Christopher Charles Hawkins (born 23 September 1975) is a British

radio presenter A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a ra ...

, DJ, and music pundit. Hawkins is a regular early morning presenter on

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

. He can also be heard presenting documentary programmes on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and makes occasional appearances on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 5 live. He makes frequent TV appearances as a personality pundit and pop-culture expert.

Early life and education

Hawkins was born in

Loppington Loppington is a village and Civil parish, parish in Shropshire, England, situated a few miles west of Wem. The population of the parish (2001) is 576 and there are 206 households. The population as of the 2011 census was 611. Loppington was rec ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He studied at the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

, where he obtained a degree in American Studies, and spent some time at Middlebury College in the United States as an exchange student. Also, as a school boy at the independent school

Ellesmere College (''Striving for one's country'') , established = 1879 , song = ''Jerusalem'' , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding schoolDay School , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label ...

in Ellesmere,

, he spent some time at the Tabor Academy in the United States, on an English-Speaking Union scholarship.Van Voris, Richard
"Our Drama Exchange"
''Tabor Academy News'', 1 March 2015Reagle,Chris
"English students forge bonds at Tabor Academy"
''South Coast Today'' newspaper, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1 April 1998 (Updated 11 Jan 2011)

Career

Hawkins started his radio career on BBC Radio Shropshire. He went on to

BBC Radio Nottingham BBC Radio Nottingham is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on London Road in Nottingham city centre. According to RAJAR, the station has ...

and BBC GLR. He has worked for the BBC World Service doing the UK Album Chart Show and the UK Top 20, presented a daily show on GLR 94.9 (

BBC London 94.9 BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the Lond ...

) for over two years, Talk Radio UK as a reporter and producer, BBC London Live,

Real Radio Real Radio was a network of five regional radio stations broadcasting to North East England, North West England, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire. Each station broadcast a mix of local and networked programming. On Tuesday 6 May 2014, the statio ...

, American College Radio, Jazz FM in London and

Classic Gold Classic Gold was a network of three "Gold" music formatted stations which broadcast on AM in Bradford, Hull and Sheffield. They were the sister stations of Pennine Radio, Viking Radio and Radio Hallam respectively and they were part of the Yo ...

. He co-presented a radio talk show with psychic Becky Walsh on Friday nights on LBC 97.3 FM radio and had his own show on LBC 97.3 on Saturday afternoons. Hawkins has appeared on Celebrity Mastermind (his specialist subject was Coronation Street), he represented the University of Nottingham on Celebrity University Challenge, winning their heat, but failing to make the semi-finals. He writes a music column for London magazines, including the music review section of ''Angel'' magazine.

Personal life

Hawkins is married to meteorologist

Clare Nasir Clare Lyn Nasir (born 20 June 1970) is an English meteorologist, author, and TV presenter. Early life Born in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Nasir's family is musical, with Nasir playing the saxophone, while three of her brothers are profess ...

, with whom he had a child in 2009. In 2012, the family moved up to

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census. History Toponymy Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...

near Salford City and MediaCityUK where Hawkins continued working for

.Reeder, Janet
"How Wilmslow and the North won over TV presenter Clare Nasir and Chris Hawkins"
''Cheshire Life'', 23 May 2013 Hawkins is an ambassador for

The Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

. His lifelong phobia of fruit and vegetables was the topic of a 2008 edition of

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

's '' Freaky Eaters''.Freaky Eaters
– "Addicted to Junk Food" episode, Series 2, BBC programme website

Notes

External links

''Chris Hawkins''
(BBC Radio 6 Music)
''The Remix with Chris Hawkins''
(BBC Radio 6 Music) * * *
Chris Hawkins Official Home on the Web
(archived 2016)
Old Ellesmerian Club article on Chris Hawkins – June 2005, p. 19
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Chris 1975 births Living people People educated at Ellesmere College Alumni of the University of Nottingham British radio personalities British radio DJs BBC Radio 6 Music presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters Television personalities from Shropshire Tabor Academy (Massachusetts) alumni