Chris Evans's ''breakfast show team'' from the 1990s, she continued her career as the Formula 1 pit lane reporter for

BBC Radio 5 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, broadcast ...

for five years until 2011.Twitter / BBC 5Live F1 Team: It is true, Holly is leavi ...
/ref> She currently freelance broadcasts for BBC Radio Oxford, and works for Formula One.

Early life

Born to a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

father and English mother in Surrey, Samos grew up in London and Northampton. A portable radio cassette player given to her for Christmas as a child led her onto the path of broadcasting. She gained 9

O-Level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

s and studied for a BTEC National Diploma in Business & Finance at Northampton College for Further Education, before studying in London at

Ealing College The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Col ...

for a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in Design and Media Management. Her first job was a Saturday job as a teenager working on a market stall selling winter coats.

Early career

Aged 19 during her college years in London, Samos undertook work experience for GLR (BBC Greater London Radio) as a runner and switchboard operator, where she worked on the ''Greenhouse'' show presented by Chris Evans. She completed her degree, and moved into the record business working for MCA Records on Piccadilly in the A&R department.

Chris Evans period - BBC1 / Virgin Radio

In 1994, Chris Evans moved to the BBC to take over the Breakfast show from Steve Wright, taking previous colleagues, producer John Revell, sound engineer Dan McGrath and radio researcher Samos. The 7-month contract evolved in to seven years on the breakfast show until 2001. In September 1997, Evans and his team made a return to Breakfast Radio, on

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

. By the middle of the May 2001, Evans was reported to have sacked his team and the Chris Evans breakfast show was dissolved.

After Evans

When Samos left Virgin Radio she moved to the

Century FM Century Radio was the brand name of a group of independent local radio stations in England. The brand was developed with the launch of 100-102 Century Radio in North East England in 1994, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as ...

network/ Century Digital presenting ''The Confessional'' and then the late night love show ''LoveLines''. As a result of

Jeremy Kyle Jeremy Kyle (born 7 July 1965) is an English broadcaster and writer. He is known for hosting the tabloid talk show ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' on ITV from 2005 to 2019. He also hosted a US version of his eponymous show, which ran for two season ...

taking over the late night weekly slot with ''Late Night Love'', Samos was moved to an earlier evening slot in the weekends presenting '‘Hairbrush Divas'’ in late 2003. Samos also undertook a lot of commercial work during her career, she presented for the Formula One Jordan team, the BBC's ''Holiday'' programme, and a number of fashion and beauty shows. She also works as a professional voice-over artist. After

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. I ...

took over Century Network, Samos moved to London's Heart 106.2 to present the Saturday breakfast show with

Toby Anstis Toby Anstis (born 14 December 1970) is an English radio and television presenter. He is a presenter on Heart and spin-off station Heart Dance. Early life Originally from Northampton, Anstis was educated at Desborough School, an all-boys scho ...

. She also returned to Virgin Radio as a swing shift DJ to cover radio shows from 2005 to present day. In March 2006, it was announced by

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, broadcast ...

that Samos had joined their Formula One team, and reported the latest news live from the pit lane and the paddock at each grand prix for five years.Radio 5 Live Puts Walker in Driving Seat
/ref> In January 2008 she became Virgin's presenter of Sunday Early Mornings 26am. In 2010, she featured in the Codemasters game ''

F1 2010 The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Driv ...

'', alongside David Croft (5 Live commentator). She has also been the voice behind the

Renault F1 The French automotive manufacturer Renault has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine ...

Official

Podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

and

Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...

F1 Team Podcast. She was not part of the

commentary team for the 2011

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

season. After leaving BBC Radio 5 Live in 2011 Samos has worked for Formula One Management, Fanvision, AllSport, F1.com, hosts events for Formula One, various sport, music fashion and beauty companies. From 2011 to 2020, Samos provided the official live voiceovers for the

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

. She also freelance presents on BBC Radio Oxford.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samos, Holly British radio personalities British radio DJs Virgin Radio (UK) People from Guildford 1970 births Living people British people of Greek descent