Katie Breathwick (born 1971) is a radio journalist and broadcaster. She is a late-night presenter on Classic FM.

Early life

Breathwick was born in Leicester. Her mother was a primary school teacher and her father was an accountant. She has two elder brothers, one of whom has

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

. Breathwick was educated at Stoneygate School,

Loughborough High School ) , established = , closed = , type = Independent , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Headmistress , head ...

and

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. The headma ...

where she met her husband,

Robert Thorogood Robert Thorogood (born 1972) is an English screenwriter and novelist. He is the creator of the BBC One murder mystery series '' Death in Paradise''. He won France Film's "En Route to France" award in 2012. Early life Thorogood was educated at U ...

, the creator of

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, ...

’s Death in Paradise. As a teenager, she was a chorister at

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. The church was elevated to a collegiate church in 192 ...

. In 2018 she revealed she once worked as a shop assistant at

WHSmith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...

. Breathwick read Social and Political Sciences at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, where she was also a member of the

Cambridge Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

. She toured twice nationally with Footlights, once in ''Some Wood and a Pie'' (1993) alongside Thorogood, Mark Evans, Georgie Bevan,

Dan Mazer Daniel Gideon Mazer (born 4 October 1971) is a British screenwriter, producer, and comedian. Mazer is best known as the long-time writing and production partner of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and worked with him on his three unorthodox characters ...

and

William Sutcliffe William Sutcliffe (born 9 March 1971) is a British novelist. He has written many acclaimed novels, spanning genres from satire to YA fiction. His 2008 book ''Whatever Makes You Happy'' has been adapted into a 2019 film by Netflix, under the tit ...

, and ''The Barracuda Jazz Option'' (1994) with

Robert Webb Robert Patrick Webb (born 29 September 1972) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb, alongside David Mitchell. Webb and Mitchell both starred in the Channel 4 sitco ...

James Bachman James Hamilton Bachman (born 24 February 1972) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He has written for and acted in many British television and radio programmes, including ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'', ''Saxondale'', ''Bleak Expectati ...

and Liz Hurran. In her final year at Cambridge she co-presented a spoof radio show on the student radio station 'for a laugh' and discovered what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

Career

Breathwick began her broadcasting career in 1997 as a reporter at Radio 106 in Nottingham, a brand new independent regional station covering three counties. From there, she moved to local TV reporting and producing at Central News. In 1999 she joined News Direct 97.3, a rolling news radio station owned by ITN and based at Grays Inn Road in London. She has also hosted talk shows on

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadca ...

, both as sole host and as co-presenter with

Nick Abbot Nick Abbot (born 22 August 1960) is an English radio presenter and currently presents ''The Late Show'' on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on LBC. Early life and career Abbot was born on 22 August 1960, and was educated at George Heriot's School, ...

, Richard Mackney,

Mark Dolan Mark Dolan (born 17 March 1974) is an English comedian, writer, and presenter. He currently hosts ''Mark Dolan Tonight'' on GB News. He was the host of '' Balls of Steel'' from 2005 until 2008 on Channel 4. Early life Dolan attended Universit ...

and a former contestant on ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with various professional backg ...

'', Tre Azam. In 2005 Breathwick co-presented LBC News 1152 election coverage with veteran Sky News presenter

Bob Friend (newscaster) Bob Friend, MBE (20 January 1938 – 8 October 2008) was one of the original news anchors for the Sky News channel from its launch in 1989 until his retirement in late 2003. Journalism career Early days After completing his education at the Ski ...

. In 2008 Breathwick moved to Classic FM as the breakfast newsreader, alongside long-running host

Simon Bates Simon Philip Bates (born 17 December 1946) is an English disc jockey and radio presenter. Between 1976 and 1993 he worked at BBC Radio 1, presenting the station's weekday mid-morning show for most of this period. He later became a regular pres ...

. In 2015 she became the host of the overnight show at weekends on Classic FM, becoming the market-share leader for that slot in 2018. Breathwick hosts Q&As every summer at

Garsington Opera Garsington Opera is an annual summer opera festival founded in 1989 by Leonard Ingrams. The Philharmonia Orchestra and The English Concert are its two resident orchestras. For 21 years it was held in the gardens of Ingrams's home at Garsingto ...

held on

Mark Getty Sir Mark Harris Getty, (born 9 July 1960) is an Irish businessman who is the co-founder and chairman of Getty Images. Life and career A member of the prominent Getty family, he is the younger son of John Paul Getty Jr. and his first wife, ...

's estate in Buckinghamshire,

Wormsley Park Wormsley is a private estate of Mark Getty and his family, set in of rolling countryside in the Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire (formerly Oxfordshire), England. It is also the home of Garsington Opera. Acquired by Sir Paul Getty in 1985, the e ...

Personal life

Breathwick is married to

, the creator of

’s Death In Paradise, whom she met at school. They have two children. In 2015, Breathwick stood as a candidate for the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla ...

in the local council elections, securing 7% of the vote.

References

External links

Katie Breathwick on Classic FM

Katie Breathwick
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breathwick, Katie 1971 births Living people Mass media people from Leicester People from Oadby English radio presenters Green Party of England and Wales people British women radio presenters People educated at Uppingham School People educated at Loughborough High School Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge