Jennie Bond
Encyclopedia
Jennifer "Jennie" Bond is an English
journalist
and television presenter. She worked for fourteen years as the BBC
's royal correspondent. She has most recently hosted Cash in the Attic
and narrated the five series programme, Great British Menu
.
in Letchworth
, Hertfordshire
and at the University of Warwick
, from where she graduated with a degree in French and European Literature. Her career began in print, working for various local newspapers in London
in journalism and sub-editing roles. Her first job in journalism was as a reporter for the Richmond Herald and then the Uxbridge Evening Mail.
In 1977, aged 27, Bond moved to BBC
radio, producing and editing. She was also a producer on Woman's Hour, Tuesday Call, International Assignment and for various television documentaries. She studied piano with distinguished Pianist John Gough at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester for a number of years and still plays for fun.
and the BBC Six O'Clock News
, including presenting the Six O'Clock News on the day of the death of her close friend and fellow news reader Jill Dando
.
Bond held the position as royal correspondent until the summer of 2003. During that time she reported on many dramatic and notable events to do with the British Royal Family
, including the 1992 Windsor Castle fire, two royal weddings, the break-up of The Duke of York
's marriage to Sarah Ferguson
, the divorce of The Prince
and Princess of Wales
, the deaths of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and The Princess Margaret
and has reported on The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh
's celebrations of her Golden Jubilee
. She has also travelled extensively with the Royal Family. She was in Australia
, in January 1994, when an attempt was made to shoot the Prince of Wales.
She travelled with Diana, Princess of Wales on her trip to Angola
, with the Queen on her first official visits to Russia
in 1994 and when she met Nelson Mandela
in South Africa
a year later. However, her hardest and most challenging assignments were when she had to report on the death
and funeral
of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
Bond's reporting style suggested that she was very close personally to members of the Royal Family. She commented that she had become close to Diana and that her death came as a great shock. She actually instigated her first meeting with Diana. She sent a note, suggesting that if she was to report on Diana properly then she should at least know what her character was actually like, not basing her thoughts on stories that had appeared in newspapers. She commented on that meeting at Kensington Palace
, stating: "Princess Diana was charming, articulate, fresh, interesting, but manipulative. She knew I was a journalist. This was no girlie-girlie meeting."
She wrote a book in 2001 called Reporting Royalty, which tells how she covered the Royal Family in the 1990s. Impressionists such as Ronni Ancona
on Alistair McGowan's Big Impression took to spoofing Bond's royal reports by posing as Bond and pretending to be the Queen herself, crown and all; in one sketch it was announced that Bond was to imminently accede to the throne.
. In February 2004 she proved popular with the public, when she finished as runner-up in the third series of the reality TV
show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. This episode, broadcast on 9 February, received viewing figures of 14.99 million, making it the most watched programme on ITV
and BBC One
that week.
Bond appeared on "I'm a celebrity" to raise money for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust
and raised £260,989.85 which the charity used to buy a state-of-the-art navigation system and to extend its helicopter flying time throughout the summer. During her time on the reality television show, she was required to do various 'bushtucker' trials, which involved her eating various creatures such as a stick insect and a witchety grub, as well as being placed in a dark, water-filled coffin with rat
s for ten minutes. She also fell out with fellow contestant Lord Brocket
during the programme.
She subsequently presented American TV cable and satellite network E!
's coverage of the BAFTA film awards, Live from the Red Carpet
. She also presented her own three part documentary called Jennie Bond's Royals on Five and in 2005, she presented the BBC's daytime coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show
, alongside Charlie Dimmock
. In the same year, Bond appeared in Have I Been Here Before?
. More recently she appeared in Posh Swap on Five, where she was transformed into a Brummie
woman. She had to convince two of her best friends she really was the Brummie lass. Bond was also the host for the first series of Great British Menu
, in which different chefs have to compete by cooking meals; the winner of the first series had the chance to cook for the Queen on her 80th birthday. Bond has presented the BBC's Cash in the Attic
. In 2006, she was a celebrity guest on Stars in Their Eyes
where she sang as Debbie Harry
. She presented the second series of Great British Menu during April and May 2007.
On 28 July 2007, Jennie Bond appeared in a special celebrity version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
with Michael Buerk
to raise money for NCH
, the children's charity, (now called 'Action for Children'). In a combined effort, they raised £64,000. On 22 August 2007, she presented an episode of Driving Me Crazy which saw her investigating whether the authorities are giving motorists excessive penalties through speeding fines and parking tickets.
She has also starred as the celebrity 'hider' in a 2008 episode of the CBBC
show Hider in the House
. In the show, she managed to complete all her challenges without being 'discovered'. She (also in 2008), hosted a show called Lost Royals.
