Kirsty Jackson Young (born 23 November 1968,
East KilbrideEast Kilbride is a large suburban town in the South Lanarkshire council area, Greater Glasgow, Scotland. It is Scotland's first new town, and lies on high ground on the south side of the Cathkin Braes, about southeast of Glasgow city centre. The area borders close to the boundary with East...
) is a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
television presenter, actress and radio presenter. She has recently left her position as head newsreader on
Five NewsFive News is the news programme of British broadcaster Five. It is produced by Sky News.From 1 January 2005, Sky News was awarded the contract to provide the news for Five, replacing ITN, which had provided the channel's news service from the channel's launch in 1997.-History:"5 News", as it was...
, the news programme on British television channel Five, where she had worked for most of the time since its launch in 1997. As of January 2008, she is the main presenter of
CrimewatchCrimewatch is a long-running and high-profile British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public. The programme is usually broadcast once a month on BBC One...
.
Young's career began in 1989 when she worked as a continuity announcer for
BBC Radio ScotlandBBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programming including news, sport, light entertainment, music, the arts, comedy, drama, history and lifestyle...
.
Kirsty Jackson Young (born 23 November 1968,
East KilbrideEast Kilbride is a large suburban town in the South Lanarkshire council area, Greater Glasgow, Scotland. It is Scotland's first new town, and lies on high ground on the south side of the Cathkin Braes, about southeast of Glasgow city centre. The area borders close to the boundary with East...
) is a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
television presenter, actress and radio presenter. She has recently left her position as head newsreader on
Five NewsFive News is the news programme of British broadcaster Five. It is produced by Sky News.From 1 January 2005, Sky News was awarded the contract to provide the news for Five, replacing ITN, which had provided the channel's news service from the channel's launch in 1997.-History:"5 News", as it was...
, the news programme on British television channel Five, where she had worked for most of the time since its launch in 1997. As of January 2008, she is the main presenter of
CrimewatchCrimewatch is a long-running and high-profile British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public. The programme is usually broadcast once a month on BBC One...
.
Career
Young's career began in 1989 when she worked as a continuity announcer for
BBC Radio ScotlandBBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programming including news, sport, light entertainment, music, the arts, comedy, drama, history and lifestyle...
. In 1992 she moved to
Scottish TelevisionScottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchise still active...
where she presented the main evening news programme,
Scotland TodayScotland Today was a Scottish regional news programme covering Central Scotland, produced by STV Central . Despite its name suggesting a national remit, the programme was actually limited to stories around STV's Central Belt franchise...
and also hosted her own chat show,
Kirsty. She left Scottish TV and Scotland itself in 1996. That year she guest presented
The Time, The Place and also featured on the
Holiday programme. She co-hosted consumer show
The Street on
BBC Two
. In 1997, she joined the news team of the new terrestrial channel, Channel 5. She left Channel 5 to join
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
in 1999 and hosted a quiz show called
The People VersusThe People Versus was a television game show which aired on ITV from 2000 to 2002 in the United Kingdom. Kirsty Young hosted the program for the primetime series and Kaye Adams hosted the program for the daytime series. The show was radical in terms of the two changes of versions. The second...
in 2000. Also in 2001, she became the co-presenter of the
ITV Evening NewsThe ITV Evening News is the evening news bulletin on the British television network ITV. It is produced by ITN.The ITV Evening News, presented by main newscasters Mary Nightingale and Alastair Stewart, is a twenty-five minute news programme covering British national and international news stories,...
with
Dermot MurnaghanDermot Murnaghan is a British journalist and television presenter.He is well known for his work as a presenter of ITV and BBC News as well as the shows Eggheads and Treasure Hunt . He co-presented BBC Breakfast from Monday to Thursday as well as regularly fronting national BBC news bulletins...
. In 2001, after giving birth to her first child, she decided to return to Channel 5.
Young returned in 2002 with a new look and hosted both the 5.30pm and 7pm editions until her maternity leave began in January 2006, when she was replaced by
John SuchetJohn Suchet , is a Scottish news reader and television presenter.Suchet has a younger brother, David Suchet, a British actor...
and
Helen FosperoHelen Fospero is an English television newsreader and journalist.-Early life:Born Helen Jane Morton, she grew up in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire and attended Whitgift School on Crosland Road in Grimsby. She left school just before her 18th birthday and started her career at the local weekly...
. In November 2003, she guest-presented an edition of
Have I Got News For YouHave I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been running since 1990...
. She has, in total, guest-presented seven times. She appeared on
Room 101Room 101 was a BBC comedy television series based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities are invited to discuss their pet hates and persuade the host to consign them to a fate worse than death in Room 101, named after the torture room in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.Any item...
in 2004 during which she nominated cowboy boots,
Britney SpearsBritney Jean Spears is an American singer and entertainer. Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to...
and 'baby on board' stickers among her pet hates.
In June 2006, it was announced that Young was to be the new presenter of the long-running
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967.-Outline:...
programme
Desert Island DiscsDesert Island Discs is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme. It was first broadcast on 29 January 1942 and is said by the Guinness Book of Records to be the longest-running music programme in the history of radio...
, replacing
Sue LawleySue Lawley is an English broadcaster.Born in Sedgley, Staffordshire, England and brought up in the Black Country, she was educated at Dudley Girls High School and graduated in modern languages from the University of Bristol and some time later started her career at the BBC in Plymouth...
. She began presenting
DID on 1 October 2006 and returned to Five News on 28 September 2006. Young announced that she would be leaving Five News in the autumn of 2007, following ten years as its head anchor. On 29 August 2007, she presented her last show for Five News.
On 29 September 2007, it was announced that Kirsty Young would replace
Fiona BruceFiona Elizabeth Bruce is a British journalist, newsreader and television presenter. Since joining the BBC in 1989, she has gone on to present many flagship programmes for the corporation including the BBC News at Six, BBC News at Ten, Crimewatch, Call My Bluff and, most recently, Antiques Roadshow...
as a presenter on the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
's,
CrimewatchCrimewatch is a long-running and high-profile British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public. The programme is usually broadcast once a month on BBC One...
programme. There were in fact rumours back in 1999 that Young was to host the show after the murder of
Jill DandoJill Wendy Dando was an English journalist, television presenter and Newsreader who worked for the BBC for 14 years until she was murdered in April 1999. Her death sparked a huge manhunt by the Metropolitan Police and led to the trial of Barry George...
, before
Fiona BruceFiona Elizabeth Bruce is a British journalist, newsreader and television presenter. Since joining the BBC in 1989, she has gone on to present many flagship programmes for the corporation including the BBC News at Six, BBC News at Ten, Crimewatch, Call My Bluff and, most recently, Antiques Roadshow...
took over.
Personal life
Young married businessman Nick Jones (owner of Soho House and
Babington HouseBabington is a small village between Radstock and Frome, Somerset, England, which has now largely disappeared.The village dates from medieval times but appears to have been largely demolished to make way for the manor house around 1705...
) in September 1999. She has two daughters, Freya (born February 2001) and Iona (born April 2006). She and her husband own a house in London.
Young attended
Stirling High SchoolStirling High School is a state high school for 11-18 year olds run by Stirling Council in Stirling, Scotland. It is one of seven high schools in the Stirling district, and currently has approximately 972 pupils attending...
. She returned in June 2008 to officially open the school's new building. She admitted to suffering from bulimia as a teenager on the first episode of her first TV show.
External links