Jane Amanda Hill (born 10 June 1969 in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the l ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

) is an English newsreader working for the BBC. She is one of the main presenters for

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 broadc ...

, and is the main presenter on the '' BBC News at One'' and the '' BBC News at Five'', as well as regularly presenting the ''

BBC Weekend News ''BBC Weekend News'' is the BBC's national news programme on BBC One at the weekend and bank holidays, although it is often referred to on guides simply as ''BBC News''. It is called ''BBC Weekend News'' on all bulletins, apart from the late bu ...

BBC News at Ten '' BBC News at Ten'' formerly known as the ''BBC Ten O'Clock News'' or the ''Ten O'Clock News'' is the flagship evening news programme for the BBC News channel and British television channel BBC One on weekdays and Sundays at 10:00pm. Huw Ed ...

and

BBC News at Six The ''BBC News at Six'' is the evening news programme bulletin from the BBC. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on the BBC News channel and on British television channel BBC One on weekdays at 6:00pm. For a long period, the ''BB ...

''. She also occasionally presents ''

The World Tonight ''The World Tonight'' is a British current affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, every weekday evening, which started out as an extension of the 10 pm news. It is produced by BBC News and features news, analysis and comment on domes ...

'' 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's ...

and is whilst presenting '' BBC News at Five'' on Fridays on the BBC News Channel which includes ''

The Film Review ''The Film Review'' (formerly ''Film 24'') is a 10-minute film-related programme that was usually shown on BBC News each Friday evening at 5:45pm. It reviewed three new films each week and was repeated several times during weekends. Jane Hill s ...

'' with

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine '' Sight & Sound'', pr ...

Early life

Hill was born on 10 June 1969 in

. She was privately educated at Micklefield School in

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

. She went on to study politics at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, and graduated in 1991 with 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 yea ...

(BA) degree. She worked part-time for

local BBC Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations. History The popularity of pirate radio was to challenge a change within ...

in paid and voluntary positions from 1986 to 1991. Her first job was at a local radio station as a junior

music correspondent Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, but she knew little about the local

indie band Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

s. After graduating, she worked as an assistant and researcher to Senate Democrats, at the Democratic National Headquarters in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. She joined the BBC full-time at the end of 1991.

Career

After completing the BBC journalism training programme, Hill joined

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 Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...

at the station's launch, remaining there as a producer for 18 months. She moved into television following completion of the BBC Regional News Trainee Scheme. She went on to join

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 ...

and '' South Today'' as a presenter, before moving later to national news. When

launched its new 24-hour channel in November 1997, Hill joined, and was originally an overnight presenter, also appearing on the channel's international counterpart

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 an ...

during the

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...

between the two channels. During her time with BBC News, she has presented coverage of a wide range of stories and events, including a week of special programmes from Washington DC in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. She also went on to present live coverage on BBC News and BBC World News of the first anniversary commemorations at

Ground zero In relation to nuclear explosions and other large bombs, ground zero (also called surface zero) is the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ''ground zero'' is the point on the grou ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She presented numerous special programmes on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

and

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 a ...

during the war in Iraq, and in December 2003, on the day US forces captured Saddam Hussein, she broadcast for nearly eight hours continuously on both terrestrial channels, BBC News, and BBC World News. Hill led the local reporting in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

in 2007, for the BBC's coverage of the disappearance of

Madeleine McCann Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person who disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007, at the age of 3. ''The Daily Telegraph'' described the disappeara ...

. Flying to Portugal the day the news broke, she spent much of May there, and conducted the BBC's first interview with Kate and Gerry McCann. She returned to the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

for all the major developments in the story, and made a half-hour documentary about the case at the end of that year. From April 2006 until August 2014, she presented alongside Matthew Amroliwala between 11:00 and 14:00 until they moved to between 14:00 and 17:00 in March 2013. Previously, she presented with

Chris Eakin Chris Eakin is a journalist who was a newsreader on the BBC's 24-hour rolling news channel, BBC News, and a relief presenter on BBC News at One at weekends. He was one of the channel's launch presenters in 1997, and is a published author. He left ...

from 19:00 to 22:00 on Monday to Thursday evenings. Hill also presents news bulletins on BBC One, and in the past has made occasional appearances presenting ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from the BBC Television Centre, London before ...

''. She is an occasional relief presenter for the ''

'' on

. On Monday 16 August 2010, she began a week sitting in for

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 ...

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

's music and news programme. Hill returned as relief presenter for ''

'' and also joined the team of relief presenters for ''

'' from August 2014. She appeared as herself in the 2014 science fiction action film ''

Edge of Tomorrow ''Edge of Tomorrow'' (also known as ''Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow'') is a 2014 American science fiction action film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt with Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson in supporting roles. Directed by Doug Liman wi ...

'', which stars

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...

and Emily Blunt. In 2016, Hill appeared at the end of the episodes of ''

No Such Thing as the News ''No Such Thing as the News'' is a British television comedy series on BBC Two, which is a spin-off to the podcast ''No Such Thing as a Fish'', produced and presented by the researchers behind the panel game '' QI'', also on BBC Two. In it each o ...

'' for a series of brief comic sketches. On 15 September 2017, Hill hosted the inaugural Diversity In Media Awards (DIMAS) in London.

Personal life

Hill married Sara Shepherd in 2013 in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

. Hill is a member of the

British-American Project The British-American Project (BAP) is a transatlantic fellowship of more than 1,200 leaders and opinion formers from a broad spectrum of occupations, backgrounds and political views. BAP operates on a not-for-profit basis, funded through its member ...

, an organisation which exists to promote

Anglo-American relations Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

References

External links

BBC Pressoffice Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Jane 1969 births Living people Alumni of Queen Mary University of London BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World News People from Eastbourne British lesbian writers British LGBT broadcasters British LGBT journalists Writers from London Democratic Party (United States) British women television journalists British women radio presenters BBC radio producers Women radio producers