Jake Humphrey

Jacob John Humphrey DL (born 7 October 1978) is an English television presenter, best known for hosting Champions League and Premier League football on BT Sport, CBBC's Bamzooki, and BBC Sport's coverage of Formula 1 Grand Prix. He is the co-founder and Director of Whisper Group, and hosts the High Performance Podcast.

Since 2021 he has been a Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk, representing the Royal Family in his home county.

Humphrey's career in television began after leaving school. His first work for the BBC was for their children's channel CBBC, although a switch to sport from 2006 saw him become the youngest ever host of their football shows ''Football Focus'', and later ''Match of the Day'' and ''Final Score''. While continuing as a guest presenter on those shows, he also went on to present BBC coverage of international football. Outside of football, he has also presented BBC coverage of the Commonwealth Games and Summer Olympics, and of American Football in the Super Bowl and NFL International Series. He began presenting Grand Prix for the BBC after they regained the rights from ITV.

Humphrey has also co-hosted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and has guest presented non-sports programmes such as ''The One Show'' for BBC One and '' This Morning'' for ITV.

Early life

Born in Peterborough, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England to Liz, a retired teacher and Rex, a retired chief executive of Age Concern Norfolk. He has one sister, Rachel and a brother, Thomas. The family moved to Norwich, Norfolk when Humphrey was nine and attended Framingham Earl High School and the Sixth Form at the Hewett School, Norwich. During his time at school he also worked as a paperboy and became interested in the media. When he was 16, Humphrey got a job at McDonald's and was sacked for poor communication skills. Later he worked in the position of a waiter.

Career

Early career

While studying for his A Level resits, Humphrey took a work experience job at ITV East of England contractor Anglia Television. Humphrey joined Anglia on a full-time basis as a runner, followed by transferring to Rapture TV where he presented the original incarnation of ''G@mers''. Humphrey began presenting on CBBC as assistant host in ''Against All Odds'' and later as main host of '' Rule The School'' in 2001. He later became the main presenter of ''Against All Odds'' and a studio presenter for CBBC the following year.

In late 2002, he hosted CBBC's coverage of ''Fame Academy'', along with Holly Willoughby. They also presented the 2003 celebrity edition for Comic Relief. Humphrey also presented the 2005 and 2007 Comic Relief editions of ''Fame Academy'', with Sophie McDonnell and Caroline Flack respectively. Humphrey also presented CBBC show ''Against All Odds'', a TV show that featured reconstructions of real life emergencies and gave First Aid advice to viewers.

Beginning in 2004, Humphrey started hosting '' The Saturday Show'' and '' BAMZOOKi'', but these roles ended in 2005 and 2006 respectively. He was a cover continuity presenter on CiTV at Birmingham. He also presented ''Newsround'' from 2005 till 2008. He was named anchorman of children's sports show ''Sportsround'' in September 2005, beginning a series of roles related to sports. Also he was the presenter on '' Gimme a Break'' in the first series.

Sports presenting

BBC Sport

Humphrey started presenting as a match reporter with BBC Radio 5 Live in 2005 and then presented coverage of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia.

He first hosted ''Football Focus'' in November 2006, covering for regular host Manish Bhasin who was presenting coverage of the 2006 Ashes. He later covered for Bhasin again during the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Humphrey hosted ''Final Score'' when regular presenter Ray Stubbs was unable to do so. He first hosted ''Match of the Day'' for the FA Women's Cup final in May 2007, and then presented coverage of the 2007 Women's World Cup.

In October 2007, he became the BBC's first American Football host, subsequently presenting live coverages of Super Bowl XLII till Super Bowl XLVII. Humphrey presented the BBC's highlights shows for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and he presented the FA Women's Cup final in 2008, the final Women's Cup Final on the BBC due to the end of the FA contract. Humphrey also hosted the afternoon show at the Olympics for the BBC in Beijing in 2008, and co-hosted BBC Sports Personality of the Year from 2008 until 2011 with Gary Lineker and Sue Barker.

In 2009, he became the anchor for the BBC's
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