Samantha Simmonds

Samantha Rose Simmonds (born 1972 or 1973[1]) is an English newsreader, television presenter and journalist. She was a news anchor for Sky News until July 2016. She returned to presenting for BBC News in March 2017.

Samantha Simmonds
Born
Samantha Rose Simmonds

1972 or 1973 (age 49–51)
Bradford, England
Occupations
  • Newsreader
  • journalist
  • television presenter
Notable credits
SpousePhillip Davies
Children3
Websitesamanthasimmonds.co.uk

Early life

Simmonds was born to an Iranian mother and a Yorkshire-born father.[2] Her mother moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s.[3] Simmonds grew up in the Alwoodley area of Leeds[4][5] and attended Leeds Girls' High School.[6] She studied for a BA at Liverpool University.[7] Whilst a student in Liverpool, she appeared as a contestant on the ITV television show Blind Date.[8]

Journalism career

After gaining a postgraduate diploma in broadcast journalism from City University in London in 1995,[9] Simmonds worked as a reporter for local radio in Yorkshire before moving to London for a job as a producer on Channel Five News. She was later a presenter on BBC Breakfast and spent two years reporting and presenting BBC London's news programmes before joining Sky News in 2005. While presenting that channel, she was the first British journalist to break the story of Michael Jackson's death.[10] Simmonds left Sky News in 2016, along with several other anchors, as part of a cost-cutting exercise.[11] She can now be seen presenting on BBC One, BBC World News and the BBC News Channel, which she joined in March 2017.[12]

Personal life

Simmonds is married to Phillip Davies, a business consultant, with whom she has three children.[13][3] She lives in East Finchley, North London.[14]

References
  1. Yaffe, Simon. "Blind date started TV love affair for Samantha". Jewish Telegraph. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  2. "'We are just trying to get things right…we check everything'". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  3. "A JEWISH TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPER". www.jewishtelegraph.com. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  4. "Samantha Simmonds • Q and A". TV Newsroom. 21 May 2009.
  5. "A JEWISH TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPER". www.jewishtelegraph.com. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  6. "The Grammar School at Leeds, GSAL, Leeds Grammar School, Leeds, Yorkshire, leading independent co-educational school « The Grammar School at Leeds". gsal.org.uk. 3 December 2013.
  7. "Programmes – Breakfast – Reporters – Samantha Simmonds". BBC News. 11 October 2002.
  8. "About – Samantha Simmonds". Samantha Simmonds.
  9. "Samantha Simmonds". sky.com.
  10. "Samantha Simmonds Sky News". Samantha Simmonds.
  11. "Andrew Wilson and other Sky News anchors leave ship". The Guardian. 4 July 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  12. Simmonds, Samantha [@samanthaTVnews] (19 March 2017). "Excited to be back on air at the BBC- I'll be presenting @bbcworld 12-6 GMT - do tune in if you can!" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 June 2021 – via Twitter.
  13. "'Darling you NEED botox' Sky News Samantha's mum tells her | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV | Express.co.uk". www.express.co.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  14. "'We are just trying to get things right…we check everything'". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
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