Anne Diamond
Encyclopedia
Anne Margaret Diamond is an English
radio and television presenter and journalist. She hosted Good Morning Britain
for TV-am
and the similarly titled Good Morning... with Anne and Nick
for BBC1, both with Nick Owen
as her co-presenter. Currently Anne presents a phone-in show on BBC Radio Berkshire
on weekday mornings from 10am to 1pm and makes regular appearances airing her views as a panelist on The Wright Stuff
on Channel 5 and BBC London, and is a regular columnist for the Daily Mail
.
, and she attended Worcester
Grammar School for Girls. She is the cousin of Scots singer-songwriter Jim Diamond.
holiday camp as a redcoat
and chalet-maid. She then began her career as a journalist on the Bridgwater
Mercury and Bournemouth
Evening Echo.
with their ATV Today
programme in 1979 and Central News, before joining the BBC
in 1983. After ITV
's franchised breakfast show TV-am
s chief executive Peter Jay
quit, new producer Greg Dyke
sacked presenters Anna Ford
and Angela Rippon
, and in 1983 replaced them by new team Nick Owen
, Diamond - and puppet, Roland Rat
. The show's figures slowly picked up.
In 1987, she appeared as the TV-am
presenter on an episode of Filthy Rich & Catflap
. After TV-am
but before joining the BBC
, Anne Diamond presented TV Weekly. Shown in the afternoon in most ITV regions (with an early evening repeat on TVS) the programme looked behind the scenes of various TV programmes and interviewed various personalities from in front and behind the camera. Following the TV-am loss of its ITV breakfast franchise in 1992, Diamond was rejoined by Nick Owen to present daytime show Good Morning with Anne and Nick
. The program ran for 4 years against ITV
's This Morning
, before going off air. Diamond's presenting style on This Morning attracted accusations of dumbing down
. In commenting on the Fall of the Berlin Wall, she suggested that a major benefit would be that East Germans would have a better choice of shops in the West, leading her critics to suggest that she hadn't fully grasped the event's significance.
In 2006, she appeared in Celebrity Fit Club. She was initially made team captain but was later demoted for walking off on her team. It was then revealed that she received Adjustable gastric banding surgery before appearing on the show, which provoked much press outrage. It subsequently emerged that the operation had not been successful, although Diamond had quit the show in week seven - Diamond later had a successful second operation.
In 2008, Diamond hosted a series of special 25th year reunion TV-am
daily shows on the BBC London 94.9 breakfast show between 27–30 May 2008 along with Nick Owen
. Diamond now often sits in for Vanessa Feltz
's morning call-in show on BBC London 94.9
on Bank Holiday
s and during Feltz's personal holiday
s.
During 2008 Diamond became involved in co-developing a jewellery
range, which she marketed on shopping channel QVC
under her own name brand. In 2009, she appeared on the opening episode of the second series of Hole in the Wall
on BBC One
with David Vitty. She also appeared in a TV commercial for Postgoldforcash.
, variously with Sir Nicholas Lloyd
and Tommy Boyd
. After a few months presenting her own lunchtime show in 1999, she left the station.
In 2001 she spent a week on The Wright Stuff
, and was welcomed back in 2003 after Celebrity Big Brother and has been there to the present day. In 2002 she also returned to television, appearing in Celebrity Big Brother. In October 2004 she joined BBC Radio Oxford
, presenting the weekday breakfast programme. In 2006 she left BBC Radio Oxford
, presenting her last breakfast programme on 17 March 2006, her replacement being Sybil Ruscoe
. Much had been made on the breakfast programme of "Diamond's Dieting Buddies", a scheme whereby Diamond and listeners to the station in 2006 who wanted to lose weight would give one another moral support.
—known as "cot death" in the UK—after her son, Sebastian, died from the syndrome in 1991. She fronted "Back to Sleep", a campaign telling parents to ensure that babies slept on their backs. Since then, there has been a significant fall in incidents of cot death in the United Kingdom, from more than 2000 per year to around 300, which has been attributed to the campaign. Diamond was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
, the only time it has ever been awarded to a non-medic.
Diamond spoke out over the cot death and baby-swap storyline in the BBC One
soap opera EastEnders
, featuring characters Kat Moon
and Ronnie Branning. "I think it's crass what they've done," she told ITV
's Daybreak
breakfast programme, branding the plot "tacky sensationalism". The episode gathered numerous complaints following its New Year's Eve airing.
