Polly James (formerly Polly Lake; born ) is a Welsh radio and television presenter. She has presented for

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British National radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via Digital audio broadcasting and on 1215 kHz MW. History 1993–1997: Virg ...

, Radio X, and

Capital South Wales Capital South Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cardiff and Newport and the surrounding areas from studios in Cardiff Bay. History The station ...

. She has been a television sports broadcaster, covering

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

, as well as the ''Late Night Football Club'',

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

's chat show for the duration of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

' participation in the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Background

James was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales, and lived in

Llanishen Llanishen (Welsh Llanisien ''llan'' church + ''Isien'' Saint Isan) is a district and community in the north of Cardiff, Wales. Its population as of the 2011 census was 17,417. Llanishen is the home of the former HMRC tax offices, the talles ...

Rhiwbina Rhiwbina ( cy, Rhiwbeina, also ''Rhiwbina'') is a suburb and community in the north of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Formerly a small hamlet within the parish of Whitchurch, Rhiwbina was developed throughout the twentieth century, and is now a ...

and Thornhill in the city and then

Penarth Penarth (, ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg), Wales, exactly south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a weal ...

. She attended Stanwell Comprehensive in Penarth. She competed for Wales and GB Juniors in athletics at an underage level.

Career

James starting broadcasting in

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular ...

stations like Afan FM, and Bridge FM. After working for Nation Radio Wales, she presented an overnight show on

in the early 2010's, moving to

in 2013. During

Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

's restructuring in 2019, her

breakfast show (with Matt Lissack) was cancelled and she moved to Radio X. It was later nominated for Breakfast Show of the year. She presented for Radio X Friday and Saturday nights in 2019. She has covered darts, rugby, football and boxing as a sports broadcaster, and presented for

Unibet Unibet provides a platform for sports betting, online casino, bingo and online poker to over 11 million customers in over 100 countries. Unibet is a part of Kindred Group–an online gambling operator which consists of 11 brands along with Maria Ca ...

on social media.

Personal life

James married fellow presenter Allan Lake and they founded a production company, Plush Productions, together in 2011. They divorced in the 2010's. She has one daughter and one son. In August 2018, her discovery of a homeless person sleeping on her porch made national headlines, and she rented out the property, with its unusual art collection (giant sheep, shark head, paintings by

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a nu ...

, a statue of

Freddy Krueger Freddy Krueger () is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. He was created by Wes Craven and made his debut in Craven's ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' (1984) as the malevolent spirit ...

and a door mural of Tom Jones in his underwear) in 2019. She has spoken out against social media

trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

, and in favour of

Welsh independence Welsh independence ( cy, Annibyniaeth i Gymru) is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. Wales was conquered during the 13th century by Edward I of England following the ki ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Polly Welsh women radio presenters Welsh radio DJs Welsh sports broadcasters Welsh women television presenters Mass media people from Cardiff Welsh art collectors 1980s births Living people Year of birth missing (living people)