Bond also took part in ITV's entertainment show Born To Shine
in aid of Save The Children
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and television presenter. She worked for fourteen years as the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's royal correspondent. She has most recently hosted Cash in the Attic
Cash in the Attic
Cash in the Attic, also Cash in the Celebrity Attic, is a UK television show on the BBC. The show, made by , premièred in 2002 and has run for sixteen series; as of February 2010, the seventeenth series is currently in production, along with the fifth celebrity series...
and narrated the five series programme, Great British Menu
Great British Menu
Great British Menu is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four course banquet. The first series banquet was for the Queen on her 80th birthday. The second series was to cook for the British Ambassador to France at the British Embassy...
.
Early career
She was educated at St. Francis' College, a girls' independent schoolIndependent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
in Letchworth
Letchworth
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The town's name is taken from one of the three villages it surrounded - all of which featured in the Domesday Book. The land used was first purchased by Quakers who had intended to farm the...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
and at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
, from where she graduated with a degree in French and European Literature. Her career began in print, working for various local newspapers in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in journalism and sub-editing roles. Her first job in journalism was as a reporter for the Richmond Herald and then the Uxbridge Evening Mail.
In 1977, aged 27, Bond moved to BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio, producing and editing. She was also a producer on Woman's Hour, Tuesday Call, International Assignment and for various television documentaries. She studied piano with distinguished Pianist John Gough at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester for a number of years and still plays for fun.
Royal correspondent
In 1985 Bond became a radio news reporter and in 1988 she commenced reporting on television. She began her role as royal correspondent, which was to bring her to public attention, in 1989. During the 1990s she combined her reporting role with several presenting ones - regularly fronting BBC Breakfast News, the BBC One O'Clock NewsBBC One O'Clock News
The BBC News at One is the afternoon news bulletin from the BBC. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel on Monday to Sunday 1:00pm....
and the BBC Six O'Clock News
BBC Six O'Clock News
The BBC News at Six is the evening news programme broadcast each night on British television channel BBC One and the BBC News channel at 18:00. For a long period the News at Six was the most watched news programme in the UK but since 2006 it has been over taken by the BBC News at Ten...
, including presenting the Six O'Clock News on the day of the death of her close friend and fellow news reader Jill Dando
Jill Dando
Jill Wendy Dando was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader who worked for the BBC for 14 years. She was murdered by gunshot outside her home in Fulham, West London; her killer has never been identified....
.
Bond held the position as royal correspondent until the summer of 2003. During that time she reported on many dramatic and notable events to do with the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
, including the 1992 Windsor Castle fire, two royal weddings, the break-up of The Duke of York
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Prince Andrew, Duke of York KG GCVO , is the second son, and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
's marriage to Sarah Ferguson
Sarah, Duchess of York
Sarah, Duchess of York is a British charity patron, spokesperson, writer, film producer, television personality and former member of the British Royal Family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, whom she married from 1986 to 1996...
, the divorce of The Prince
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
and Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
, the deaths of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and The Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI....
and has reported on The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
's celebrations of her Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was the international celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries, upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50...
. She has also travelled extensively with the Royal Family. She was in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in January 1994, when an attempt was made to shoot the Prince of Wales.
She travelled with Diana, Princess of Wales on her trip to Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, with the Queen on her first official visits to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
in 1994 and when she met Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
a year later. However, her hardest and most challenging assignments were when she had to report on the death
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Fayed's...
and funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
Bond's reporting style suggested that she was very close personally to members of the Royal Family. She commented that she had become close to Diana and that her death came as a great shock. She actually instigated her first meeting with Diana. She sent a note, suggesting that if she was to report on Diana properly then she should at least know what her character was actually like, not basing her thoughts on stories that had appeared in newspapers. She commented on that meeting at Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and...
, stating: "Princess Diana was charming, articulate, fresh, interesting, but manipulative. She knew I was a journalist. This was no girlie-girlie meeting."
She wrote a book in 2001 called Reporting Royalty, which tells how she covered the Royal Family in the 1990s. Impressionists such as Ronni Ancona
Ronni Ancona
Ronni Ancona is a Scottish actress, impressionist and author. Ancona won the Best TV Comedy Actress award at the 2003 British Comedy Awards for her work in Big Impression.- Career :...
on Alistair McGowan's Big Impression took to spoofing Bond's royal reports by posing as Bond and pretending to be the Queen herself, crown and all; in one sketch it was announced that Bond was to imminently accede to the throne.
Life after the BBC
Following her departure from the BBC in 2003, Bond's career took a different turn. In 2003, she made an appearance in an episode of the comedy series Little BritainLittle Britain
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas...
