Rachel Mary Ann Cecilia Burden (born 22 January 1975 in Marlow,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is a newsreader, radio news reporter and presenter. She has presented the

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 ...

weekday breakfast show since 2011. She is also one of the main weekend presenters of ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television Breakfast television, breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News (TV channel), BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from ...

''.

Early life

The fourth of five children, Burden is the only daughter of former BBC journalist Paul Burden and his wife, and the niece of the actor

Hugh Burden Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden''The Daily Telegraph'', 25 July 1962 (3 April 1913 – 16 May 1985) was a British actor and playwright. Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden was the eldest son of Harry Archibald Burden, a colonial official, and Caro Cecil n ...

. She went to school from 1987-93 at

Wycombe High School Wycombe High School is a girls' grammar school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire taking girls from the age of 11 to 18. The school became an academy in 2011, and in 2020 had 1,308 pupils. History The school was the first state grammar school for ...

, a girls'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in High Wycombe, taking English, History, Politics and Practical Music at A-level. After graduating from

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, she studied broadcast journalism at

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

Career

Burden began her career as a reporter at BBC Radio Suffolk, and 15 months later joined BBC Radio Bristol where she co-hosted the early morning breakfast show, working alongside Nigel Dando, the brother of the murdered presenter Jill Dando. She joined Radio 5 Live in 2003, the day before her father retired from the BBC. She took over the weekday breakfast show from

Shelagh Fogarty Shelagh Fogarty (born 13 January 1966) is a radio and television presenter and journalist. She currently presents the afternoon programme on LBC, having previously co-hosted the BBC Radio 5 Live breakfast show with Nicky Campbell. Early life Fo ...

in May 2011, alongside co-presenter Nicky Campbell. Burden made her debut on the ''

'' television programme as a relief

presenter A presenter is a person or organization responsible for the running of a public event, or someone who conveys information on media via a broadcasting outlet. Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a new ...

on Saturday 23 August 2015.

Personal life

Burden is married to journalist Luke Mendham and has four children. The family live in Knutsford,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

References

External links

*
''5 Live Breakfast''
(BBC Radio 5 Live) {{DEFAULTSORT:Burden, Rachel 1975 births Living people Alumni of Cardiff University Alumni of Trinity College Dublin BBC Radio 5 Live presenters British radio personalities Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom People educated at Wycombe High School People from Marlow, Buckinghamshire