FSID named Anne Diamond as their Anniversary Patron
for their 40th anniversary in 2011.
into the culture, practice and ethics of the press. She gave detailed accounts of intrusion by journalists into her life and her dealings with tabloid newspapers.
in 1989, and the couple had five children: Sebastian, Oliver, James, Jake and Conor. But after he had an affair with radio presenter Harriet Scott
, they separated.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
radio and television presenter and journalist. She hosted Good Morning Britain
Good Morning Britain
Good Morning Britain was TV-am's flagship breakfast television show throughout TV-am's time on air, broadcasting five days a week, initially from 7am until 9am. By 1985 the programme started at the earlier time of 6.15am and by 1988 the programme started at 6am. It had many different presenters...
for TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
and the similarly titled Good Morning... with Anne and Nick
Good Morning with Anne and Nick
Good Morning with Anne and Nick was a BBC1 daytime television show presented by Anne Diamond and Nick Owen, from October 1992 to May 1996. The pair had previously presented TV-am on ITV, but now directly competed with ITV's This Morning....
for BBC1, both with Nick Owen
Nick Owen
Nicholas "Nick" Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme TV-am and the BBC's local news show Midlands Today since 1997...
as her co-presenter. Currently Anne presents a phone-in show on BBC Radio Berkshire
BBC Radio Berkshire
BBC Radio Berkshire is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Berkshire, as well as parts of North Hampshire, including Basingstoke. Radio Berkshire broadcasts on 94.6 , 95.4 , 104.1 and 104.4 FM from its studios at Caversham Park near Reading. The 104.1 FM signal is the strongest...
on weekday mornings from 10am to 1pm and makes regular appearances airing her views as a panelist on The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Channel 5 each weekday morning from 9:15 to 11:10am....
on Channel 5 and BBC London, and is a regular columnist for the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
.
Biography
Diamond was born and grew up in Malvern, WorcestershireMalvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
, and she attended Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
Grammar School for Girls. She is the cousin of Scots singer-songwriter Jim Diamond.
Early career
Diamond worked at a ButlinsButlins
Butlins is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families....
holiday camp as a redcoat
Redcoats (Butlins)
Redcoat is the name given to frontline staff at Butlins holiday camps. A Redcoat may have many duties ranging from adult entertainer or children's entertainer to stewarding.-History:The first Redcoat was Norman Bradford...
and chalet-maid. She then began her career as a journalist on the Bridgwater
Bridgwater
Bridgwater is a market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is the administrative centre of the Sedgemoor district, and a major industrial centre. Bridgwater is located on the major communication routes through South West England...
Mercury and Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
Evening Echo.
Television
She began her television career with Associated TeleVisionAssociated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
with their ATV Today
ATV Today
ATV Today was a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ATV, serving the Midlands area of England. The programme aired from October 1964 until 31 December 1981 - the final day of broadcasting from ATV before the company was restructured and relaunched as Central...
programme in 1979 and Central News, before joining the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in 1983. After ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's franchised breakfast show TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
s chief executive Peter Jay
Peter Jay
Peter Jay is a British economist, broadcaster and diplomat.-Background:Peter Jay is the son of Douglas and Peggy Jay, both of whom were Labour Party politicians...
quit, new producer Greg Dyke
Greg Dyke
Gregory "Greg" Dyke is a British media executive, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am...
sacked presenters Anna Ford
Anna Ford
Anna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
and Angela Rippon
Angela Rippon
Angela M. Rippon, OBE, born 12 October 1944, Plymouth, Devon, England, is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's Nine O'Clock News, becoming a regular presenter in 1975...
, and in 1983 replaced them by new team Nick Owen
Nick Owen
Nicholas "Nick" Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme TV-am and the BBC's local news show Midlands Today since 1997...
, Diamond - and puppet, Roland Rat
Roland Rat
Roland Rat is a British television puppet character. He was created, operated and voiced by David Claridge, who had previously been behind the Mooncat puppet in the Children's ITV television programme Get Up and Go! David worked for Jim Henson, then the second series of The Young Ones...
. The show's figures slowly picked up.
In 1987, she appeared as the TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
presenter on an episode of Filthy Rich & Catflap
Filthy Rich & Catflap
Filthy Rich & Catflap was a BBC sitcom produced in 1986 and broadcast early the next year.The series featured former The Young Ones stars Nigel Planer, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson as its three title characters respectively...
