Natasha Kaplinsky

Kaplinsky's paternal grandparents were Jewish, originating from the town of Slonim (then part of Poland, now located in western Belarus), and emigrated to South Africa in 1929.

Kaplinsky was born in Brighton, but spent her early life in Kenya; she has stated that she was fluent in Swahili.

The family emigrated to the United Kingdom and Kaplinsky was brought up in Barcombe, East Sussex.

She attended Ringmer Community College, until the age of sixteen when she moved to Varndean College in Brighton.

Natasha Margaret Kaplinsky (born 9 September 1972) is an English newsreader, TV presenter and journalist, best known for her roles as a studio anchor on Sky News, BBC News, Channel 5 and ITV News.

After graduating with a degree in English from Hertford College, Oxford in 1995, one of Kaplinsky's first jobs was working in the press offices of Labour leaders Neil Kinnock and John Smith.

Kaplinsky was the subject of an episode of the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?, in which well-known people trace their family trees.

Kaplinsky started out presenting on F2F, a youth chat show, for Granada Talk TV in 1996 with co-host Sacha Baron Cohen.

She then moved to presenting early morning news bulletins at Meridian.

Within six months, she was co-presenting their evening news programme Meridian Tonight.

In 1999, Kaplinsky moved to ITV's London News Network where she hosted London Today and London Tonight as well as a political programme called Seven Days.

In November 2000, Kaplinsky joined Sky News, where she initially co-presented breakfast news programme Sunrise; she later moved to early evening bulletin Live at Five, which she presented alongside Jeremy Thompson.

After two years at Sky News, Kaplinsky joined BBC News in 2001 where she co-hosted Breakfast until 2005, when she became the host of the Six O'Clock News.

Kaplinsky joined the BBC in November 2002 to present BBC Breakfast from Monday to Thursday with Dermot Murnaghan, before moving on the host the BBC News at Six.

She was the first ever winner of the first series of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2004.

Kaplinsky has co-founded a mother and baby company, Mum & You.

In 2006, Kaplinsky became only the third (and youngest) woman to present the BBC's Ten O'Clock News.

Kaplinsky was recruited from the corporation to join Five to help relaunch the channel.

In October 2007, Kaplinsky was recruited to help relaunch Five (now known as Channel 5), reportedly for the highest fee ever paid to a UK newsreader, where she presented a new look, retitled Five News with Natasha Kaplinsky for three years.

After leaving Channel 5, she went on to join ITV News as a presenter.

Kaplinsky has hosted light entertainment and factual programmes during her career, including Children in Need and Born to Shine.

She was also the subject of the most highly rated Who Do You Think You Are.

Kaplinsky's programme was broadcast on 6 September 2007.

She followed her paternal line to Slonim and was shown official documentation relating to her cousin's family.

This included the death of family members during the "liquidation" – massacre – of the Słonim Ghetto by the Germans and another's escape to the partisans in the Second World War and eventual immigration to Australia.

Her maternal line included an apothecary to King George III.

On 18 February 2008, Kaplinsky relaunched Five,.

On 21 August 2008, Kaplinsky began her first maternity leave from Five, followed by a second period after the birth of her daughter.

On 14 October 2010, Kaplinsky announced that she was leaving her job at Channel 5 at the end of 2010, having spent most of her three years at the network on maternity leave.

On 23 December 2010, she presented her final bulletin for Five News.

Kaplinsky's first presenting role with ITV was in the summer of 2011, when she hosted a new Sunday entertainment series Born to Shine, which raised awareness for the charity Save the Children, of which Natasha is an ambassador.

In September 2011, she made a return to London Tonight, fronting the programme in place of then lead anchor Nina Hossain.

In addition, she occasionally presented numerous ITV News programmes.

On 19 August 2013, Kaplinsky presented The People's Medal, a documentary about The Queen's Birthday Honours List.

On 29 October 2013, Kaplinsky hosted the documentary On the Run, alongside journalist Mark Williams-Thomas.

The pair then presented a second documentary, Missing Without Trace, on 12 November 2013.

In 2014, the then PM David Cameron asked Kaplinsky to become a Holocaust Commissioner leading a project to interview 112 survivors.

She was awarded an OBE in 2017 for her services to the Holocaust Commission.

In 2022, she became the latest president of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), after the former president, Patrick Swaffer, stepped down after a 10-year contract.

Kaplinsky was born to Raphael Kaplinsky, a South African political refugee, Professor of International Development at the Open University, and his wife, Catherine Kaplinsky (née Charlewood), a psychotherapist.