Kate Humble | |
|---|---|
 Humble at the 2012Monmouthshire Show | |
| Born | Katherine Mary Humble (1968-12-12)12 December 1968 (age 56) |
| Occupation | Television presenter |
| Spouse | |
| Website | KateHumble.co.uk |
Katherine Mary Humble[1] (born 12 December 1968)[2] is an Englishtelevision presenter andnarrator, mainly working for theBBC, specialising inwildlife andscience programmes. Humble served as president of theRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds from 2009 to 2013.[3][4] She is an ambassador for the UK walking charityLiving Streets.[5]
Born inWimbledon, London,[6][7] toIBM employee[8][9] Nick Humble and Diana (née Carter), she is the granddaughter ofBill Humble, a notable pre-Second World Waraviator. She is also the great-great-great granddaughter of Joseph Humble, colliery manager of Hartley Colliery at the time of theHartley Colliery disaster. She has a brother. The family moved, when she was nine months old, toBray inBerkshire, next door to a farm,[9] and she was privately educated at theAbbey School inReading.[10] She later said of her schooling:
I was a very bad student. I had a fantastic Latin teacher which did mean I didLatinA-Level but other than that my school career wasn't something to be proud of.[11]
After leaving school, she travelled through Africa fromCape Town toCairo, doing various jobs includingwaitressing, driving safari trucks and working on acrocodilefarm. She has returned to Africa many times since. In 1994, she travelled aroundMadagascar, the subject of her first article forThe Daily Telegraph travel section. Since then she has written articles about diving and cycling inCuba, Lake Nyos in Cameroon andhippopotamus conservation work in Ghana.
In 1990, Humble appeared for the first time as an actress in a TV production,Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming, and was credited as "Lauren Heston … The redhead". She was the assistant to a casting director who was looking for an actress to play a brief nude scene, and she got the job herself.[12][13]
Humble started her television career as a researcher, later transferring to presenting programmes such asTop Gear,Tomorrow's World and the 2001 seriesThe Holiday Programme – You call the shots where the team travelled the world[14] doing whatever viewers recommended, using the then-novel media oftext messaging and emailing the team as they travelled.
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Humble has specialised in presenting wildlife programmes, includingAnimal Park,Springwatch andAutumnwatch withBill Oddie,Simon King,Chris Packham andMartin Hughes-Games and later,Wild in Africa andSeawatch.
From 2000 to 2005, she presented a BBC series calledRough Science, in which a number of scientists were set various challenges to be solved using basic tools and supplies.
Humble presentedThe Blue Planet Live! on the 2008 UK tour atWembley Arena,St David's Hall inCardiff and atSymphony Hall inBirmingham.[15]
Her BBC television series,The Hottest Place On Earth, is a record of a month spent living with theAfar people inEthiopia's hostileDanakil Depression.[16]
She occasionally performs on the lecture circuit with a show based on her experiences with wildlife, titledHarassed by Hippos and Battered by Cod: A Humble Way to Make a Living.[17]
In 2007 she founded the web siteStuff Your Rucksack that helps organisations around the world find the items they need by matching them with travellers.[18]
On 16 February 2009 she made her first appearance inCountdown's Dictionary Corner.[19] On 29 July she was the subject for the programmeWho Do You Think You Are?[20] where she discovered that she had family connections to theHartley Colliery disaster. Her paternal grandfatherBill Humble was atest pilot who tested theHawker Tempest and her maternal grandfather Stan Carter was an officer in the RAF and after being shot down was held as a prisoner of war inStalag Luft III at the time of "The Great Escape". In August Humble presented a series of programmes for the BBC in which she made a two thousand mile journey across theMiddle East, following the ancientfrankincense trade route ofArabia which first connected the Arab world with the West. The series culminates in her presenting frankincense, that she has carried throughout the journey, to be used in aChristmas service at theChurch of the Nativity inBethlehem.[21] On 3 October Humble was appointed president of theRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds.[3] In 2013, Humble was succeeded as President of the RSPB byMiranda Krestovnikoff.[4]
In 2010 Humble described being on holiday in the north-eastern region ofAfghanistan where there were no signs of conflict, but where theWakhi people were expected to be hostile. Instead, Humble said they were "amongst the most astonishing, hospitable, warm, genuine people" she has ever met. They were also hard and tough, and Humble believes that "if anyone thinks they are going to win a war against an Afghan they are insane!" She is writing about her experiences in Afghanistan for a forthcoming publication.[22] From 3 to 7 May 2010 she appeared as the dictionary corner guest onCountdown.[citation needed]
In February 2011 Humble presented a three-part series of programmes,The Spice Trail, on the trail of six of the world's most valuable spices, covering their history, trade, mythology and usage.[23]
In March 2012, she co-presented withHelen Czerski a three-part BBC series,Orbit.[24] In July, Humble co-presentedVolcano Live withIain Stewart.[25]
In 2017, Humble presented the BBC Two documentary seriesExtreme Wives with Kate Humble. In the first episode she visited theKuria people in Kenya and explored issues ofpolygamy andfemale genital mutilation. In the second episode she spoke to members of theHarediorthodox Jewish community inJerusalem. The third episode meets thematrilineal community ofShillong in the Indian state ofMeghalaya.[26] In 2018 she became president of theWildfowl & Wetlands Trust.[27]
Humble's book,Thinking on My Feet: The small joy of putting one foot in front of another, was shortlisted for the 2019Wainwright Prize.[28]
In November 2020, she was included in theBBC Radio 4Woman's Hour Power List 2020.[29]
Humble is married to the television producerLudo Graham. Their families were friends, and they first met when she was aged 16 and he 23.[30] They married inNewbury, Berkshire, in 1992, when she was 23. In 2007, they moved fromChiswick, West London, to the village ofTrellech, in Monmouthshire, where they had wanted to live for "a very long time".[31] Humble now owns her own farm after working onLambing Live.
Humble reacted to public criticism on ITV'sLorraine about her lack of intent to have children, stating that "I don’t want them, I’ve never wanted them".[32]
Humble is anaturist who "likes to get closer to nature by being naked".[33] About being naked, she says "There's something joyous about it, and I urge everyone to try it".[33][34]
Humble is anhonorary graduate of theOpen University. She is a beekeeper and a member of theBritish Beekeepers Association.[35][36]
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