Corrie Corfield

She was born 1961 in Oxford. Raised near Stratford-upon-Avon, Corfield was educated at Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School for Girls, where she became Head Girl.[1] She then read English and Drama at Goldsmiths, University of London[2]

She joined the BBC as a studio manager in 1983[3] with the World Service.[2] In 1987 she worked at the new BBC 648,[2] and also became a newsreader for the World Service and read the news on Radio 4 from 1988.

Between 1991 and 1995 she lived in South Africa, where she worked at Radio 702. She also worked as a producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She returned to Radio 4 in 1995.

Over a period from late 2010, with colleague Kathy Clugston, Corfield persuaded broadcasters connected with Radio 4 to don the 'slanket of con', a garment purportedly worn by continuity announcers in the air-conditioned chill of studio 40B as they read the late night shipping bulletin, and has photographed the wearers in various comic poses.[4] The garment has since been sold.

In 2016, she placed seventh in a Radio Times poll of the top voices on UK radio.[5]

She read the Six O'Clock News for the last time on BBC Radio 4 on 23 February 2021.[6]

• Corrie Corfield BBC Radio 4
• Slanket of Con
• Independent September 2003
• Corrie Corfield on Twitter