Jennie Bond

Infobox journalist
name = Jennie Bond


birthname = Jennie Bond
birth_date = birth date and age|1950|8|19|mf=y
birth_place = Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England
age =
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Journalist (former BBC royal correspondent) and television presenter
alias =
gender = Female
status = Married
title =
family =
spouse = Jim Keltz
children = Emma Natasha Keltz
relatives =
ethnic = English
religion =
salary =
networth =
credits = BBC royal correspondent (1989 - 2003)"I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!"

"Great British Menu"
URL =
agent =

Jennie Bond (born August 19, 1950 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire " [http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/03_march/11/jennie_bond.shtml Jennie Bond to leave BBC after 14 years as Royal Correspondent] " — bbc.co.uk. Retrieved April 2, 2007.] ) is an English journalist and television presenter. She worked for fourteen years as the BBC's royal correspondent. She has most recently hosted "Cash in the Attic" and the three series of "Great British Menu".

Early career

Jennie Bond was educated at St. Francis' College, a girls' independent school in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, and at University of Warwick, from where she graduated with a degree in French and European Literature in 1968. Her career began in the print where she worked for various local newspapers in London in journalism and sub-editing roles. Her first job in journalism was working as a reporter for the "Richmond Herald" and then worked for the "Uxbridge Evening Mail".

Aged 27 in 1977, Bond moved to BBC radio, working in producing and editing. She also worked as a producer on "Woman's Hour", "Tuesday Call", "International Assignment" and for various television documentaries. [" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/correspondents/newsid_2631000/2631425.stm Jennie Bond] " — bbc.co.uk. Retrieved April 2, 2007.]

Royal correspondent

In 1985 Bond became a radio news reporter and in 1988 she moved on to report on television. She began her role as royal correspondent, which was to bring her to wide public attention, in 1989. During the 1990s she combined her reporting role with several presenting ones - regularly fronting "BBC Breakfast News", the BBC One O'Clock News and the BBC Six O'Clock News.

Bond held the position as royal correspondent until the summer of 2003. During that time she reported on many dramatic and notable events to do with the British Royal Family, including Windsor Castle fire, two royal weddings, the break-up of Prince Andrew's marriage to Sarah Ferguson, the divorce of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales, the deaths of Her Majesty The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret and has reported on the Queen and Prince Philip's Golden Jubilee celebrations. Bond has also travelled extensively with the Royal Family. Bond was there in Australia, in January 1994, when an attempt was made to shoot Prince Charles. [" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2839421.stm Bond gives up Royal Job] " — bbc.co.uk. Retrieved April 2, 2007.] She has also travelled with Diana, Princess of Wales on her trip to Angola, with the Queen on her first official visits to Russia 1994 and when she met Nelson Mandela in South Africa a year later. But however, her hardest and most challenging moments and coverage as the BBC's royal correspondent came when she had to report on the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.

Bond's reporting style suggested that she was very close personally to members of the Royal Family. She commented that she had become close to Diana and that her death came as a great shock. [" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3096614.stm Bond says her BBC farewell] " — bbc.co.uk. Retrieved April 2, 2007.] Bond actually instigated her first meeting with Diana. She sent a note, suggesting that if she was to report on the Princess properly then she should at least know what her character was actually like, not basing her thoughts on reports that had been made in newspapers. She commented on that meeting at Kensington Palace, stating: "Princess Diana was charming articulate, fresh. Interesting, but manipulative. She knew I was a journalist. This was no girlie-girlie meeting." [" [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/highlights/011002_bond.shtml Jennie Bond: The royal reporter] " — bbc.co.uk. Retrieved April 2, 2007.]

She wrote a book in 2001 called "Reporting Royalty", which tells how she covered the Royal Family for the BBC in the 1990s. Impressionists such as Ronni Ancona on "Alistair McGowan's Big Impression" took to spoofing Bond's royal reports by posing as Bond and pretending to be the Queen herself, crown and all.

Television

Following from her departure from the BBC in 2003, Bond's career took a different turn. In 2003, Bond made an appearance in an episode in the comedy series "Little Britain". In February 2004 Bond proved popular with the public, when she finished as runner-up in the third series of reality TV show "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!". The episode where Bond became the runner-up on "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!" on February 9, 2004, received viewing figures of 14.99 million, making it the most watched programme on ITV and BBC One that week. [" [http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/weekreports.cfm?report=weeklyterrestrial&requesttimeout=500 Weekly Viewing Summary] " — barb.co.uk. Retrieved December 28, 2006.] She appeared on the show to raise money for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust and as a result, Bond managed to raise £260,989.85 for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust which the charity used to buy a state-of-the-art navigation system and to extend its helicopter flying time throughout the summer. [" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3501009.stm Jungle Jennie's £260,000 for ambulance] " — bbc.co.uk. Retrieved February 16, 2007.] During Bond's time on the reality television show, she was required to do various bushtucker trials, which involved her eating various creatures such as a stick insect and a witchety grub, as well as being placed in a dark, water-filled coffin with rats for a duration of ten minutes. [" [http://www.bbc.co.uk/celebdaq/news/news/2004/02/05/22098.shtml Queen Loves Up Your Jungle?] " — bbc.co.uk/celebdaq. Retrieved May 1, 2007.] She also had a feud with fellow contestant Lord Brocket during the show. [" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3471127.stm Brocket out of Celebrity contest] " — bbc.co.uk. Retrieved August 22, 2007.]

Shortly afterwards she presented E!'s coverage of the BAFTA film awards, "Live from the Red Carpet". She also presented her own three part documentary called "Jennie Bond's Royals" on Five and in 2005, she presented the BBC's daytime coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, alongside Charlie Dimmock. In the same year, Bond appeared in "Have I Been Here Before?".

More recently she appeared in "Posh Swap" on Five, where she was transformed into a Brummie woman. Bond had to convince two of her best friends she really was the Brummie lass. Bond is also the host of "Great British Menu" on which different chefs have to compete by cooking meals, where the winner of the first series had the chance to cook for the Queen on her 80th birthday. She is currently hosting the third series of "Great British Menu". As well as this, Bond has presented the BBC's "Cash in the Attic". In 2006, she was a celebrity guest on "Stars in Their Eyes" where she sang as Debbie Harry. She has recently been presenting the second series of "Great British Menu" during April and May 2007.

On July 28, 2007, Bond appeared on a special celebrity version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" with Michael Buerk to raise money for NCH the children's charity. With a combined effort, they raised £64,000. On August 22, 2007, she presented an episode of "Driving Me Crazy" which saw Bond investigage whether the authorities are giving motorists excessive penalties through speeding fines and parking tickets.

Personal life

Bond is married to a former journalist, Jim Keltz. Together, they have one daughter, Emma Natasha Keltz (born Camden, London, 1990). [ [http://www.findmypast.com Births England and Wales 1984-2006] ] She also has two stepchildren, Stephen and Danielle.

Bibliography

*"Reporting Royalty: Behind the scenes with the BBC's Royal Correspondent" (2001)
*"The Little Princess" (2002)
*"Elizabeth: Fifty Glorious Years" (2003)
*"Elizabeth" (2006)

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/correspondents/newsid_2631000/2631425.stm Jennie Bond Profile] at the BBC
*imdb name|id=0093956|name=Jennie Bond
* [http://www.themakeupgallery.info/disguise/fakeovers/poshjb.htm Jennie Bond on "Posh Swap"]