Sophie Cook (born 4 January 1967) is a British author, broadcaster, photographer and politician.
Early life
Cook was born in
Bournemouth
Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...
,
Hampshire (now
Dorset) on 4 January 1967.
Career
Cook was a jet engine technician in the
Royal Air Force from 1983 to 1991. She served on
Tornado aircraft and in 1985, at the age of 18, saved the life of a colleague following an explosion on an aircraft.
After spending most of the 1990s in
Saudi Arabia, she returned to the UK in 1998 where she became a photographer with a varied portfolio, including stints as club photographer at
AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...
and a long connection to
Peter Doherty and
The Libertines.
Cook used her profile to speak out against the stigma surrounding mental health and bigotry, including an appearance at
TEDx Brighton in 2018.
She became a news anchor and TV chat show host for Latest TV in
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, becoming the first transgender newscaster in Europe.
Her autobiography, ''Not Today: How I Chose Life'', was released in 2018 as a self-help book for those struggling with mental health or identity.
Political career
In
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, Cook stood as the
Labour general election candidate in
East Worthing and Shoreham
East Worthing and Shoreham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Tim Loughton of the Conservative Party.
Boundaries
The District of Adur, and the Borough of Worthing wards of Broadwater, Gais ...
, where she came second with 39.3% of the vote.
Supported by the activist group
Momentum
In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...
and trade union
Unite the Union, she sought the Labour Party's nomination to stand again in the
2019 general election. She was removed from the shortlist over questions about the bankruptcy of a previous company she ran, but the process was stopped after the other two candidates withdrew in protest. The selection began again with Cook on the shortlist, but she wasn't selected. She stood as an
independent candidate
An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent.
Some politicians have political views th ...
instead, but withdrew from active campaigning, citing harassment that she was receiving and its effect on her mental health as the reason for doing so.
In 2019, she set up the Sophie Cook Foundation in order to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health in schools, colleges and universities.
Personal life
Cook is a
transgender woman, and began to transition in 1998. Having struggled with her gender identity from childhood and with her mental health, notably
posttraumatic stress disorder,
self harming and
suicidal ideation
Suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, means having thoughts, ideas, or ruminations about the possibility of ending one's own life.World Health Organization, ''ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics'', ver. 09/2020MB26.A Suicidal ideatio ...
both during and after her military service, Cook transitioned in July 2015 while working at AFC Bournemouth. In doing so, she became the first transgender person to work in
Premier League football.
Honours
Cook was awarded an honorary doctorate by
Bournemouth University for her work raising awareness of mental health issues in November 2019, and invited to become a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 2020. In 2020 Cook was recognised for her campaigning on behalf of the LGBT community by the British LGBT Awards with the Outstanding Contribution to LGBT+ Life Award.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Sophie
1967 births
Living people
21st-century English women artists
21st-century English women writers
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
20th-century British photographers
20th-century English women artists
21st-century British photographers
21st-century English women politicians
British television newsreaders and news presenters
English television presenters
Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
Mass media people from Bournemouth
Photographers from Dorset
Transgender women politicians
Transgender women writers
Transgender women artists
Transgender photographers
English transgender writers
English LGBT photographers
English LGBT broadcasters
Military personnel from Bournemouth
Politicians from Bournemouth
British women photographers