Sophy Ridge

Last updated

Sophy Ridge
Sophyridge.jpg
Ridge in 2012
Born
Sophy Arabella Ridge

(1984-10-17) 17 October 1984 (age 39) [1]
London, England
Alma mater St Edmund Hall, Oxford (BA)
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • presenter
Children2

Sophy Ridge (born 17 October 1984) is an English broadcast journalist who has worked for Sky News since 2011.

Contents

Born in London, Ridge studied English Literature at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, before working for the tabloid newspaper News of the World . She left the newspaper to join Sky News as a political correspondent in 2011. Six years later, she started hosting her own politics show on the channel, Sophy Ridge on Sunday .

Early life

Ridge was born on 17 October 1984 in Richmond upon Thames, London. [1] Both her parents are teachers. Ridge has one younger brother. [1] Her secondary education was at the selective grammar Tiffin Girls' School in London. During her time there, she did work experience at the local newspaper, the Richmond and Twickenham Times . [1]

She continued her education at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and obtained a second-class BA degree in English Literature. [1] [2] During her final year of university she did a period of work experience at the tabloid newspaper News of the World , which led to a position on their graduate training programme. [1]

Career

After graduation in 2006, Ridge was a trainee reporter at the tabloid newspaper News of the World. [3] After completion of her training programmes she initially worked as a consumer affairs correspondent in 2009. She then gained a job as a political correspondent on Sky News in 2011. [2] [4]

During her time there she covered a broad range of political stories and travelled with the Prime Minister to Afghanistan, New York and Brazil. She was based in Colorado for the channel's coverage of the US elections and was known for her round the clock broadcasting at the annual party conferences.

Ridge covered the 2015 general election as a senior political correspondent for Sky News, reporting on the Labour Party's campaign and conducting interviews with party members. Her exclusives during this time included Ed Miliband's resignation as leader of the Labour Party following the result of that general election and Jeremy Corbyn's victory in the subsequent Labour Party leadership election. [1]

In 2017 Ridge became the host of her own show, Sophy Ridge on Sunday. [4] [5] In the same year Ridge released her first book The Women Who Shaped Politics, a non-fiction book which discussed women's contribution to British politics. [6] She also started writing a weekly column in the tabloid newspaper Metro .[ citation needed ]

In 2022, she launched The Take with Sophy Ridge, a 30-minute discussion show based on the interviews that had featured in that week's edition.

She continued to present both programmes until July 2023 when it was announced that, from September 2023, she would present a new weeknight political programme for Sky News called Politics Hub. [7]

Awards

Ridge won the MHP Communications 30 to Watch award in 2012, and was shortlisted as Young Journalist of the Year in the Royal Television Society Awards in 2013. [8] [9] In 2016, she won an award for Broadcast Journalist of the Year at the Words by Women awards. [10]

Personal life

Ridge married Ben Griffiths, a journalist for the Daily Mirror , in 2014. [11] They have two children. [12] [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Independent</i> British online daily newspaper

The Independent is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Mesley</span> Canadian television journalist (born 1957)

Wendy Mesley is a Canadian television journalist, podcaster, and blogger. She worked for CBC News from 1981 to 2021 in roles including national correspondent at the Quebec Legislature and the Ottawa Parliamentary Bureau. She was the anchor of The National, host of Undercurrents, Disclosure, and Marketplace, and from 2018 to 2020, she hosted the Sunday morning talk show The Weekly with Wendy Mesley.

<i>Metro</i> (British newspaper) British tabloid newspaper

Metro is the United Kingdom's highest-circulation freesheet tabloid newspaper. It is published in tabloid format by DMG Media. The newspaper is distributed from Monday to Friday mornings on public places in areas of England, Wales and Scotland. Copies are also handed out to pedestrians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Neil</span> Scottish journalist and broadcaster (born 1949)

Andrew Ferguson Neil is a British journalist and broadcaster who is chairman of The Spectator. He was editor of The Sunday Times from 1983 to 1994. He has presented various political programmes on the BBC and on Channel 4.

Julia Hartley-Brewer is a conservative British radio presenter, political journalist, and newspaper columnist. She has hosted a radio show on Talkradio simulcast on Talk called Julia Hartley-Brewer on weekdays from 10am.