. In February 2004 she proved popular with the public, when she finished as runner-up in the third series of the reality TV
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. This episode, broadcast on 9 February, received viewing figures of 14.99 million, making it the most watched programme on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
that week.
Bond appeared on "I'm a celebrity" to raise money for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust
Devon Air Ambulance Trust
The Devon Air Ambulance is an organisation providing emergency medical services through the provision of two helicopter air ambulances covering the county of Devon in the South West of England, United Kingdom...
and raised £260,989.85 which the charity used to buy a state-of-the-art navigation system and to extend its helicopter flying time throughout the summer. During her time on the reality television show, she was required to do various 'bushtucker' trials, which involved her eating various creatures such as a stick insect and a witchety grub, as well as being placed in a dark, water-filled coffin with rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s for ten minutes. She also fell out with fellow contestant Lord Brocket
Charles Nall-Cain, 3rd Baron Brocket
Charles Ronald George Nall-Cain, 3rd Baron Brocket , also known as Charlie Brocket, is a peer, former prisoner and television presenter in the United Kingdom....
during the programme.
She subsequently presented American TV cable and satellite network E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
's coverage of the BAFTA film awards, Live from the Red Carpet
Red Carpet
Red Carpet is a software management tool for Linux that was developed as part of the Ximian desktop. Ximian and therefore Red Carpet is now owned by Novell....
. She also presented her own three part documentary called Jennie Bond's Royals on Five and in 2005, she presented the BBC's daytime coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show
Chelsea Flower Show
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show, is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in Chelsea, London...
, alongside Charlie Dimmock
Charlie Dimmock
Charlie Dimmock is an English gardening expert and TV presenter. She was one of the team on Ground Force, a BBC gardening makeover programme.-Early years:...
. In the same year, Bond appeared in Have I Been Here Before?
Have I Been Here Before?
Have I Been Here Before? is an ITV daytime programme, presented by Phillip Schofield, made by ITV Productions. The programme offers celebrity guests the chance to see if they have lived before, in a past life...
. More recently she appeared in Posh Swap on Five, where she was transformed into a Brummie
Brummie
Brummie is a colloquial term for the inhabitants, accent and dialect of Birmingham, England, as well as being a general adjective used to denote a connection with the city, locally called Brum...
woman. She had to convince two of her best friends she really was the Brummie lass. Bond was also the host for the first series of Great British Menu
Great British Menu
Great British Menu is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four course banquet. The first series banquet was for the Queen on her 80th birthday. The second series was to cook for the British Ambassador to France at the British Embassy...
, in which different chefs have to compete by cooking meals; the winner of the first series had the chance to cook for the Queen on her 80th birthday. Bond has presented the BBC's Cash in the Attic
Cash in the Attic
Cash in the Attic, also Cash in the Celebrity Attic, is a UK television show on the BBC. The show, made by , premièred in 2002 and has run for sixteen series; as of February 2010, the seventeenth series is currently in production, along with the fifth celebrity series...
. In 2006, she was a celebrity guest on Stars in Their Eyes
Stars In Their Eyes
Stars in Their Eyes is a British television talent show that ran on Saturdays nights from 21 July 1990 until 23 December 2006 in which contestants impersonate showbiz stars...
where she sang as Debbie Harry
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
. She presented the second series of Great British Menu during April and May 2007.
On 28 July 2007, Jennie Bond appeared in a special celebrity version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million pounds for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty...
with Michael Buerk
Michael Buerk
Michael Duncan Buerk is a BBC journalist and newsreader, most famous for his reporting of the Ethiopian famine on 23 October 1984, which inspired the Band Aid charity record.-Early life:...
to raise money for NCH
NCH
Action for Children is a national children’s charity in the United Kingdom that supports and speaks out for the most vulnerable and neglected children, young people, families and their communities....
, the children's charity, (now called 'Action for Children'). In a combined effort, they raised £64,000. On 22 August 2007, she presented an episode of Driving Me Crazy which saw her investigating whether the authorities are giving motorists excessive penalties through speeding fines and parking tickets.
She has also starred as the celebrity 'hider' in a 2008 episode of the CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
show Hider in the House
Hider in the House
Hider in the House was a British children's game show presented by Jason King and Joel Ross . In the programme, a celebrity had to be hidden in a family's house by three children and a parent. If the family have fewer than three children, they use friends or related children to make up the numbers...
. In the show, she managed to complete all her challenges without being 'discovered'. She (also in 2008), hosted a show called Lost Royals.
Bond also took part in ITV's entertainment show Born To Shine
Born to Shine
Born To Shine was an ITV entertainment programme which featured celebrities who learn a new skill taught to them by talented teenagers, live on ITV. It was presented by Natasha Kaplinsky.-Format:...
in aid of Save The Children
Save the Children
Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...
.