Zoë Ball
Zoë Louise Ball (born
November 23,
1970 in
Blackpool,
Lancashire) is a
British television and radio personality, most famous for becoming the first female host of the prestigious
BBC Radio 1 breakfast show.
The
daughter of children's TV presenter
Johnny Ball, Zoë was educated at a convent school in
Buckinghamshire. Her first TV appearance was as a child in the studio audience of Saturday morning children's show
Saturday Superstore, on which her father was appearing as a guest.
She began her television career as a runner at
Granada Television and researcher on
BSkyB. She worked two years as a researcher for quiz shows.
Her presenting jobs have included hosting
The Big Breakfast & The Priory on
Channel 4,
BBC One's Saturday morning children's programme
Live & Kicking and pre-school programme
Playdays.
Although known primarily for her TV work, it was in radio where she became a major British celebrity after she was recruited to co-host the
BBC Radio 1 breakfast show in October
1997 with
Kevin Greening. She eventually graduated to become the sole host - the first female DJ to do so. At this time, her hard-drinking, hard-partying antics contributed to the identification of the so-called "
ladette culture" of the late
1990s. She later notoriously re-created the naked pose on a backturned chair made famous by
Christine Keeler when doing an interview and spread with
SKY magazine.
Zoe left
Radio 1 in March
2000 to raise a family. Her final Breakfast show was on the 30th March
2000, and she was succeeded by her friend
Sara Cox.
Zoë co-hosted the
2002 BRIT Awards with
Frank Skinner but otherwise has not undertaken much work in recent years due to motherhood. She returned to radio in mid
2002 when she joined London's Rock Station
XFM, where she presented the Weekday Drivetime show until December
2003 & then in January
2004 took over a Friday evening music show for the station. She eventually left
XFM at the end of
2004.
In
2005, after co-hosting the BBC reality show
Strictly Dance Fever, became a contestant on its sister show
Strictly Come Dancing, partnering
Ian Waite (in which she ranked 3rd place), admitting during the programme that her husband was against the idea.
Though regarded as professional, Zoë twice received a carpeting for swearing on the radio - firstly when she used the word "bastard" while being interviewed by
Chris Evans during his spell on the Radio 1 breakfast show (she was publicising her appointment to
The Big Breakfast at the time); then, as host of the Radio 1 breakfast show, for using the expression "fucking brilliant" to describe a night out she'd had.
While at Radio 1, she began a relationship with DJ and musician
Norman Cook (a.k.a. "Fatboy Slim") and married him in August
1999. Before the wedding, Zoë was famously photographed outside her home in a
cowboy hat, with a lit
cigarette in her mouth and a bottle of
Jack Daniels whisky in her hand. The photographs were memorable but she received criticism for supposedly "staging" the look, as if to show the "ladette" was being reluctantly brought in line.
She surprised commentators and
journalists, however, by bringing her wedding at
Babington House, Somerset forward in secret to avoid intrusion, and wore a traditional white dress. Her marriage ended her involvement in the "ladette" culture, though her friend and breakfast show successor
Sara Cox briefly continued it.
Zoe left
Radio 1 in March
2000 to raise a family. Her final Breakfast show was on the 30th March
2000. The couple have one son, Woody, (born December
2000), and they live in
Brighton.
The marriage later survived a trial separation in early 2003, during which Ball had an affair with DJ
Dan Peppe [http://www.myislington.co.uk/islington/celebs&gossip-dan_peppe.htm]*
Zoe Ball on the BBC's official Strictly Come Dancing pages*
Zoe Ball & Frank Skinner after the two co-hosted the 2002 Brit Awards*
Zöe Ball on IMDB*
Other Zöe links - 'Lee'*
Gallery & Fansite, including the 'Keeler' and 'Jack Daniels' photos