Anne Margaret Diamond is a British journalist, broadcaster, and children's health campaigner. She presently hosts the weekend breakfast show on GB News with Stephen Dixon as her co-presenter. She hosted Good Morning Britain for TV-am and Good Morning with Anne and Nick for BBC One, with Nick Owen. In 2023, she was made an OBE for her service to children's health and is the first non-medic to hold the Royal College of Paediatrics College Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norah O'Donnell</span> American television journalist

Norah Morahan O'Donnell is an American television journalist who is the anchor of the CBS Evening News, a correspondent for 60 Minutes, and host of Person to Person. She has worked with several mainstream media outlets throughout her career, including as former co-anchor of CBS This Morning, Chief White House Correspondent for CBS News, and a substitute host for CBS's Sunday morning show Face the Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clare Balding</span> English broadcaster, journalist, TV presenter and author

Clare Victoria Balding is an English broadcast journalist and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4 and BT Sport and formerly presented the religious programme Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2. Balding was appointed as the 30th president of the Rugby Football League, serving a two-year term until December 2022.

Mary Ellen Synon is an Irish journalist. She is a frequent contributor to Irish radio current affairs programmes. Through her career, she has been an outspoken critic of the European Union and an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism.

<i>The Andrew Marr Show</i> British TV series or programme

The Andrew Marr Show is a Sunday morning talk show presented by Andrew Marr. It was broadcast on BBC One from 2005 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susanna Reid</span> English television presenter (born 1970)

Susanna Reid is an English television presenter and journalist. She was a co-presenter of BBC Breakfast from 2001 until 2014 alongside Bill Turnbull and Charlie Stayt. In 2013, she finished as a runner-up on the eleventh series of Strictly Come Dancing alongside dance-partner Kevin Clifton. Since 2014, Reid has been the lead presenter of the ITV Breakfast programme Good Morning Britain alongside Kate Garraway, Richard Madeley, Ed Balls and formerly Piers Morgan and Ben Shephard. She also presented Sunday Morning Live on BBC One from 2010 to 2011.

Joanne Dawn Coburn is a British journalist with BBC News, a regular presenter of Politics Live and previously had special responsibility for BBC Breakfast. She is a former BBC political correspondent for London, who covered the 2000 London Mayoral election.

Sophy Ridge on Sunday is a Sky News Sunday morning talk show fronted by Sophy Ridge. It aired from 8 January 2017 until 16 July 2023.

Anushka Asthana is an English journalist and television presenter. She is the deputy political editor of ITV News.

Isabel Oakeshott is a British political journalist.

Samantha Louise Maiden is an Australian political journalist. She is currently political editor for news.com.au, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia.

Tamara Cohen is a British political correspondent working for Sky News. She was previously a journalist and editor at the Daily Mail.

This is a timeline of the history of Sky News, a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation.

Marianna Spring is a British broadcast journalist. She is the BBC's first disinformation specialist and social media correspondent.

Kate McCann is a British journalist who has been the political editor of Times Radio since September 2023. Prior to this,she was political editor of TalkTV between 2022 and 2023, a political correspondent for Sky News between 2018 and 2022, and The Daily Telegraph's senior political correspondent between 2015 and 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sophy Ridge, the woman changing on-screen politics". Royal Television Society . June 2017. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Sophy Ridge". St Edmund Hall, Oxford. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  3. ↑ Saner, Emine (19 February 2017). "Sky's Sophy Ridge: 'We're at a tipping point with women in politics'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  4. 1 2 Sweney, Mark (16 November 2016). "Sophy Ridge to host new Sunday morning show on Sky News". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "Sky News Launches New Show, Sophy Ridge on Sunday". Sky. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  6. ↑ Simpson, Keith (24 April 2017). "Book review: The Women Who Shaped Politics". Total Politics. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  7. ↑ "Final Sophy Ridge on Sunday this weekend – Politics Hub starts on September". TV Newsroom. 14 July 2023. Archived from the original on 21 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  8. ↑ "MHP announces the winners of the inaugural MHP 30 to Watch – recognising the most talented young journalist stars of the future". MHP Communications. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  9. ↑ "RTS Announces Winners For Television Journalism Awards 2013". Royal Television Society. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  10. ↑ Belam, Martin (22 March 2016). "Words By Women awards make their mark with celebration of solidarity". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  11. ↑ "Homewood Herald July–August 2014 Web Edition" (PDF). Homewood Road United Reformed Church St. Albans. p. 2. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  12. ↑ @sophyridgesky (1 October 2017). "I'm on maternity leave – you're in the capable hands of @skynewsniall" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ↑ Otter, Saffron (16 May 2021). "Sky News announces Sophy Ridge on Sunday replacement as she goes on maternity leave". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "Sky News announces new weekly topical shows with hosts Sophy Ridge, Trevor Phillips and Beth Rigby". Sky News. 25 January 2022. Archived from the original on 13 March 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.