Jennie Gow (; born 20 May 1977) is an English radio and television presenter and journalist. She was the presenter on

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

's coverage of

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

motorcycle racing Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...

for 2010. She is currently

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

's F1 Correspondent and reports for BBC News Channel and

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

, as well as being

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 ...

's F1 presenter and pit lane reporter. On 13 January 2023 she announced via Twitter that she had suffered a serious stroke two weeks previously, and would have to take an enforced break from her work for some time.

Early life and education

Gow lived in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

until her family moved to

Wargrave Wargrave () is a historic village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. The village is primarily on the River Thames but also along the confluence of the River Loddon and lies on the border with southern Oxfordshire. The village has many old ...

, Berkshire when she was seven. Educated at The Piggott School, Gow took part in local theatre, and enjoyed sport, winning medals as a cox for several different rowing teams.

Career

Gow worked as a

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

chalet maid In the United Kingdom, a seasonworker (also called a holiday rep or a saisonaire) is a person who spends either their summers or winters working abroad for a tour operator. Overview A seasonworker can spend up to eight months abroad; as a resul ...

in France, and then for a day and a half as a temp at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in the filing and records department. She then joined the '' Henley Standard'' in 1992. After studying Media and Communication Studies, she joined

in 1999 as a production secretary for '' Sports Personality of the Century.'' In 2001, she became Traffic and Travel presenter on BBC Radio Solent, and then moved to the sports team as a journalist covering

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

. Gow then left the BBC to initially work a brief spell at 107.4 The Quay in

before becoming Breakfast Show host on

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Orchard FM Heart Somerset (formerly Somerset's Orchard FM) was an Independent Local Radio station serving Somerset, England. Originally owned by (and officially remains licensed to) Orchard Media Ltd, the company was purchased by GWR Group in 1999, and s ...

. Asked to present the

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

from the

Somerset Rebels The Somerset Rebels were a British speedway team based in Highbridge, Somerset. Founded in 2000, the club competed in the British SGB Championship until 2019. Their home track was located at the Oak Tree Arena. History The club's stadium, The ...

at Highbridge, a TV producer spotted Gow and asked her to present the FIM World Longtrack Championships. This led to presenting independently produced speedway and motocross productions, broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

Men & Motors Men & Motors was a men's lifestyle television channel in the UK. It was the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture, set up by Granada Television (now part of ITV plc) and satellite broadcaster Briti ...

and Motors TV. From summer 2004 she became a continuity announcer for ITV, and from 2007 to 2008 for

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

, and since 2006 been the presenter of the Jersey Rally. After joining

Reading 107 FM 107 JACK fm Berkshire was an Independent Local Radio station in the English town of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. The station was based at studios in the Madejski Stadium, home of Reading F.C. and London Irish. The station's transmitter is locat ...

, from 2006, Gow became a presenter on Sky Sports, eventually presenting both Sky Sports News and on-line bulletins. After

Suzi Perry Suzi Perry (born 3 May 1970) is a British television presenter, currently covering MotoGP for BT Sport. She is best known for covering MotoGP for the BBC for 13 years, ''The Gadget Show'' on Channel 5 for 8 years and the BBC's Formula One cove ...

decided to retire at the end of the 2009 series, in March 2010, Gow was announced as the new presenter of the BBC's MotoGP coverage, alongside pit reporter

Matt Roberts Matthew Nicholas Roberts (born November 1977) is an English television presenter, best known for his former work on BBC Sport's MotoGP coverage and latterly in superbike coverage broadcast to UK. Education Roberts attended All Saints High Schoo ...

and commentary team of Charlie Cox and former racer Steve Parrish. Gow was replaced by Roberts as main presenter for the 2011 season. Gow subsequently temporarily filled in for Natalie Pinkham as

pit lane reporter for the

2011 Canadian Grand Prix The 2011 Canadian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2011) was a Formula One motor race held on 12 June 2011 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the seventh race of the 2011 Formula One Wor ...

2011 Hungarian Grand Prix The 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Eni Magyar Nagydíj 2011) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 31 July 2011 at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, near Budapest, Hungary It was the eleventh round of the 2011 Formula One sea ...

and permanently on role starting 2012 season. Gow was also reported to be on the BBC's shortlist of possible anchors to replace departing host Jake Humphrey for their F1 coverage across the 2013 season but lost to Perry. She did stand in for Perry on the Friday of

2013 Brazilian Grand Prix The 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2013) was a Formula One motor race that was held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, in São Paulo, Brazil on 24 November 2013. The race marked the ...

as deputy presenter Lee McKenzie was off ill and Perry was filming for the main programmes. Gow joined ITV4 in 2014 as presenter of the channel's coverage of the FIA Formula E Championship. Following the rights transfer to the BBC in 2018 Gow has also presented the three races each season the BBC shows on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

. Gow appeared throughout series three of Netflix series ''

Drive to Survive ''Formula 1: Drive to Survive'' is a documentary series produced in a collaboration between Netflix and Formula One, to give a behind-the-scenes look at the drivers and races of the Formula One World Championship. The first season covering th ...

''. Since the beginning of 2021, Gow has been the co-commentator for the English language world feed of Extreme E. On 13 January 2023, Gow announced on social media that she had suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, affecting her speech and ability to write.

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gow, Jennie 1977 births Living people People from Dorset English journalists English television presenters Motorcycling mass media people Formula One journalists and reporters Motorsport announcers BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World News