Early life and education

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...

She was adopted by older parents, for whom she was an only child. In 2011, Willis said that she had never attempted to find her birth parents. Her poem on this subject, "Adoption", was recorded for a CD to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Career

Radio Tees TFM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Teesside and surrounding areas of County Durham and North Yorkshire. As of Septem ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

She joined the city's

Tyne Tees Television ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stud ...

in September 1981. Willis began presenting the weather for the network, despite admitting that it was not a subject she specialised in. The following year, she hosted her own

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

series, ''Wincey's Pets''. As part of the relaunch of

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...

by its new editor,

Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...

, Willis was "poached" from Tyne Tees. She replaced Commander David Philpott as the station's main weekday weather presenter on ''Good Morning Britain'' in May 1983. In doing so, she became

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 first national female weather presenter. In addition to this, Willis hosted other segments on TV-am, such as those featuring pets and animals. In 1985, she joined the game show ''Treasure Hunt'' as an adjudicator, working with

Anneka Rice Anne Lucinda Hartley Rice (born 4 October 1958), known professionally as Anneka Rice, is a Welsh-born television and radio presenter, broadcaster, journalist and painter. Early life and education Rice was born in Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales, ...

and

Kenneth Kendall Kenneth Kendall (7 August 1924 – 14 December 2012) was a British broadcaster. He worked for many years as a newsreader for the BBC, where he was a contemporary of fellow newsreaders Richard Baker and Robert Dougall. He is also remembered as ...

. Willis's first book, ''It's Raining Cats and Dogs'', written about her animals, was published in 1986, with an introduction by naturalist

Gerald Durrell Gerald Malcolm Durrell, (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island ...

. The same year saw the launch of ''The Weather Game'', a board game made by

Waddingtons Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of card games, card and board games. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the manager, actor and playwright Wilson Barrett, under the name ''Waddingtons Limited''. The name was c ...

and devised by Willis. In 1987, she left TV-am to focus on other television work and conservation projects. She appeared in the title role in the ''

Dick Whittington Richard Whittington (c. 1354–1423) of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal, City of London, was an English merchant and a politician of the late medieval period. He is also the real-life inspiration for the English folk tale ''Dick ...

'' pantomime at

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, alongside the

Chuckle Brothers The Chuckle Brothers were an English comedy double act comprising Barry David Elliott (24 December 1944 – 5 August 2018) and Paul Harman Elliott (born 18 October 1947). They were known for their BBC children's programme ''ChuckleVision'', w ...

, in 1988. In 1989, she co-starred with

Simon Groom Simon Groom (born 12 August 1950) is a British producer and director. He was a presenter of ''Blue Peter'' from 1978 to 1986. Early life Groom was born in Chesterfield in Derbyshire, and was brought up on a farm in Dethick, which he often vis ...

in ''Dick Whittington'' at the

Epsom Playhouse Epsom Playhouse is the main theatre in Epsom and Ewell, Surrey, England. Performances This 406-seat theatre hosts internationally travelling casts and comedy acts as part of their tours and amateur productions. In 1999, it was reported that Willis was working for a worm composting company, and had said that her television work "had just dried up". Willis was the presenter and narrator of ''Left-handed children: a guide for teachers and parents'', a 2010 educational video guide; she herself is left-handed. That year, it was announced that she would be presenting ''The Big Day Out'', a Saturday morning radio programme on

BBC Hereford & Worcester BBC Hereford & Worcester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and online via BBC Sounds from studios on Hylton Road in Worcester. According to RAJ ...

. Willis hosted the show from August 2010 until September 2012. She appeared as a contestant on the BBC television quiz show ''Celebrity Eggheads'' in December 2011.

Personal life

Willis previously lived in the former Winston railway station in County Durham, which was on the closed Barnard Castle line. Known for her love of animals, she had over 50 of them living in her home. While at TV-am, Willis also lived in a flat in Camden, north west London, returning to Barnard Castle every other weekend. She later moved to

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

. She is an advanced scuba diver. During her period of television fame, Willis was married to Malcolm, who worked in sales.

Bibliography

* ''It's Raining Cats and Dogs'', Elm Tree (, 1986) * ''Greendays'',

Red Fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

(, 1990) * ''Words'', Coleman, Bristow (, 1998)

References

External links

* * {{Twitter, id=winceywillis1
The Wincey Willis Blog

BFI Filmography
People from County Durham (before 1974) People from Herefordshire BBC radio presenters British women writers