Angharad Mair (born March 1960) is a Welsh

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

; she is the lead presenter on the nightly

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

magazine programme, '' Heno'' and the

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

news programme, ''

Wales Today ''BBC Wales Today'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Wales, broadcast on BBC One Wales from the headquarters of BBC Cymru Wales in Central Square, Cardiff. According to the BBC, it is the world's longest-running television n ...

''.

Background

She was born in

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

, where she lived with her older sister and three younger brothers. Her first jobs were working in

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

and The Ivy Bush Royal Hotel in Carmarthen.

Media career

After training and working for

, where she worked on the Welsh language children's programme '' Bilidowcar'', Mair joined Llanelli-based independent television production company

Tinopolis The Tinopolis Group is an international TV production and distribution group with businesses based in the UK and US. It produces over 4,500 hours of television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving ...

in 1991. When Tinopolis produced both programmes from

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, for a time she presented both the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

BBC Wales news ''

'' from 18:30 to 19:00, as well as the Welsh S4C ''Wedi 7'' from 19:00 to 19:30. In 2008 Mair still presented ''Wedi7,'' and was Executive Director for Tinopolis, where by 2006 she held 2.482% of the shares. Mair wrote a column in the Wales on Sunday newspaper. In December 2006 her comment on the break-up of the relationship of her friend,

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

weather presenter Sian Lloyd, against Lloyd's former partner

Lembit Öpik Lembit Öpik (, ; born 2 March 1965) is a former British politician. A former member of the Liberal Democrats, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Montgomeryshire in Wales from 1997 until he lost his seat at the ...

- including suggesting that

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

needed a new MP - drew much public criticism.

Running career

After a challenge from a colleague, Mair ran her first full

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

in the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 fini ...

in 1991, in a time of 3:29:00. This result for a beginner encouraged her to keep training and she won the Reykjavik Marathon in 1996. She entered the trials for the Great Britain athletics squad for the 1997 World Championships in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, where she came 23rd in the Women's

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

in a time of 2:42:31. Mair kept running and in 2014 finished 3rd in the Snowdonia Marathon. In 2016 Mair set a new British record for the marathon, in the W55 Category, by completing the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

in a time of 2.57.46.

Personal life

Mair has two daughters with her second husband Jonathan Cray, a cameraman for Tinopolis. The family live in Peterston-super-Ely in the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...

. Mair has argued for

Welsh independence Welsh independence () is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. Wales was conquered during the 13th century by Edward I of England following the killing of Llywelyn the ...

Competition Record

References

External links

Angharad Mair profile at Tinopolis
*
Wedi 3 & 7: Presenters: Angharad Mair
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mair, Angharad 1960 births Living people People from Carmarthen Welsh female long-distance runners British female long-distance runners Welsh female marathon runners British female marathon runners World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Welsh journalists British women journalists Welsh television presenters Welsh-language television presenters BBC newsreaders and journalists Welsh television executives Women television executives Tinopolis British women television journalists British women radio presenters