Siân Mary Lloyd (born 3 July 1958) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

and meteorologist from

Maesteg Maesteg is a town and community (Wales), community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2011, Maesteg had a population of 20,612. The English ...

. She was the United Kingdom's longest-serving

female Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gamet ...

weather forecaster, having appeared on

ITV Weather ITV Weather is the national and regional forecast shown on UK terrestrial network ITV, and is provided by the Met Office (except the Channel Islands forecast, which is provided by the Jersey Meteorological Department). Bulletins are usually bro ...

for 24 years, from 1990 until 2014.

Biography

Lloyd was born in

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

, the daughter of two teachers. She attended

Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera Bro Dur is a Welsh-medium comprehensive school in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The school provides education to three to eighteen-year-old pupils in Neath Port Talbot and south Powys from three campuses in Ystalyfera and ...

, and in 1975 performed at the

Urdd National Eisteddfod The Urdd National Eisteddfod ( cy, Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Urdd Gobaith Cymru or ''Eisteddfod Genedlaethol yr Urdd'') is an annual Welsh-language youth festival of literature, music and performing arts organised by Urdd Gobaith Cymru. Arguably Eur ...

where she won the Crown. She graduated with first-class honours from University College, Cardiff (now

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 ...

), before going on to

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship St ...

where she began work for a post-graduate

B.Litt. Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been t ...

degree in

Celtic Studies Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art histor ...

, but she left after a year without graduating. She has meteorology qualifications from the Met Office College, a distinction, and frequently appears in TV documentaries about the weather. Lloyd started her media career as a researcher for the ''

BBC Wales Today ''BBC Wales Today'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Wales, broadcast on BBC One Wales from the headquarters of BBC Cymru Wales in Central Square, Cardiff. According to the BBC, it is the world's longest-running television ne ...

'' nightly news programme, having responded to an advert in the media pages of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. She then became an announcer for S4C. During a themed premiere for the film '' The Avengers'' (1998) she dressed in a skin-tight black catsuit, for which she won the prize for best costume. Whilst working for

Worldwide Television News {{About, the global video news agency, TVRI television programme, Dunia Dalam Berita, the airlines of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Airlines, the Indonesian public television, TVRI Associated Press Television News, also referred to as AP Video and often abbr ...

in London, she was asked to work with the

Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...

on documentaries about the weather. She then screen tested for the

in 1990 and was appointed to a post which had 200 applicants. Lloyd won the

Television and Radio Industries Club The Television and Radio Industries Club (widely known as TRIC) is a British institution chartered in 1931 to "promote goodwill in the television and radio industries". The Club holds an annual awards ceremony each March honouring achievement in te ...

(TRIC) award for the best TV weather presenter in 2005 and 2007. For a time, she additionally presented ''

ITV News London ''ITV News London'' is a British television news service broadcast on both ITV London and the ITV Hub. It is produced by ITN. History London News Network The programme launched on Monday 4 January 1993 as ''London Tonight'', after Carlton T ...

'' weather forecasts. In February 2014 she left ITV to "pursue new opportunities". Proud of being Welsh, she set up SWS (which means "kiss" in Welsh, and standing for "Social, Welsh and Sexy"), a Welsh networking club, in partnership with entertainer Stifyn Parri in the

Groucho Club The Groucho Club is a private members' club formed in 1985 located on Dean Street in London's Soho. Its members are mostly drawn from the publishing, media, entertainment and arts industries. The club has rooms on several floors, including th ...

Bryn Terfel Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, (; born 9 November 1965) (known professionally as Bryn Terfel) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', ''Leporello'' and ''D ...

and

Siân Phillips Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress. She has performed the title roles in Ibsen's ''Hedda Gabler'' and George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan''. Early life Phi ...

are now patrons. In 2007, Lloyd won the UK

Rear of the Year Rear of the Year was a British award for celebrities who were considered to have an attractive posterior. It was created by publicity consultant Anthony Edwards in 1976. Initially, it was awarded only to women, but in 1986 the first award was ...

competition, making her the oldest woman to win the title. She also starred as the 'hidden' celebrity in an episode of the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

show ''

Hider in the House ''Hider in the House'' is a British children's game show presented by Jason King and Joel Ross (aka JK and Joel). In the programme, a celebrity has to be hidden in a family's house by three children and a parent. If the family has fewer than t ...

