Siân Lloyd

Siân Lloyd
Born Siân Mary Lloyd
3 July 1958
Maesteg, Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Nationality Welsh
Occupation Presenter
Agent Siân's agent
Known for ITV Weather presenter
Spouse(s) Jonathan Ashman (m. 2007)
Website
Official website

Siân Lloyd (born 3 July 1958) is a Welsh television presenter and meteorologist. She is the UK's longest-serving female weather forecaster, having appeared on ITV Weather for 24 years, from 1990 until 2014.[1]

Biography

Lloyd was born in Maesteg, Bridgend, Wales, the daughter of two teachers. She attended Ystalyfera Bilingual School and in 1975 performed at the Urdd National Eisteddfod where she won the Crown. She graduated with first class honours from University College, Cardiff (now Cardiff University), before going on to Jesus College, Oxford where she started work for a post-graduate B.Litt. degree in Celtic Studies, but she left after a year without graduating.[2] She has meteorology qualifications from the Met Office College, a distinction, and frequently appears in TV documentaries about the weather.

Lloyd started her media career as a researcher for the BBC Wales Today nightly news programme, having responded to an advert in the media pages of the Guardian.[3] She then became an announcer for S4C. During a themed premiere for the film The Avengers she dressed in a skin-tight black catsuit, for which she won the prize for best costume.[4]

Whilst working for Worldwide Television News in London, she was asked to work with the Met Office on documentaries about the weather. She then screen tested for the ITV Weather in 1990 and beat 200 people to the job. Lloyd also won the Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) award for the best TV weather presenter in 2005 and 2007.[5] For a time, she additionally presented ITV News London weather forecasts. In February 2014 she left ITV to "pursue new opportunities".[1]

Proud of being Welsh, she set up SWS (meaning "kiss", and standing for "Social, Welsh and Sexy"),[6] a Welsh networking club, in partnership with entertainer Stifyn Parri in the Groucho Club. Bryn Terfel and Siân Phillips are now patrons.

In 2007, Lloyd won the UK Rear of the Year competition, making her the oldest woman to win the title. She also starred as the 'hidden' celebrity in an episode of the CBBC show Hider in the House. Lloyd also helped support Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association, and in 2007 attended the launch of the Fill in the Gaps campaign.[7]

In March 2008, Lloyd published an autobiography, entitled A Funny Kind of Love.[8]

In Spring 2010, Lloyd presented the first series of Wedding TV's 'The Great Cake Bake'.

Lloyd appeared in ITV's reality television show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!, but was the shock first celebrity to be eliminated by the public vote. She also took part in a celebrity version of TV show Total Wipeout which aired on 18 September 2010.

Personal life

While at Cardiff University, she met Mark Cavendish, a relative of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and now a businessman. They were together for 14 years, often visiting the family seat at Chatsworth House.

From 2002 Lloyd was in a relationship with Lembit Öpik, the MP for Montgomeryshire, and was engaged to him from 2004 to October 2006. They lived at a house they bought together in Öpik's constituency outside Newtown, Powys, and were due to marry in 2006. They had met at a Liberal Democrats conference session where the press meet the MPs, where they talked and she lost a ring. He found it, then lost it himself, then found it again two years later and called her; she had a spare ticket to go to the Proms, and they began a relationship.[9][10] She appeared on Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? with Öpik on 15 April 2006, winning £64,000 for charity. She has stated that she is a supporter of Plaid Cymru[11] In December 2006 it was revealed that the relationship had broken down.[12]

Lloyd met motor racing entrepreneur Jonathan Ashman at Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain's 2007 St David's Day party at Westminster Palace. Ashman proposed to Lloyd in December 2007, on holiday, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.[13] Lloyd and Ashman married on 30 December 2007 at Portmeirion Hotel in Gwynedd.[14]

Career

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Why has Sian Lloyd left ITV? Mystery as 56-year-old weathergirl quietly moves on with no announcement after 24 years Harriet Arkell, Daily Mail, 8 August 2014
  2. ↑ Sale, Jonathan (10 May 2007). "I'm the world's best crammer". The Independent (at Findarticles.com). Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  3. ↑ British Broadcasting Corporation. "BBC Online – Just the Job – Take it from me". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  4. ↑ "MY PAP PICS: SIAN LLOYD: 'I never wanted to be a weathergirl'". Sunday Mirror. 14 November 2004.
  5. ↑ The UK loves Sian Lloyd – official!:southwalesonline.net
  6. ↑ "Home | SWS – Social Welsh and Sexy". Swsuk.com. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ A Funny Kind of Love, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84454-531-5
  9. ↑ "Showbiz". This is London. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  10. ↑ Wales on Sunday (2 May 2004). "Sian and Lembit to wed – icWales". Icwales.icnetwork.co.uk. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ "Opik and presenter Lloyd separate". BBC News. 17 December 2006. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  13. ↑ TV presenter Siân Lloyd to wed millionaire IC Wales
  14. ↑ Sian's Welsh winter wedding: Weathergirl ties the knot after whirlwind romance Daily Mail – 2 January 2008
  15. ↑ Renaissance's "I Love My Tissues" advert at YouTube
  16. ↑ "Churchill dog returns with Sian Lloyd in WCRS ad". Campaign Livewebsite. Haymarket. 30 June 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2009.

External links