Edith Eleanor Bowman (born 15 January 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ. She is mostly known for formerly hosting the weekday afternoon show and the weekend morning on BBC Radio 1, as well as for presenting a variety of music related television shows and music festivals.[1]
Contents[]
Media career[edit][]
Television[edit][]
Bowman's first on-screen job on TV was as a news reader on MTV UK. She went on to host many shows for the station, including co-presenting chart showHitlist UK with Cat Deeley, with whom she also presented travel show Roadtripping for BBC Choice in 2002.
She was a presenter on Channel 4's breakfast show RI:SE when it launched on 29 April 2002.
In 2004, she co-presented the BBC Scotland series Teen Commandments with Cameron Stout. After occasional appearances in 2003, Bowman co-presented Top of the Pops until the end of the series, replacing Fearne Cotton while she was away. In total she appeared on the show ten times including the final weekly episode. She returned to Top of the Pops for the 2006 Christmas Special.
Since 2005, she has been the voice for the television and radio adverts for the electrical store, Comet.
She has also presented various music programmes for Channel 4 such as Channel 4 Presents... and TBA. Bowman also appeared on children's art program SMart in 2007 and has appeared in coverage of festivals such as Glastonbury, T In The Park and Reading and Leeds Festival, for both BBC Radio and TV.
In 2010, she appeared on Noel Fielding's team on the BBC satirical music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, alongside Irish recording artist Imelda May.
On 29 April 2011, she was a reporter for BBC TV on their coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.[2]
In 2011 she narrated Channel 5's documentary series McFly on the Wall.[3]
Radio[edit][]
Bowman presented Hit Music Sunday with Cat Deeley on Capital FM in 2001–2002.
On 29 March 2003, she teamed up with Colin Murray, who had also worked on RI:SE, to co-host Colin and Edith on BBC Radio 1. In April 2004 this show moved from a weekend morning slot to weekday afternoons, broadcasting between 13:00 and 16:00, after the departure of Mark and Lard from the station.
In August 2006, Bowman became the sole occupier of the BBC Radio 1 afternoon 13:00 to 16:00 slot, with Murray taking over a Late Night Specialist slot. In September 2008, she returned to the airwaves following maternity leave, initially taking over from Dick and Dom on the Sunday Morning Lie In from 10:00 to 13:00. She then returned to weekday afternoons on 3 November 2008.
In July 2009 it was announced that Radio 1 were to change their daytime schedule, and this saw Bowman moved to Weekend Breakfast, with Greg James replacing her on the afternoon programme.[4]Bowman was quoted as saying she felt she had taken her shows as far as she could, and the move meant she could create a new show for a new market.[5][6]
In February 2012, it was announced that Edith Bowman was being replaced by Gemma Cairney on Weekend Breakfast, and would move to Tuesday evenings, in order to take over The Review Show, fromNihal. Bowman left Radio 1 on April 1 but continues on different projects through out of house productions which air on the station. Her first show of the new Review Show was on 24 April 2012.
In November 2012 she began to co host a radio show on BBC Radio 6 Music alongside Adam Buxton on Saturday mornings.
In June 2014, it was announced that starting September 1, 2014, The Review Show on BBC Radio 1 will no longer be broadcast, ending Bowman's career at the station.[7]
Career milestones[edit][]
In 2005, Bowman presented BBC Scotland's coverage of the Live 8 event at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, and hosted the network's T in the Park programmes with Dougie Anderson who had also worked on RI:SE.[8] Also in 2005, she hosted the Q Awards with Colin Murray live on BBC Radio 1.
She also presented the BBC Three TV coverage of Glastonbury, T in the Park and The Reading Festival with Colin Murray. She also hosted the TV coverage of the first Electric Proms with Zane Lowe.
On 7 July 2007 she was a presenter of the BBC coverage of Live Earth.
After leaving Radio 1, Bowman presented several one-off film specials for Channel 4. She also presented Evo Music Rooms a late night music programme for Channel 4 and The Vue Film Show, also for Channel 4. In 2011, she presented coverage of the T in the Park music festival for BBC3.
| Preceded by | Radio 1 Weekend Breakfast Show host
September 2009 - 2012 |
Succeeded by |
Charity interests[edit][]
In May 2008, Bowman supported the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer,[9] alongside fellow celebrities: comedian Alan Carr, actress Anna Friel, singerNatalie Imbruglia and model Twiggy.[10]
Singing[edit][]
Bowman's television debut was on the Grampian Television talent show The Big Break.[11] At the age of 14, she covered Bananarama’s Venus but finished joint last in her heat.
On 11 March 2005 she won the TV talent show Comic Relief does Fame Academy, a charity music contest in which she sang Champagne Supernova with Jools Holland's band.[12] Earlier in the competition she sang a version of Blondie's "Hanging on the Telephone". The show also featured Al Murray, Kim Medcalf, Adrian Edmondson, Jon Culshaw, Konnie Huq, Dawn Steele, and other celebrities.
Personal life[edit][]
Bowman was born in Anstruther in Fife, Scotland. She attended secondary school at Waid Academy in Anstruther and then continued her studies at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh. In 2004, she began dating Elbow frontman Guy Garvey until she left him in 2005, inspiring many of the songs for his third album, Leaders of the Free World.[citation needed] Edith lives in London with Editors frontmanTom Smith.[1] They have two sons; Rudy (born 2008) and Spike (born 2013). The couple married in December 2013.[13] She is a fan of Manchester United.