BBC broadcaster Fi Glover visited the University of Kent on Thursday 13 November, to talk about her career in radio, publishing and television, as part of the School of European Culture and Languages‘ celebrations for Kent’s 50th anniversary. The event was followed by a SECL Alumni Networking Event with alumni from a diverse range of companies available to talk informally to students about their experiences since leaving the University and their careers.
Fi Glover is an alumna of both the Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies and the Department of Philosophy. She is one of this country’s best known radio voices, and was recently described in The Guardian as ‘gifted, multi award winning’ and ‘disproportionately likeable’. She won a Sony Gold Award and a Sony Silver Award for Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4, as well as a Sony Silver Award for Broadcasting House on Radio 4, a Bronze Award for the GLR Breakfast Show and has received 4 other nominations over the last 10 years. She has worked on Radio 4, Radio Five Live, Radio 2, Radio 1 and GLR, and is now presenting three shows for the network: a landmark three year documentary series for BBC Radio called Generations Apart, a discussion programme called Shared Experience and the Listening Project – a unique and ambitious sound archive being created by the BBC for the British Library.
Following her graduation, Fi cut her teeth on the BBC’s Trainee Reporter scheme in 1993, travelling the country working for local radio stations. She used some of those experiences in her book Travels With My Radio (Ebury Press, 2001). From 1997 to 1999 she also presented The Travel Show on BBC2, travelling to 36 countries in three years. Over the last 15 years in broadcasting Fi has also presented Rough Justice Live on Channel 4, The Technophobes Guide to the Future on BBC2, she has appeared on The Apprentice, Call My Bluff, Just a Minute, Have I Got News For You and Sport Relief Celebrity Bake-Off. Fi is on the board of Sound Women, the industry organisation promoting women’s rights within the industry and was Chair of Judges for the 2009 Orange Prize for Women’s Literature. She has written columns for The Guardian and Woman’s Weekly and currently writes for Waitrose Weekend.
Thank you to everyone who attended the alumni event, and to Fi Glover for her inspiring talk and for taking the time to answer questions. Student Rachel Copley said ‘It was a really good event, really interesting. I loved hearing about the Listening Project and her advice on getting where you want to be.’
Photographs of the talk and the networking event are available on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/unikentsecl