Sophy Arabella Ridge (born 17 October 1984) is an English broadcast journalist. She currently works for

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the he ...

and has presented ''

Sophy Ridge on Sunday ''Sophy Ridge on Sunday'' (also ''Sunday with Niall Paterson'') is a Sky News Sunday morning talk show fronted by Sophy Ridge. It was launched on 8 January 2017 and is currently broadcast on Sundays at 8:30am to 9:30am. It is followed by ''Soph ...

'' since 2017, (and can be accesse
here
. In 2022, she launched ''The Take with Sophy Ridge''.

Early life

Ridge was born on 17 October 1984 in

Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the Lo ...

, London. Both her parents are teachers. Ridge has one younger brother. Her secondary education was at the selective grammar

Tiffin Girls' School ("Dare to be Wise") , established = , closed = , type = Grammar Academy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headteacher , head = Ian Keary , r_head_label = , r_head = , ch ...

in London. During her time there, she did work experience at the local newspaper ''

Richmond and Twickenham Times The ''Richmond and Twickenham Times'' is a weekly local newspaper that was established in 1873 and is published on Fridays. It covers the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south-west London and surrounding areas. It is delivered free to ...

''. She continued her education at

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any universit ...

, and obtained a second-class BA degree in English Literature. During her final year of university she did a period of work experience at the tabloid newspaper ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one ...

'', which led to a position on their graduate training programme.

Career

She started as a voice-over artist at the voiceover agency Hobson's International, from the 1990s and 2000s along with

Ciara Janson Ciara Janson Zelmerlöw (née Janson; born 27 April 1987) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Nicole Owen on ''Hollyoaks''. Career The gurgle over at 18 months started Ciara's career as a voice over artist and inspired a ...

, Louise Michelle,

Tom Attenborough Thomas Frederick Richard Attenborough (born 13 October 1986) is an English voice actor and theatre director. He is the son of theatre director Michael Attenborough, grandson of the late film actor and director Richard Attenborough and the gre ...

, and

Will Attenborough Will Grant Oliver Attenborough (born 26 June 1991) is a British actor known for his roles in '' Photograph 51, Our Girl, Dunkirk,'' and '' The Outpost.'' Career He played the lead role in Jeremy Herrin's production of '' Another Country'' in ...

. After graduation in 2006, Ridge was a trainee reporter at the now defunct tabloid newspaper ''News of the World''. After completion of her training programmes she initially worked as a consumer affairs correspondent in 2009. She then gained a job as a political correspondent on

in 2011. During her time there she covered a broad range of political stories and travelled with the Prime Minister to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. She was based in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

for the channel's coverage of the US elections and was known for her round the clock broadcasting at the annual

party conference The terms party conference (UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membe ...

s. Ridge covered the 2015 general election as a senior political correspondent for Sky News, reporting on the Labour Party's campaign and conducting interviews with party members. Her exclusives during this time included

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliba ...

's resignation as leader of the Labour Party following the result of that general election and

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialis ...

's victory in the subsequent Labour Party leadership election. In 2017 Ridge became the host of her own show, ''Sophy Ridge on Sunday''. In the same year Ridge released her first book ''The Women Who Shaped Politics'', a non-fiction book which discussed women's contribution to British politics. She also started writing a weekly column in the tabloid newspaper '' Metro''.

Awards

Ridge won the MHP Communications 30 to Watch award (2012), and was shortlisted as Young Journalist of the Year in the

Royal Television Society Awards The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

in 2013. In 2016, she won an award for Broadcast Journalist of the Year at the Words by Women awards.

Personal life

Ridge is married to Ben Griffiths, who is a journalist for a national newspaper. She describes herself as a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. They have two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridge, Sophy 1984 births Living people Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford English feminists People educated at the Tiffin Girls' School Sky News newsreaders and journalists British women journalists