Fiona Bruce
Fiona Bruce | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Fiona Bruce April 25, 1964 |
| Status | Married |
| Occupation(s) | Television producer, Newsreader, Presenter |
| Notable credit | BBC News at Ten Crimewatch UK |
| Spouse | Nigel Sharrocks |
| Children | 2 |
Fiona Bruce (born 25 April 1964 in Singapore) is a British journalist and television presenter. Since joining the BBC in 1989, she has gone on to present many programmes for the corporation including the BBC News at Ten, Real Story and Crimewatch UK, as well as appearing in programmes such as Call My Bluff.[1]
Biography
The daughter of a self-made man, who worked his way up from post boy to become Managing Director of a division of Unilever,[2] and adoptee mother Rosemary.[3] Bruce was born in Singapore and first schooled at St. George's British International School in Rome, and then the sixth form of Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College in New Cross, London. It was during this later period that she modelled for the stories in the teenage girls' magazine Jackie.[4]
Bruce studied French and Italian at Hertford College, Oxford, during which she was a self-confessed punk, and for one week had blue hair.[5]
Career
After leaving university, Bruce joined a management consultants for a year, and then an advertising agency for two:[6]
I dreaded the meetings, the tedium, the fact that I was in the wrong job. I was so unhappy. I used to cry in the loos at lunchtime.
She met the then editor of Panorama Tim Gardam at a wedding, and pestered him until he gave her a job as a researcher at the BBC on the programme in 1989. After becoming assistant assistant producer on Panorama, she made the change to presenting in 1992 as a reporter for Breakfast News. She then moved to BBC South East, appearing as an occasional presenter and reporter on Newsroom South East. During this time she also appeared on some weekend main BBC News bulletins and reported for Newsnight.
In 1999, as part of a major relaunch of the BBC's news output, Bruce was named secondary presenter of the Six O'Clock News bulletin. She presented the programme as cover for main presenter Huw Edwards as well as regularly on Fridays until a presenter reshuffle in January 2003 to coincide with the retirement of Michael Buerk and the move of Peter Sissons to the BBC News channel. Both Edwards and Bruce moved to presenting the BBC News at Ten and have presented the programme on their respective days since. By becoming presenter, she became the first woman to ever present the bulletin from launch in 2000.
Following the murder of Jill Dando, Bruce took over the position of co-presenter on Crimewatch UK alongside Nick Ross, until both were replaced by Kirsty Young towards the end of 2007. From December 2007 she has presented the Friday edition of the BBC News (8pm summary), in addition to the BBC News at Ten.
On 22 June 2007 it was announced that Bruce will replace Michael Aspel when he steps down as presenter of the Antiques Roadshow in Spring 2008.[7] She appeared in a BBC HD advert in 2008, featuring the same show, where she drove a car through a wall, before running towards a falling vase; the car explodes as she jumps to save the vase from crashing.
In the past, Bruce has also presented the BBC Radio 2 Sunday morning show.
Bruce has also been featured in an episode of Top Gear, which sees her sharing a lift with presenter of the show, Jeremy Clarkson. Clarkson goes on to comment "She does have quite a nice bottom... Did I just say that out loud?"
Vision Aid Overseas
Bruce is an Honorary Vice President of optical charity Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) alongside Trevor McDonald. In February 2005 Bruce did the voice over for VAO's Lifeline Appeal. In 2007 Bruce launched VAO's Annual Review.
Parody
Since the comedy programme Dead Ringers transferred to TV from radio, Bruce has been parodied by Jan Ravens, ruthlessly exaggerating her idiosyncratic feline mannerisms through innuendo. For example, during the 2006 European heat wave, when a hosepipe ban was put into effect in parts of the UK, one of the lines was, "I'm Fiona Bruce. There's never a hosepipe ban when I'm in the room."[2]
Criticisms
Bruce was criticised for showing "blatant bias" when interviewing Matt O'Connor, founder of Fathers 4 Justice for a BBC programme in 2004.[8] Bruce, who had featured in advertising campaigns for the feminist charity Women's Aid, was accused of having an axe to grind on the issue of domestic violence. Many, including Mr O'Connor felt she let her own personal view on domestic violence as an issue of gender take over the programme.[9] There were also concerns that O'Connor had originally been invited to speak about CAFCA and the Family Courts, yet the program was changed to focus on domestic violence.[10] Later, a BBC Committee investigating on behalf of the BBC Governors, concluded that there were some weaknesses in the programme when considered against the BBC's journalistic values of Truth and Accuracy, Serving the Public Interest, Impartiality and Diversity of Opinion, Independence and Accountability.[11]
Personal life
Bruce met her husband Nigel Sharrocks, who was then director of the advertising agency where she worked,[2] and is currently Managing Director of Aegis Group.[12] The couple have two children, son Sam and daughter Mia[6], and live in North London.[13]
References
- ^ She has also appeared as herself in Top Gear, in a lift with a Jeremy Clarkson and a bubble-car.
- ^ a b c "'I'm no career bitch'". The Observer. August 6, 2006. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
- ^ Sharon Feinstein (October 24, 1999). "The day I discovered my long-lost family". Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
- ^ "Fiona Bruce Modelled for Jackie Magazine". Merry Media News. 2007-04-09. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
- ^ "60 SECONDS: Fiona Bruce". Associated Metro Limited. 2006-12-12. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
- ^ a b "Fiona Bruce's wild days". BBC News. 18 December, 2003. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Bruce to host Antiques Roadshow". BBC News. (2007-06-22). Retrieved 2007-06-22.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Was Real Story 'the real story'?". BBC. 2004-11-25. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20050207191958/http://www.fathers.ca/bbc's_fiona_bruce.htm
- ^ Angry fathers attack 'biased' Bruce | Society | The Observer
- ^ "Programme Complaints: Appeals to the Governors". BBC Governors. July 2005. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
- ^ "Nigel Sharrocks". Retrieved 2008-01-26.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|publsiher=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ "'Life is very good'". The Telegraph. June 28, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-26.