Konnie Huq
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Konnie Huq
Huq in 2006
Born	Kanak Huq 17 July 1975 (1975-07-17) (age 33) Hammersmith, London, England
Residence	United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Ethnicity	Bangladeshi
Education	2:1 in Economics
Alma mater	Robinson College, Cambridge
Occupation	Television presenter
Employer	British Broadcasting Company
Known for	Blue Peter presenter (26th in show history), Olympic Torch incident
Term	Blue Peter Presenter
Predecessor	Romana D'Annunzio
Successor	None
Religious beliefs	Muslim

Kanak "Konnie" Huq (Bengali: কনি হক, pronounced Huck; born 17 July 1975) is an English television presenter, who is best known for being the longest-serving female presenter of Blue Peter, having presented it from 1 December 1997 until 23 January 2008.

Career

Early career

In 1989, at the age of 14, Huq was a guest on Blue Peter with the National Youth Music Theatre, where she sang a solo. In 1992, ahead of the forthcoming general election, Huq interviewed Labour leader Neil Kinnock for the children's programme Newsround.

In 1997, several months before joining Blue Peter, Huq presented Five's early morning children's programme Milkshake!

Blue Peter

Huq is best known for presenting the BBC children's television programme Blue Peter, which she joined on 1 December 1997. (At that time Huq was regarded as being its 25th presenter, but the acknowledgement in 1998 of Anita West as a former presenter means that Huq is in fact the 26th.)

One of her most memorable early moments on Blue Peter was going to Bangladesh, and visiting members of her extended family whom she had not seen in a long time. In the programme's 2004 "Summer Expedition" to India, Huq became an extra in a Bollywood film, and practised dancing alongside its stars. For the programme's 2004 "Welcome Home" appeal, she made an emotional visit to Angola in the hope of reuniting children with the families they had been separated from due to war. In 2008, during her last ever programme, she broke a Guinness World Record by managing to pin 17 Blue Peter Badges onto fellow presenter Andy Akinwolere's shirt in a minute.

She presented with Stuart Miles, Katy Hill, Romana D'Annunzio, Richard Bacon, Simon Thomas, Matt Baker, Liz Barker, Zöe Salmon, Gethin Jones and Andy Akinwolere.

In March 2007 she apologised to viewers after a competition on the programme was faked, saying "We'd like to say sorry to you because when this mistake happened, we let you down."¹ She was later reported as saying that this event contributed to her decision to leave the programme.²³

On 31 May 2007, Huq announced that she would be leaving Blue Peter in early 2008.¹ Her last live programme was broadcast on 22 January 2008, making her the third longest-serving Blue Peter presenter of all time and its longest-serving female host, having passed Valerie Singleton's record on 1 October 2007.⁴

On 23 January 2008, Huq hosted her final Blue Peter, with a clip show of her highlights through the ten years she had been on the programme.

Other television work

Between 2002 and 2004, Huq co-presented the CBBC Channel's UK Top 40. More recently, she made her debut as a news presenter on the BBC Asian Network, in a series of documentaries on a new radio current affairs programme called the Asian Network Report.

In early 2004 Huq was briefly a presenter for Top of the Pops. She appeared on the CBBC series M.I.High as herself in the episode "The Big Freeze" broadcast on 22 January 2007. She presented GMTV's coverage on New York Fashion Week on the week of 10 September 2007. She has also been a guest panelist on the comedy gameshow 8 out of 10 Cats.

December 2007 saw Konnie appear on a celebrity version of Ready Steady Cook alongside Blue Peter co-presenter Andy Akinwolere, as well as playing a servant (called Konnie) on the last episode of the second series of Robin Hood. Also in 2007, Konnie began presenting the ITV1 London show London Talking, a political debate show, alongside Vanessa Feltz and Nick Ferrari.

She has also co-presented some of the weekly Your News programme for BBC News in 2008.

On Monday 14th April 2008 Konnie was seen filming at Colchester Zoo for the 3rd series of Five show Zoo Days which was broadcast starting June 2008.

Comic Relief

In 2005, she took part in BBC One's reality TV show Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, in aid of Comic Relief, and was the third contestant to be voted off, after her rendition of Kim Wilde's Kids in America. She also travelled to Uganda and met orphan children, on behalf of Comic Relief, and is currently a celebrity ambassador for the British Red Cross⁵.

The Tube

On 15 September 2006 Huq became one of the presenters of The Tube alongside Tony Wilson, Alex James and Emily Rose Channel 4 Radio⁶ working with production company UKoneFM. The first show was broadcast on 3 November 2006.⁷

Olympic Torch incident

On 6 April 2008, Huq was one of 80 carriers of the Olympic torch relay through London when on Ladbroke Grove a protester tried to grab the torch from her whilst Huq was about to give the torch to the next runner. On BBC News later that day she defended carrying the torch, saying she "did the procession because I believe in the Olympic values, the ideals, I think sport on a global scale is a brilliant thing, it transcends culture, race, money," despite what she calls China's "terrible track record when it comes to human rights."⁸ Huq was not hurt in the incident. Police wrestled the protester to the ground and arrested him.⁹ She however voiced concern over the Chinese torch guards, saying "They were very robotic, very full on, and actually I noticed them having skirmishes with our own police and the Olympic authorities before our leg of the relay"¹⁰.

Personal life

She is of Bengali origin from Bangladesh, and describes herself as being a "relaxed Muslim".¹¹

Early life

Konnie Huq's parents moved to England from the village of Pabna in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in the 1960s and she was born in Hammersmith,¹² but grew up in Ealing, London, with her two sisters, Rupa and Nutun.

She was educated at Notting Hill & Ealing High School in London, and Robinson College, Cambridge, where she obtained a 2:1 in Economics.

Topless work offers

In 2008, Huq reportedly turned down a six-figure sum to pose naked for Playboy magazine¹³; she also refused to pose topless for Loaded Magazine. This was mentioned on an Episode of Al Murray's Happy Hour aired on 21 January 2008.¹⁴

Filmography

References

External links

• Konnie Huq at the Internet Movie Database
• Konnie Huq’s Blue Peter video blog bbc.co.uk
• Asians in Media article on new Asian Network Report asiansinmedia.org
• Konnie Huq supports Dance for life redcross.org.uk