Katy Hill (born 15 April 1971) is an English television presenter who has worked in television and radio in the UK since 1995. She presented the long-running children's programme '' Blue Peter'' from 1995 to 2000 and the flagship Saturday morning series ''

Live & Kicking ''Live & Kicking'' is a British children's television series that originally aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1993 to 15 September 2001. It was the replacement for ''Going Live!'', and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, c ...

'' from 2000 to 2001.

Early life and education

She was born in Poole,

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. Covering an area of , ...

where her father, Chris, was then a curate (trainee vicar) at a local church. Katy has two siblings: an elder brother, Simon; and a younger sister, Naomi. Hill gained nine 'O' levels and four 'A' Levels at St. Edward's Church of England School in

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and worked in a record shop before she started presenting. Hill worked for free at the local radio station

BBC Essex BBC Essex is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Essex. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on New London Road in Chelmsford. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 160,000 ...

, to gain the experience required to become a presenter.

Career

Hill began her media career with voluntary work in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

at EastWard Hospital Television, and presented ''Katy's Capers'' on

, before transferring to

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

. Whilst working for BBC channel controllers and the Head of Children's Television as a secretary, she bombarded the editor of '' Blue Peter'' with

showreel A showreel (also known as a demo reel, sizzle reel, or work reel) is a short video showcasing a person's previous work used by many kinds of people involved in filmmaking and other media, including actors, animators, lighting designers, editors, a ...

s, which resulted in her winning an audition place. On 23 June 1995, Hill joined the

Children's BBC BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC (short for Chi ...

television programme '' Blue Peter'', ultimately leaving on 19 June 2000. Her assignments included living with a family in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

for a week, training with the England football squad for a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

special, joining the

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

, and making objects from

yoghurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bact ...

pots and sticky-backed plastic. For her stint on ''Blue Peter'', Hill won the 2000 Children's

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

for Best Presenter. She returned for one edition on 30 March 2010, for the final programme to feature the dog Mabel. As a result of her work on ''Blue Peter'', Hill also presented ''

'', ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'', ''Football Fever'' (she supports Newcastle United) and ''2000 to 1'' with

Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...

, which was, for the final only, was part of '' 2000 Today''. She also presented the BBC's '' Holiday'' and went on to present the weekend breakfast show on

95.8 Capital FM 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 ...

. Hill has written for numerous magazines, including a regular column for ''Cosmopolitan Hair & Beauty'', ''Hello!'' and ''Closer''. In both 2000 and 2001, she presented the final of BBC One's ''

A Song for Europe A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...

'', the competition to select the United Kingdom's entry for the annual Eurovision Song Contest. In 2004, Hill appeared on the

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

reality series, '' The Games'', in which she came second overall in the female contenders, winning five out of the seven required disciplines. After Neil Fox quit as the long-running host of the networked '' Hit40UK'' (also in 2004), Hill - previously one of his stand-ins - was recruited, initially to co-host with Simon Hirst (aka 'Hirsty') each Sunday, from the studios of Capital Radio in London. Hill chose to leave after a year, due to other commitments, and Hirsty eventually went on to host the programme alone. Hill co-presented the concert held in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

where the host of the 2012 Olympics was announced, for which

was a candidate. When London was announced as the victor, Hill was seen cheering and shouting with joy with Olympian

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance athlete. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set British ...

. Hill is the face of

Arm & Hammer Arm & Hammer is a brand of baking soda-based consumer products marketed by Church & Dwight, a major American manufacturer of household products. The logo of the brand depicts the ancient symbol of a muscular arm holding a hammer inside a red ci ...

and has done three campaigns for the company. In May 2010, Hill joined women's lifestyle website iVillage.co.uk as a weekly blogger. She now hosts her own lifestyle and parenting blog at www.katyhill.com. In late December 2010, Hill acted as relief co-presenter on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's breakfast channel '' Daybreak''. Years later, between February 2015 and July 2017, she co-presented Heart Breakfast for

Heart Radio Heart is a British radio network and brand of 13 adult contemporary local stations operated by Global throughout the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the Heart stations are owned by Global, while th ...

in the Four Counties region with former ''Blue Peter'' colleague

Stuart Miles Stuart Miles (born 20 February 1969) is a British radio and television presenter, who has worked on the children's programme ''Blue Peter''. Career Miles studied at Bournemouth University where he developed an interest in college radio, follow ...

Personal life

Hill married childhood sweetheart and record producer Andrew Frampton in 1999. The marriage lasted two years before they divorced. Hill then began dating fellow ''Live & Kicking'' presenter

Trey Farley Trey Farley (born Jason Farley on 1 July 1975 in Manila, Philippines) is a TV producer/director and broadcaster, best known for presenting the BBC Children's Saturday flagship morning show ''Live & Kicking''. Early life Farley's father is Engli ...

. They became engaged after he proposed to her, while on holiday in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, and the couple married in

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

on 4 July 2004. They now live in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, and have a daughter, Kaya Sky, born in 2006, and a son, Akira, born in 2007.

References

External links

*
Official websiteEastWard Hospital TelevisionHill's iVillage Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Katy Blue Peter presenters English television presenters People from Poole 1971 births Living people