- Maggie Philbin
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Maggie Philbin 
Philbin in 2009Born 23 June 1955
Manchester, EnglandAlma mater University of Manchester Occupation Television and radio presenter Spouse Keith Chegwin (m. 1982–1993) Maggie Philbin (born 23 June 1955) is an English radio and television presenter whose credits include Tomorrow's World and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.
As a child she became interested in science through wanting to become a vet.[1]
After studying English and Drama at the University of Manchester with classmates including Adrian Edmondson, Ben Elton and Rik Mayall, she responded to an advertisement in The Stage and was offered the job of co-presenter on Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.[2] She is best remembered by many for her time on Tomorrow's World.
Maggie famously flew upside down in a Hawker Hunter as part of the Tomorrow's World at Large series[citation needed], and drove a Top Fuel dragster, earning her International Racing Licence. She decided not to race the car, which then spun out of control after a tyre exploded with top driver Dennis Priddle at the wheel.[3]
She married her co-presenter Keith Chegwin in 1982. The couple had a daughter, Rose - named after the editor who gave her the job with Swap Shop, but divorced in 1993.[citation needed] With Noel Edmonds, they formed the one-hit wonder band Brown Sauce and had a No. 15 hit with "I Wanna Be A Winner" in 1981.
She returned to television on BBC One's flagship science and technology programme Tomorrow's World where she stayed for eight years. Since then, she has presented a variety of television and radio programmes, including Hospital Watch, Bodymatters Roadshow, QED, and BBC Two's women's documentary series The Doll’s House. She has worked as a medical and consumer reporter for ITV1's This Morning and presented film reports for BBC’s current affairs programme 4x4, as well as a series of 20 programmes called Heartland for Channel Health. In October 2003 she spearheaded the BBC's Talking Teenagers project across television and radio. She has also presented 40 editions of the science programme Wideworld for Five.
She is a patron of the National Osteoporosis Society and was invited by the IOF to sit on the Women leaders panel in Brussels in 2008.[4] She is also a patron of the Daphne Jackson Trust helping scientists, engineers and technologists return to work after a career break, and she is a panel member of the New Engineering Foundation.
In 2008 she created TeenTech an interactive science and engineering event for teenagers.[5] In 2010 it was awarded Best Engineering Event by the British Science Association.[6]
She reunited with her former Swap Shop colleagues (including her ex-husband) for a special programme celebrating the 30th anniversary of the programme, It Started With Swap Shop, in December 2006.
BBC News announced that she would be their face of technology on television, radio and online from 2007.[7] She has launched the Helping Hand Campaign, encouraging digital switchover help for the elderly.[8] She is a regular reporter on Inside Out and a presenter for BBC Radio Berkshire.
On 25 July 2010, she featured as guest presenter in Episode 3 of the LadyGeek App Show.[9]
References
- ^ Ada Lovelace voted most popular technology heroine. BBC. 25 March 2010
- ^ "Classic TV - Swap Shop". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/swapshop/trivia.shtml. Retrieved 2006-05-25.
- ^ "The Jeremy Cookson Collection - page 1". The Acceleration Archive. http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/jeremy/cookson_01.html. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
- ^ "3rd IOF Women Leaders Roundtable calls on European citizens to stand tall for bone health". IOF. 15 October 2008. http://www.iofbonehealth.org/news/news-detail.html?newsID=240. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
- ^ "Maggie Philbin brings science to Reading teenagers". BBC News Online. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/8575797.stm. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
- ^ "National Science & Engineering Week Event Awards 2010". British Science Association. http://web.archive.org/web/20100906170707/http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/nsew/GetInvolved/NSEWEventAwards2010.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
- ^ "Tomorrow's World to return to BBC". BBC News Online. 5 January 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6235733.stm. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
- ^ "Scheme encourages digital switchover help for elderly". BBC News Online. 13 April 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13069205. Retrieved 2011-11-11.
- ^ http://ladygeektv.com/archives/157
External links
Categories:- 1955 births
- Living people
- British television presenters
- British radio presenters
- People from Manchester
- Alumni of the University of Manchester
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
