| Joanna Gosling | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 January 1971 |
| Education | Aylesbury High School University of Birmingham University of Grenoble |
| Occupation | Journalist, Newsreader |
| Spouse(s) | Craig Oliver (1996–present)[1] |
| Children | 3[2] |
| Notable credit(s) | Central News Sky News BBC Breakfast BBC News Channel BBC Weekend News |
Joanna Marie Mussett Gosling (born 5 January 1971) is a television news presenter, broadcast journalist and author. She presents on the United Kingdom rolling news channel BBC News, as well as occasionally on the Saturday evening and late editions of the BBC Weekend News on BBC One. Having previously worked for Independent Local Radio, Central Television in the Midlands and Sky News she has been with the BBC since 1999. Gosling is a graduate of the University of Birmingham from which she obtained a degree in French, and the University of Grenoble. She is married to Craig Oliver, who is British Prime Minister David Cameron's Head of Communications. Her first book, Simply Wonderwoman – a guide for busy working women with children – was published in 2011.
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The oldest of three siblings, Gosling grew up in Buckinghamshire, where she was educated at Aylesbury High School in Aylesbury. She was academic and had a flair for languages, and went on from school to study at the University of Birmingham, from where she has a degree in French. However, after graduating she decided on a career in broadcast journalism.[1] She attended the University of Grenoble in France, and had originally wanted to be a war correspondent.[3]
She started her broadcasting career as a trainee reporter, completing a series of work placements at Birmingham's BBC WM, Fox FM in Oxfordshire and BBC Radio Scotland in Edinburgh, before securing her first full-time position with Independent Radio News.[3][4] She worked as a freelance reporter for Central Television and later Sky News, and has been with the BBC since August 1999.[4][1] As a presenter on BBC News 24 Gosling initially worked on the overnight slot when the channel was simulcast with BBC One and BBC World,[4] before moving to the 9am - 1pm morning shift with Ben Geoghegan, and then Phillip Hayton.[5] Along with Hayton she was part of the team which anchored coverage of the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks in 2002.[6] In December 2003, she moved to a weekend evening slot on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with Chris Lowe. She had taken over from Anna Jones who moved to her old weekday slot alongside Hayton. During summer 2006, she also appeared as an occasional presenter on BBC Breakfast.
Since 2007 Gosling has been one of the regular presenters of the evening news on the BBC News Channel alongside Ben Brown, between 7pm and 10pm from Monday to Thursday. Until February 2008, the programme included the programme News 24 Tonight. Gosling can also occasionally be seen presenting the Saturday evening and late bulletins of BBC Weekend News on BBC One,[7] which she has done since 2008. She is also occasionally seen on BBC One presenting news specials.[8]
In April 2010 Gosling was at Heathrow Airport reporting on the events surrounding the air travel disruption following the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull which forced the closure of airspace throughout much of northern Europe.[9] In May 2010 she was seen reporting from Westminster in the aftermath of the 2010 general election as Labour and the Conservatives tried to negotiate a deal with the Liberal Democrats to form a coalition government,[10] and on 11 May broke the news that Gordon Brown would resign as Prime Minister.
She presented analysis of the televised economic debate following that programme on 23 June 2010 alongside Nicholas Owen, the programme being a response to the previous day's emergency budget,[11] and in August interviewed the jazz singer Jamie Cullum as he prepared to give a concert as part of the 2010 Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall.[12] In December 2010 she spoke to Matt Cardle, the winner of the seventh series of The X Factor, which had been announced the previous evening.[13] On 29 April 2011 she was part of the BBC team which presented coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.[14]
In 2008 a clip involving Gosling was included in a list of five "corpsing" on air moments by Channel 4 News, corpsing being a term used in broadcasting to describe someone breaking into uncontrollable laughter live on air. While presenting on the BBC News Channel, she has a giggling fit after forgetting the name of her co-presenter, Julian Worricker.[15]
She is briefly seen in the 2005 television film Supervolcano presenting a fictional breaking news item about an eruption of the volcanic caldera of Yellowstone National Park.[16]
Her first book, Simply Wonderwoman: A survival guide for women with too much to do, was published in October 2011 by Kyle Books. It is a how-to guide for busy working women with children.[17] The book was serialised in the Daily Mail.[18]
In September 2009 she was one of several BBC newsreaders to take part in a charity fundraiser in aid of Leonard Cheshire Disability and the Helen & Douglas House hospices. Gosling, Fiona Bruce, Kate Silverton, Sophie Raworth, and Emily Maitlis performed a medley of songs from The Sound of Music at the Newsroom's Got Talent contest in London, which was presided over by Piers Morgan and Arlene Philips. They lost out to a team from ITV News who performed songs from Grease.[19] For the 2010 contest in September 2010 she joined Jeremy Vine, Ben Brown and Naga Munchetty to perform a rendition of The Human League's Don't You Want Me?.[20][21]
Joanna Gosling is married to Craig Oliver, the Director of Communications for 10 Downing Street.[22] The couple have three children.[23] Oliver is a one time head of network programming at ITV News,[24] and former editor in chief of the BBC Six O'Clock and Ten O'Clock News. In May 2009 Oliver was appointed as the new deputy head of the corporation's multimedia newsroom, replacing Mary Hockaday, who had been promoted the previous month to be the new head of the operation that oversees all BBC News output.[25] Oliver was appointed Controller of English, BBC Global News in April 2010, with responsibility for multiplatform commissioning of all BBC Global News English output.[26] He took up this role after editing the BBC's 2010 general election coverage.[27] He was appointed to the position of David Cameron's Director of Communications in February 2011 following the resignation of his predecessor, Andy Coulson,[28] taking up the position at the end of that month.[29]
Joanna Gosling lives in west London with her husband and children in a house they purchased in 2004 from the sports presenter Mark Pougatch.[30] In July 2010 she appeared at the Chiswick Summer Fair where she swapped her role as a news presenter for that of a sports commentator to oversee the Fair's tug of war contest.[31] Her hobbies include yoga, running, film and cooking.[4]
She is director of Paya Ltd, a company she founded along with her husband in 2005. Oliver has served as company secretary, but declared his intention to relinquish that role on taking up his position at Downing Street.[30]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Central News | Reporter/presenter | |
| Unknown | Sky News | Reporter | |
| 1999–present | BBC News Channel | Presenter | |
| 2003 | BBC News Special: Oscar Nominations | Presenter | |
| 2005 | Supervolcano | Herself | Briefly seen reading a fictional news item about a volcanic eruption at Yellowstone National Park |
| 2006 | BBC Breakfast | Presenter | |
| 2007 | Diana: 10 Years On[32] | Presenter | News archive programme marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales |
| 2007–2008 | News 24 Tonight | Presenter | |
| 2008–present | BBC Weekend News | Presenter | Presents Saturday's early evening and late bulletins on BBC One on rota with other newsreaders |
| 2010 | Britain's Economy: Cameron and Clegg Face the Audience | Presenter | Presented post-debate analysis with Nicholas Owen |