Lucy Owen

Lucy Owen (born 18 June 1971 as Lucy Jane Cohen) is a Welsh television news reader.

Lucy Owen
Lucy Owen in May 2012
Born
Lucy Jane Cohen

(1971-06-18) 18 June 1971
Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales
OccupationNewsreader
Years active1991–present
Notable credit(s)Wales Tonight
BBC Wales Today
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2004)​
Children1

Early life

Owen attended Howell's School in Llandaff, Cardiff, and graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London, in English. She is of Jewish heritage.

Career

Owen began her broadcasting career at BBC Radio Wales as a researcher, later progressing to a reporting and co-presenting role for a features programme. She joined HTV Wales in 1995 as a newsreader for regional opt-outs during GMTV, and between 1996 and 2007, she co-presented Wales Tonight, the regional news programme on ITV Wales, broadcast from Cardiff.

Owen presented on the now defunct ITV News Channel, and was also seen anchoring the main ITV News: Lunchtime News, Evening News and Weekend News. Owen signed off from her last edition of Wales Tonight on Friday 19 October 2007. From Monday 5 November 2007 Owen began presenting the BBC Wales evening news programme BBC Wales Today, replacing long-standing presenter Sara Edwards.[1] To Owen's surprise it then came to light that she was following in her late father – Jeff Cohen's – footsteps as he had worked as an occasional freelance newsreader on Wales Today in 1962 whilst establishing his estate agency business.[2][3] As a result of the channel move, Owen also joined her husband on the team of BAFTA award-winning X-Ray. Since 2016, she has co-hosted X-Ray with Rachel Treadway-Williams and comedian Omar Hamdi.[4]

Owen was one of eight people chosen to participate in a week learning Welsh on a campsite in Pembrokeshire in the series cariad@iaith:love4language, shown on S4C in May 2012.

Personal life

Owen married fellow Welsh television presenter Rhodri Owen in June 2004 at St Andrew's Church in St Andrews Major near Dinas Powys.[5] The couple co-parent together in Cowbridge.[6] After trying to conceive, the couple undertook treatment via IVF.[7] Their Child, Gabriel was born on 10 March 2008 by Caesarean section, weighing 5 lb 12oz (2.3 kg).[8][9]

Owen has worked with St John Ambulance,[10] and Bobath Children's Therapy Centre Wales, which provides specialist Bobath therapy to children who have cerebral palsy; she is also an ambassador for Tŷ Hafan, the hospice for children in Wales, and the Prince's Trust in Wales.

In 2023, Owen came close to losing her eyesight due to a detached retina, only discovering the problem during a routine eye test.[11]

References
  1. Changing faces of BBC Wales news BBC News – 29 August 2007
  2. Internal BBC memoranda
  3. personal recollections of 1962 Wales Today presenter Brian Hoey
  4. "Episode 7, Series 16, X-Ray - BBC One". BBC. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  5. but is now separated (ref Rhodri Owen).December 2005 news story describing Rhodri Owen's day in court after being charged with a driving offence
  6. "Lucy Owen". Firefly Press. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  7. Lucy Owen on the pains and joys of IVF Western Mail – Catherine Jones, September 17, 2007
  8. "Lucy Owen's baby makes TV debut". BBC Wales. 21 March 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
  9. "Lucy Owen gives birth to a boy". Western Mail. 11 March 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  10. St John Ambulance Wales Archived 2007-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
  11. "BBC Wales presenter Lucy Owen's eyesight saved by routine test". BBC News. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
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