. After TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
but before joining the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, Anne Diamond presented TV Weekly. Shown in the afternoon in most ITV regions (with an early evening repeat on TVS) the programme looked behind the scenes of various TV programmes and interviewed various personalities from in front and behind the camera. Following the TV-am loss of its ITV breakfast franchise in 1992, Diamond was rejoined by Nick Owen to present daytime show Good Morning with Anne and Nick
Good Morning with Anne and Nick
Good Morning with Anne and Nick was a BBC1 daytime television show presented by Anne Diamond and Nick Owen, from October 1992 to May 1996. The pair had previously presented TV-am on ITV, but now directly competed with ITV's This Morning....
. The program ran for 4 years against ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
, before going off air. Diamond's presenting style on This Morning attracted accusations of dumbing down
Dumbing down
Dumbing down is a pejorative term for a perceived trend to lower the intellectual content of literature, education, news, and other aspects of culture...
. In commenting on the Fall of the Berlin Wall, she suggested that a major benefit would be that East Germans would have a better choice of shops in the West, leading her critics to suggest that she hadn't fully grasped the event's significance.
In 2006, she appeared in Celebrity Fit Club. She was initially made team captain but was later demoted for walking off on her team. It was then revealed that she received Adjustable gastric banding surgery before appearing on the show, which provoked much press outrage. It subsequently emerged that the operation had not been successful, although Diamond had quit the show in week seven - Diamond later had a successful second operation.
In 2008, Diamond hosted a series of special 25th year reunion TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
daily shows on the BBC London 94.9 breakfast show between 27–30 May 2008 along with Nick Owen
Nick Owen
Nicholas "Nick" Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme TV-am and the BBC's local news show Midlands Today since 1997...
. Diamond now often sits in for Vanessa Feltz
Vanessa Feltz
Vanessa Jane Feltz is an English television personality, broadcaster and journalist. She currently presents an early morning radio show on BBC Radio 2, a mid morning phone-in show on BBC London 94.9. In 2011, she started hosting The Vanessa Show on Channel 5. The first series ended on June 24th...
's morning call-in show on BBC London 94.9
BBC London 94.9
BBC London 94.9 is London's BBC Local Radio station, and part of BBC London. Broadcasting across Greater London and beyond on 94.9 FM, DAB, Virgin Media Channel 930, Sky Channel 0152 and also online...
on Bank Holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
s and during Feltz's personal holiday
Holiday
A Holiday is a day designated as having special significance for which individuals, a government, or a religious group have deemed that observance is warranted. It is generally an official or unofficial observance of religious, national, or cultural significance, often accompanied by celebrations...
s.
During 2008 Diamond became involved in co-developing a jewellery
Jewellery
Jewellery or jewelry is a form of personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.With some exceptions, such as medical alert bracelets or military dog tags, jewellery normally differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to...
range, which she marketed on shopping channel QVC
QVC (UK)
QVC UK is a digital television shopping channel broadcast in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1993 when QVC, Inc. formed a deal with Sky TV to create a UK version of the US channel. "QVC — The Shopping Channel" first broadcast in the UK on 1 October 1993. QVC UK - 20% owned by Sky - moved into...
under her own name brand. In 2009, she appeared on the opening episode of the second series of Hole in the Wall
Hole in the Wall (UK game show)
Hole in the Wall was a game show that airs on BBC One in the United Kingdom. This game is an adaptation of the Japanese game Brain Wall in which players must contort themselves to fit through cutout holes of varying shapes in a large polystyrene wall moving towards them as they stand in front of a...
on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
with David Vitty. She also appeared in a TV commercial for Postgoldforcash.
Radio
In the late 1990s she presented the breakfast show on the London radio station LBCLBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...
, variously with Sir Nicholas Lloyd
Nicholas Lloyd
Sir Nicholas Markley Lloyd, born , is a British former newspaper editor and broadcaster.Lloyd graduated from St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He edited the Sunday People from 1982 to 1983, then moved to edit the News of the World for a year from 1984, and finally edited the Daily Express from 1986 until...
and Tommy Boyd
Tommy Boyd
Timothy Leslie Boyd , better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio and television presenter who now lives in Chichester, West Sussex.-Early career:...
. After a few months presenting her own lunchtime show in 1999, she left the station.
In 2001 she spent a week on The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Channel 5 each weekday morning from 9:15 to 11:10am....