''. Lloyd also helped support Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association, and in 2007 attended the launch of the Fill in the Gaps campaign. In March 2008, Lloyd published her autobiography, entitled ''A Funny Kind of Love''. In Spring 2010, Lloyd presented the first series of

Wedding TV Wedding TV was a woman's lifestyle television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom. Separate versions of the channel were available in Poland and Italy. The channel claims to be the first TV channel of its kind, concentrating on love, life, re ...

's ''The Great Cake Bake''. Lloyd appeared on ITV's reality television show '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'', but was the shock first celebrity to be eliminated by the public vote. She also took part in a celebrity version of the TV show ''

Total Wipeout ''Total Wipeout'' is a British game show, hosted by Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram, which first aired on the BBC on 3 January 2009. In each episode, contestants competed in a series of challenges in an attempt to win £10,000. These challen ...

'' which aired on 18 September 2010. Lloyd appeared on ''Celebrity

First Dates ''First Dates'' is a British reality television programme that has aired on Channel 4 since 20 June 2013. The programme has been narrated by Brian Protheroe since 2015. Production The programme was filmed at the Paternoster Chop House restaur ...

'' in 2015.

Personal life

While at

, she met Mark Cavendish, a relative of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and now a businessman. They were together for 14 years, often visiting the family seat at

Chatsworth House Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the House of Cavendish, Cavendish family sin ...

. From 2002, Lloyd was in a relationship with

Lembit Öpik Lembit Öpik (, ; born 2 March 1965) is a former British politician. A former member of the Liberal Democrats, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Montgomeryshire in Wales from 1997 until he lost his seat at the ...

, then the MP for

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire, also known as ''Maldwyn'' ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn meaning "the Shire of Baldwin's town"), is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It is named after its county tow ...

, and was engaged to him from 2004 to October 2006. They lived at a house they bought together in Öpik's constituency outside Newtown,

Powys Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...

, and were due to marry in 2006. They had met at a Liberal Democrats conference session where the press meet the MPs, where they talked and she lost a ring. He found it, then lost it himself, then found it again two years later and called her; she had a spare ticket to go to

the Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

, and they began a relationship. She appeared on ''Celebrity

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and ...

'' with Öpik on 15 April 2006, winning £64,000 for charity. In December 2006 it was revealed that the relationship had broken down. Lloyd met motor racing entrepreneur Jonathan Ashman at

Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales ( cy, ysgrifennydd gwladol Cymru), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member ...

Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...

's 2007

St David's Day Saint David's Day ( cy, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant or ; ), or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD. The feast has been regularly celebr ...

party at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

. Ashman proposed to Lloyd in December 2007, on holiday, at the foot of

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. Lloyd and Ashman married in 2007 and divorced in 2015 after eight years.

Career

* Cardiff Broadcasting Company (1980–2) * ''

'', researcher (1982–84) * Development Board for Rural Wales, press officer (1984–86) * S4C, continuity announcer (1986–88) * Worldwide TV News (1988–90) *

(1990–2014) * ''

How 2 ''How 2'' is an informative educational programme produced by TVS between 1990 and 1991, and STV Studios (Scottish Television) from 1992 to 2006. The original show ('' How)'' was produced by Southern Television from 1966 up until 1981 when the ...

'' presenter (1997) * ''

The Apprentice UK ''The Apprentice'' is a British business-styled reality game show created by Mark Burnett, distributed by Fremantle and broadcast by the BBC since 16 February 2005. Devised after the success of the American original and part of the internatio ...

'' (Brief Appearance, in an ads campaign;Renaissance'
"I Love My Tissues" advert
at YouTube 2008) * Churchill Car Insurance as the lady feeding the dog sausages.

References

External links

Siân Lloyd – TVWeathergirl.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Sian 1958 births Living people Alumni of Cardiff University Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford ITV Weather People from Maesteg British television presenters People educated at Ysgol Maesteg School People educated at Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera Weather presenters Welsh-speaking journalists I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) participants