| Kate Humble | |
|---|---|
Kate Humble on the Springwatch farm |
|
| Born | 12 December 1968 Wimbledon, Greater London, England |
| Occupation | Television presenter, RSPB President |
| Spouse | Ludo Graham (1992-present) |
| Website | |
| KateHumble.co.uk | |
Katherine 'Kate' Humble (born 12 December 1968) is an English television presenter, mainly for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes. She is also the current President of the RSPB, and princess of Ternate.[1]
Contents |
Born in Wimbledon to Nick Humble and Diana Carter, she grew up in Bray in Berkshire and attended the Abbey School in Reading.
| “ | I was a very bad student. I had a fantastic Latin teacher which did mean I did Latin A-Level but other than that my school career wasn't something to be proud of. | ” |
|
—Kate Humble, BBC, 25 September 2001 |
||
After leaving school she travelled through Africa from Cape Town to Cairo, doing various jobs including waitressing, driving safari trucks and working on a crocodile farm. She has returned to Africa many times since. In 1994 she travelled around Madagascar, the subject of her first article for The Daily Telegraph travel section. Since then she has written articles about diving and cycling in Cuba, an 'exploding' lake in Cameroon, and hippopotamus conservation work in Ghana.
In 1990 Humble appeared for the first time as an actress in a TV production The Secret Life of Ian Fleming — and was credited as "Lauren Heston .... The redhead".[2]
Humble started her television career as a researcher, later transferring to presenting programmes such as Top Gear, Tomorrow's World and the 2001 series The Holiday Programme - You call the shots where the team travelled the world[3] doing whatever viewers recommended using the then-novel media of text messaging and emailing the team as they travelled.
Humble has specialised in presenting wildlife programmes, including Animal Park, Springwatch with Bill Oddie, Autumnwatch, Wild in Africa and SeaWatch.
From 2000 to 2005 she presented a BBC series called Rough Science, in which a number of scientists were set various challenges to be solved using just basic tools and supplies.
Humble presented The Blue Planet Live! on the 2008 UK tour at Wembley Arena, St. David's Hall in Cardiff and at Symphony Hall in Birmingham.[4]
Her BBC television series, The Hottest Place On Earth, is a record of a month spent living with the Afar people in Ethiopia's hostile Danakil Depression.[5]
She occasionally performs on the lecture circuit with a show based on her experiences with wildlife, titled Harassed by Hippos and Battered by Cod: A Humble Way to Make a Living.[6]
On 16 February 2009 she debuted in Countdown's Dictionary Corner.[7]
She founded the web site Stuff Your Rucksack that helps organisations around the world find the items they need by matching them with travellers.[8]
On 29 July 2009 Humble was the subject for the programme Who Do You Think You Are?[9] where she discovered that she had family connections to the Hartley Colliery Disaster. Her paternal grandfather Bill Humble was a test pilot who tested the Hawker Tempest and her maternal grandfather Stan Carter served as an officer in the RAF and after being shot down was held as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III at the time of "The Great Escape".
In August 2009 Humble presented a series of programmes for the BBC in which she makes a two thousand mile journey across the Middle East, following the ancient frankincense trade route of Arabia which first connected the Arab world with the West. The series culminates in her presenting frankincense, that she has carried throughout the journey, to be used in a Christmas service at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.[10]
She was recently on holiday in the northeastern region of Afghanistan where there were no signs of conflict but where the Wakhi locals were expected to be hostile. Instead, Humble found they were 'amongst the most astonishing, hospitable, warm, genuine people' she has ever met. They were also hard and tough, and Humble believes that 'if anyone thinks they are going to win a war against an Afghan they are insane!' She is writing about her experiences in Afghanistan for a forthcoming publication.[11]
From 3–7 May 2010 she appeared as the dictionary corner guest on Countdown.
In February 2011 Humble presented a 3 part series of programmes, The Spice Trail, on the trail of 6 of the world's most valuable spices revealing their history, trade, mythology and usage. Part 1 - Pepper & Cinnamon, Part 2 - Nutmeg & Cloves, Part 3 - Saffron & Vanilla.[12]
Humble is married to television producer Ludo Graham. They first met when she was aged 16, married in Newbury, Berkshire, in 1992, when she was 23, and have recently moved from Chiswick, West London to the Wye Valley, where they have wanted to live for 'a very long time'. The couple both enjoy diving, and take an annual two-month holiday in different parts of the world, most often in Africa. The couple have no children, and Humble has stated in interviews that she has no desire to have children in the future. In an interview in 2007[13][14] Humble revealed her enjoyment of public nudity:
| “ | One of life’s great joys is dancing naked in the sun. It makes me feel so good. Even now, there are all sorts of places in the world where you can take your clothes off and not be seen. -- Kate Humble | ” |
On 3 October 2009 Humble was appointed President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.[15] She is an honorary graduate of the Open University. Humble is a beekeeper and a member of the British Beekeepers Association.[16][17]
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||