, and was welcomed back in 2003 after Celebrity Big Brother and has been there to the present day. In 2002 she also returned to television, appearing in Celebrity Big Brother. In October 2004 she joined BBC Radio Oxford
BBC Radio Oxford
BBC Radio Oxford is the BBC Local Radio station for the English county of Oxfordshire, broadcasting on 95.2 FM via the Oxford transmitter and online. The station broadcasts live from the BBC's Summertown studios in Oxford between 5am and 7pm each weekday, for over 13 hours on Saturdays & 19 hours...
, presenting the weekday breakfast programme. In 2006 she left BBC Radio Oxford
BBC Radio Oxford
BBC Radio Oxford is the BBC Local Radio station for the English county of Oxfordshire, broadcasting on 95.2 FM via the Oxford transmitter and online. The station broadcasts live from the BBC's Summertown studios in Oxford between 5am and 7pm each weekday, for over 13 hours on Saturdays & 19 hours...
, presenting her last breakfast programme on 17 March 2006, her replacement being Sybil Ruscoe
Sybil Ruscoe
Sybil Ruscoe , is a radio and television presenterRuscoe began on the Express and Star newspaper in Wolverhampton. Then moved to Radio Wyvern in Worcester, Beacon Radio and BBC Radio Shropshire. She then teamed up with Simon Mayo on the Radio 1 Breakfast show in 1989...
. Much had been made on the breakfast programme of "Diamond's Dieting Buddies", a scheme whereby Diamond and listeners to the station in 2006 who wanted to lose weight would give one another moral support.
Cot death
Diamond became involved in raising awareness of Sudden Infant Death SyndromeSudden infant death syndrome
Sudden infant death syndrome is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is unexpected by medical history, and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and a detailed death scene investigation. An infant is at the highest risk for SIDS during sleep, which is why it is sometimes...
—known as "cot death" in the UK—after her son, Sebastian, died from the syndrome in 1991. She fronted "Back to Sleep", a campaign telling parents to ensure that babies slept on their backs. Since then, there has been a significant fall in incidents of cot death in the United Kingdom, from more than 2000 per year to around 300, which has been attributed to the campaign. Diamond was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in London is responsible for the training of postgraduate doctors in paediatrics and conducting the MRCPCH membership exams. They also conduct the Diploma in Child Health exam, which is taken by many doctors who plan a career in General Practice...
, the only time it has ever been awarded to a non-medic.
Diamond spoke out over the cot death and baby-swap storyline in the BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
soap opera EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, featuring characters Kat Moon
Kat Moon
Kathleen "Kat" Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Jessie Wallace. She was also played by Kate Peck in a flashback in 2001. She appeared in the show from September 2000 to November 2004, then returned in May 2005...
and Ronnie Branning. "I think it's crass what they've done," she told ITV
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
's Daybreak
Daybreak (ITV)
Daybreak is the weekday breakfast television programme on the British commercial ITV network that broadcasts on weekday mornings from 06:00 to 08:30 and is currently presented by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley from Monday to Thursday with Dan Lobb and Kate Garraway on Fridays...
breakfast programme, branding the plot "tacky sensationalism". The episode gathered numerous complaints following its New Year's Eve airing.
FSID named Anne Diamond as their Anniversary Patron
Patrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...
for their 40th anniversary in 2011.
Video game violence
On the 28 March 2008 in an article for the UK's "Daily Mail" tabloid newspaper, Anne Diamond contributed to an article concerning violence in video games where she is quoted as saying that the 9.1/10 GameSpot.com rated, 15 certificate Wii game "Resident Evil 4" "shouldn't be allowed to be sold, even to adults"Leveson Inquiry
Diamond has been featured in numerous stories in the British tabloid press since the mid 1980s. On the 28th November 2011 she gave evidence at the Leveson InquiryLeveson Inquiry
The Leveson Inquiry is an ongoing public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal. On 6 July 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron announced to Parliament that a public government inquiry would convene to further...
into the culture, practice and ethics of the press. She gave detailed accounts of intrusion by journalists into her life and her dealings with tabloid newspapers.
Personal life
She married Mike HollingsworthMike Hollingsworth (TV executive)
Mike Hollingsworth is a former British TV executive, best known for his marriage to Anne Diamond and for being the father of her children.During his television career, Hollingsworth appeared on many popular shows, including This Morning with Richard and Judy...
in 1989, and the couple had five children: Sebastian, Oliver, James, Jake and Conor. But after he had an affair with radio presenter Harriet Scott
Harriet Scott
Harriet Marie Scott is a British radio presenter, and current co-host of the Breakfast show on London's Heart along with Jamie Theakston....
, they separated.