Tom Heap | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas John Gillespie Heap (1966-01-03)3 January 1966 (age 59) Hertford, Hertfordshire, England |
| Education | Oakham School, Rutland[1]: 30 Hills Road Sixth Form College |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, presenter |
| Employer(s) | BBC News,Sky News |
| Known for | Countryfile presenter (BBC One) The Climate Show presenter (Sky News) Panorama reporter (BBC One) Costing the Earth reporter (BBC Radio 4) Rural Affairs Correspondent forBBC News |
Tom Heap (born 3 January 1966 inHertford,Hertfordshire)[2] is an English television and radio reporter and presenter best known for his contributions to theBBC One programmeCountryfile, theBBC Radio 4 programmeCosting the Earth andThe Climate Show onSky News.
Heap is the son ofJohn Heap, a former scientific adviser who became the head of theForeign and Commonwealth Office's Polar Regions Section (from 1975 to 1992), and Margaret Grace Gillespie Spicer, known as 'Peg',[3] the daughter of Captain Sir Stewart Spicer, 3rdBaronet, of theRoyal Navy. He has two sisters.[3]
Heap was educated atOakham School, a boarding and day independent school in themarket town ofOakham inRutland in central England, where he was trained to abseil by the Lieutenant M.B. Rochester of theCombined Cadet Force (CCF),[1]: 30 and received a BronzeDuke of Edinburgh's Award in 1980.[1]: 100
Heap began his broadcasting career withSky News as a sound mixer. He then joined a News Trainee scheme withBBC News and worked on theToday programme, theBBC News 24 channel andPanorama. He became a correspondent specialising in and around rural affairs, science and the environment and took on a newly created role as the Rural Affairs Correspondent for BBC News. In around 2013 he reported for the BBC live from theKhumbu Icefall onMount Everest with the broadcasting team covering the 50th anniversary of the conquest of the mountain.[4] After making contributions toCountryfile, in around April 2012 he took over the investigative reporter role on the programme fromJohn Craven.[5] In 2014 he interviewedPrincess Anne in this role.[6] Since 2022, Heap has presentedThe Climate Show onSky News.
Heap married Tammany Robin Stone in 1992, and lives inNapton on the Hill near themarket town ofSoutham inWarwickshire, south of the city ofCoventry. They own the media company Checked Shirt TV.[7]
During an edition ofCountryfile screened in November 2014, it was revealed that Heap is the great-nephew of Olympic medallist and soldierThomas Gillespie who was killed in action atLa Bassee, France, in October 1914, aged 21.[8]
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