Jake Humphrey

Jacob John Humphrey DL (born 7 October 1978) is an English television presenter, best known for hosting Champions League and Premier League football on BT Sport, CBBC's Bamzooki, and BBC Sport's coverage of Formula 1 Grand Prix. He is the co-founder and Director of Whisper Group, and hosts the High Performance Podcast.[2]

Jake Humphrey
Humphrey at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Born
Jacob John Humphrey

(1978-10-07) 7 October 1978
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Television presenter, journalist, businessman
Employer(s)BBC, Channel 4, ITV,
BBC Sport
Whisper Group
Height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[1]
SpouseHarriet Humphrey (m. 2007)
Children2

Humphrey's career in television began after leaving school. Initially working for the BBC on their children's channel CBBC, he later switched to sport from 2006, hosting their football shows Football Focus, and later Match of the Day and Final Score. Outside of football, he has also presented BBC coverage of the Commonwealth Games and Summer Olympics, and of American Football in the Super Bowl and NFL International Series.

Early life

Born in Peterborough, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England to Liz, a retired teacher and Rex, a retired chief executive of Age Concern Norfolk. He has one sister, Rachel and a brother, Thomas.[3] The family moved to Norwich, Norfolk when Humphrey was nine[4] and attended Framingham Earl High School and the Sixth Form at the Hewett School, Norwich. During his time at school he also worked as a paperboy and became interested in the media. When he was 16, Humphrey got a job at McDonald's and was sacked for poor communication skills. Later he worked in the position of a waiter.[5]

Career

Early career

While studying for his A Level resits, Humphrey took a work experience job at ITV East of England contractor Anglia Television.[6] Humphrey joined Anglia on a full-time basis as a runner, followed by transferring to Rapture TV where he presented the original incarnation of G@mers. Humphrey began presenting on CBBC as assistant host in Against All Odds and later as main host of Rule The School in 2001. He later became the main presenter of Against All Odds and a studio presenter for CBBC the following year.

In late 2002, he hosted CBBC's coverage of Fame Academy, along with Holly Willoughby. They also presented the 2003 celebrity edition for Comic Relief. Humphrey also presented the 2005 and 2007 Comic Relief editions of Fame Academy, with Sophie McDonnell and Caroline Flack respectively. Humphrey also presented CBBC show Against All Odds, a TV show that featured reconstructions of real life emergencies and gave First Aid advice to viewers.

Beginning in 2004, Humphrey started hosting The Saturday Show and BAMZOOKi, but these roles ended in 2005 and 2006 respectively. He was a cover continuity presenter on CiTV at Birmingham. He also presented Newsround from 2005 till 2008. He was named anchorman of children's sports show Sportsround in September 2005, beginning a series of roles related to sports. Also he was the presenter on Gimme a Break in the first series.

BBC Sport

Humphrey started presenting as a match reporter with BBC Radio 5 Live in 2005. He acted as cover for Football Focus in November 2006, during the 2007 Cricket World Cup, and Final Score.

In 2009, he became the anchor for the BBC's Grand Prix coverage. It was widely considered a highly successful switch for Humphrey, with his hero Des Lynam naming him 2009's best sports broadcaster in his annual 'Desmonds' awards in December 2009.[7]

In June 2012, he presented the BBC's coverage of the Euros with Alan Shearer. In July and August, Humphrey presented coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics. He anchored slots on BBC One and BBC Three, and presented coverage from the Velodrome with Chris Boardman and Mark Cavendish.

BT Sport

The 2013–14 football season saw the start of Humphrey's live coverage of BT Sport's Premier League programming. As well as hosting live coverage of the Premier League games, Humphrey would also be involved with the new channel's other football programming, working to mould the style of the new football programme.[8]

In 2015 having hosted BT Sport's exclusively live Barclays Premier League football matches for the past two seasons. Humphrey would continue to host the channel's Premier League and FA Cup coverage and extend his role to include presenting exclusively live UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League games.[9]

Other presenting

Humphrey presented the 2011 & 2012 New Year Live countdown programme. He also appeared in BBC One HD's 'BBC One Never Looked So Good' ad, kicking a disco ball then smiling to the camera. Humphrey also briefly hosted coverage of the 2011 Royal Wedding from a 66-year-old Lancaster bomber however was cut off due to technical difficulties with his audio.[10]

He presents Free Speech, which began on BBC Three on 7 March 2012. From 23 October 2012, he has hosted The One Show as a stand-in presenter. He also hosted the BBC daytime game show Beat The Pack and has presented sports bulletins on BBC News Channel.

On 31 May 2013, Humphrey presented ITV's This Morning for the first time alongside Amanda Byram. On 21 November 2014, he hosted a second episode, alongside Ruth Langsford. Humphrey presented on BBC Radio 2 for the first time overnight on 10 October 2014.

Personal life

He lives in a Norfolk village to the south of Norwich. He married his childhood sweetheart, Harriet, in a ceremony in his home village just outside Norwich in August 2007.[11] On 11 September 2012 he announced via Twitter that Harriet was expecting their first child. Their daughter, Florence Aurelia Alice Humphrey, was born on 21 March 2013.[12] Since, he has had a second child, Sebastian Alexander James who was born on 1 August 2015.[13] His son was named after F1 driver Sebastian Vettel.[14] Harriet is employed as one of the directors and the production managers of Whisper Films.[15]

He is a supporter of his local football team Norwich City.

Humphrey is colour-blind – a fact he revealed to much hilarity on BBC Radio 5 Live comedy sports show Fighting Talk, when talking about locking the automatic door on a train lavatory. He can not tell when the light that shows when the door is locked has gone from green to red.[16]

He received an Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from the University of East Anglia in July 2012.[17]

References
  1. "Norfolk Kids Archive – CBBC presenter Jake Humphrey answers your questions, page 5". BBC. 23 November 2006. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  2. "The High Performance Podcast". Apple. 4 July 2022.
  3. Withey, Sally (4 May 2010). "Jake's life in the fast lane". Norfolk.
  4. Jake Humphrey. "Jake Humphrey: Glory hunting is not for me". BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  5. Myall, Steve (14 July 2012). "I shared a bed with Holly Willoughby for six months... and my wife was fine with it". The Mirror.
  6. Jake Humphrey. "Jake Humphrey: My fascinating and educational weekend in Korea". BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  7. "Coulthard, Jordan & Brundle join BBC". BBC Sport. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  8. Sweney, Mark (18 September 2012). "Jake Humphrey leaves BBC to front BT Vision's Premier League coverage". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  9. "Jake to join UEFA Champions League team on BT Sport - News". Jake Humphrey. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  10. "BBC News – Royal wedding: Humphrey presents from Lancaster bomber". Bbc.co.uk. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  11. Archived 23 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  12. "New dad Jake Humphrey's plans to move back to Norfolk". 28 April 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  13. "TV presenter Jake Humphrey thanks hospital after birth of his new baby". ITV News. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  14. Jake Humphrey [@mrjakehumphrey] (19 July 2021). "Why did I name my boy after Seb Vettel? Because he's kind, smart, empathetic…and as this short clip shows…a bloody great bloke!!!!" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 May 2022 – via Twitter.
  15. "TWHISPER FILMS LIMITED". gov.uk. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  16. "Fighting Talk: Kelnerpalooza III: THREADS!!! — Live from Ponds Forge Municipal Baths, Sheffield" (Podcast). 12 December 2009. Event occurs at 46:18. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  17. "University of East Anglia unveils 2012 honorary graduates – University of East Anglia". UEA. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
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