Zeb Soanes | |
|---|---|
 Soanes in 2014 | |
| Born | (1976-06-24)24 June 1976 (age 48) |
| Education | Harris Middle School, Lowestoft Denes High School, Lowestoft |
| Alma mater | University of East Anglia |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist,news reader,radio presenter,author,actor |
| Employer | Global Radio |
| Notable credit(s) | BBC Radio 4 Gaspard the Fox books |
| Television | BBC Proms |
| Website | zebsoanes |
Zebedee Soanes (born 24 June 1976) is a Britishradio presenter who hosts the weekday evening music showRelaxing Evenings with Zeb Soanes onClassic FM.
He was previously anewsreader andcontinuity announcer onBBC Radio 4 andBBC Radio 4 Extra until June 2022. He presents live concerts, specialising in narrated orchestral works, and has published thechildren's book seriesGaspard the Fox.
Soanes was born inLowestoft,Suffolk, the son of aMethodist minister and one of three children.[1][2][3] He went to Northfield St Nicholas Infants School, Harris Middle School andDenes High School, a state comprehensive school in the town, before studying Drama and Creative Writing at theUniversity of East Anglia.[1] He then taught drama and toured Britain as an actor.[1][4]
An appearance onBBC Local Radio[5] led to a job as a presentation announcer for the television channelsBBC One andBBC Two. His voice launchedBBC Four in 2002 and he was the channel's sole announcer for ten months.[2][3] He left BBC television and took up a position withBBC Radio 4 on 9 February 2003.[6] In 2001 he began reading theShipping Forecast, a weather report for the seas around the British Isles, which is broadcast four times a day on BBC Radio 4.[7]
He has been engaged to record special forecasts for several TV dramas, includingSherlock, where he adds the new sea area of 'Sherrinford' (a secret facility located in secured waters) and he reads the forecast over the opening titles of theITV detective seriesGrace. He also recorded the forecast forSandi Toksvig's playSilver Lining, produced byEnglish Touring Theatre[8] and for theRoyal National Theatre's 2023 production ofOdysseus.
Soanes has been a newsreader for Radio 4'sToday,PM and theSix O’Clock News.[7][9]
He acted withToby Jones in the radio dramaBeautiful Dreamers and has reported for BBC Radio's long-running seriesFrom Our Own Correspondent.[7] In December 2010,Radio Times magazine placed Soanes in the list of the seven most recognisable voices in Britain.[10] AuthorFrancesca Simon, creator ofHorrid Henry, featured Soanes as the newsreader inThe Lost Gods, her 2013 book for older children.[7]
In a 2015 poll of favourite radio voices inThe Sunday Times, Soanes was voted as the favourite male voice. His voice was described, by the paper's radio critic Paul Donovan, as smoother than that of the favourite femaleJane Garvey and as "evoking an earlier, more formal BBC".[11][12]
In 2016 Soanes playedDerek Nimmo in the radio dramaAll Mouth and Trousers, byMark Burgess, the story behind the making of the television comedy seriesAll Gas and Gaiters.[13]
At Christmas 2018 Soanes appeared as part of the team for theUniversity of East Anglia on BBC'sChristmas University Challenge.[14] On Christmas Day, the team lost toUniversity of Westminster by 100 points to 130.[15][16]
In 2022, Soanes joinedClassic FM[17] He host the weekday evening music showRelaxing Evenings with Zeb Soanes on the station.[18]
Soanes returned to BBC Four television in August 2006 as a presenter for theBBC Proms. In 2017 he presented a television tribute to The Proms on the occasion of the First Night of The Proms, with Soanes partly presenting inReceived Pronunciation, fitting the style of early BBC programmes.[19]
In November 2013 he took the role of God in a production ofNoye's Fludde for BBC Radio 3, as part of the station's celebration ofBenjamin Britten's centenary.[20] In November 2014 he appeared in a concert with the vocal ensemble Opus Anglicanum atWells Cathedral, featuring the poetry ofGeorge Herbert.[21] The ensemble toured an entire reading of Coleridge'sThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner, set to music by Lynne Plowman.[22]
In 2016 Soanes was narrator forThe Snowman by the Brandenburg Sinfonia atSt Martin-in-the-Fields, with Andrew Earis conductor. In 2019 the church commissioned him to rewrite the libretto forVaughan Williams' 1958 nativity pageant,The First Nowell, presented as a charity gala casting BBC colleagues DameJenni Murray as God andEvan Davis as a Wise Man.[23] He narratedPeter and the Wolf andLittle Red Riding Hood at the Wimbledon International Music Festival, with Leo Geyer conducting.The Daily Telegraph has described Soanes as "the go-to person for music narration, specialising in children's concerts". Andrew Baker, son of broadcasterRichard Baker, has said "It is unusual .... for newsreaders to come from a non-journalistic background, but this seems to have been Zeb's path, just as it was my father's, so the state school, university, actor, BBC trajectory is uncannily similar."[24]
In March 2017 Soanes appeared, alongsideCarole Boyd, in a new recording ofFaçade byWilliam Walton andEdith Sitwell, produced by Andrew Keener.[25] Andrew Baker praised Soanes for his performance': "My father regardedFaçade as the pinnacle of the narrator's art, a hugely enjoyable challenge, and a celebration of clarity, breathing, projection and timing. Zeb has all of these attributes, and it's always a pleasure to hear him at work."[26]
Soanes is patron of a number of charities; Awards for Young Musicians,[27] the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine,[28]The Mammal Society and theThaxted Festival.[29][30]
In 2022 Soanes launched a community project in his home town of Lowestoft to raise funds for a statue ofBenjamin Britten by the sculptorIan Rank-Broadley, to be located on the seafront opposite the composer's childhood home.[31] He unveiled the maquette for the statue in the garden of Britten's birthplace, at 21 Kirkley Cliff Road. On 6 October 2023, he hosted a gala fundraiser for the statue, at London'sWigmore Hall, with star performers includingDame Janet Baker,Sir Thomas Allen,Tasmin Little andAlistair McGowan, which raised £20,000.[32]
Soanes was awarded anhonorary doctorate from theUniversity of Suffolk in October 2023 for his "outstanding contribution to education, music, media, literature and very public endorsement and celebration of Suffolk."[33][34]
Soanes's family have lived in Lowestoft since the 18th century.[5] He now lives inIslington, North London[35] with his partner, Christophe.[4][36] Formerly a resident ofHighgate, he was made a Freeman of Highgate, by means of the ancientSwearing on the Horns ceremony, on 25 February 2015, at the Duke's Head public house.[37]
On 1 April 2021, at the age of 44, Soanes suffered astroke.[38] He has since worked with theStroke Association to raise awareness of the condition.[39]
In 2018 independent Welsh publisher Graffeg issued,Gaspard the Fox, a collaboration with the illustratorJames Mayhew. The book for children focused on an injuredurban fox which had appeared at Soanes' home, and which he and his partner befriended.[36][40][41][42]
Gaspard's Foxtrot has also been adapted as a concert work by the British composerJonathan Dove in the tradition ofPeter and the Wolf, which was filmed by theRoyal Scottish National Orchestra as part of its National Schools Concert Programme 2021.[24][43] It received its world premiere on 29 July 2021 at theThree Choirs Festival, with thePhilharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Alice Farnham.[44]
Dove and Soanes collaborated again onGaspard's Christmas which was premiered at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on Friday 23 December 2022.[45]
Soanes' fourth book,Fred and the Fantastic Tub-Tub, illustrated by Anja Uhren, was published by Graffeg in March 2022.[46]
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