Charlotte Victoria Smith (born 1964,

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England) is one of two main presenters of

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Farming Today ''Farming Today'' is a radio programme about food, farming, and the countryside broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom. It is broadcast each weekday morning (having been recorded the day before) from 5.45 to 5.59, and a longer programme ...

''.

Early life

Smith grew up in

Quorn, Leicestershire Quorn () is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, near the university town of Loughborough. Its name was shortened from Quorndon in 1889, to avoid postal difficulties owing to its similarity to the name of another village, Qua ...

, the ancestral home of British

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...

. She attended

Loughborough High School Loughborough High School is an independent school for girls in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It is one of five independent schools known collectively as the Loughborough Schools Foundation (LSF), Loughborough Grammar School for boys, ...

, where she was head girl. She studied English and Drama at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

from 1983–86. She volunteered on

BBC Radio Leicester BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire, City of Birmingham, South Staffordshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rutland. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at ...

Career

Smith was put on the BBC's Local Radio Reporters Scheme, then toured the local radio stations of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

and

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. She then returned to Radio Leicester as a news reporter. At Radio Leicester she worked with

Julian Worricker Julian Gordon Worricker (born 6 January 1963 in Woking, Surrey) is an English journalist, currently working as one of the main presenters of ''Weekend'' on the BBC World Service, as stand-in presenter of '' Any Answers'' on BBC Radio 4, and as a ...

, who would later become her colleague at BBC Radio 4. She worked on BBC national radio, on ''The World Tonight''. More locally to Leicestershire, she became a reporter and sports presenter on ''

East Midlands Today ''BBC East Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news programme for the East Midlands. The programme is broadcast on BBC One from studios at the BBC's East Midlands broadcasting centre in Nottingham with district newsrooms based in ...

''. Returning to national radio on

BBC 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in ...

, she was a producer, reporter and presenter. Prior to ''Farming Today'' Smith worked as a reporter for ''

You and Yours ''You and Yours'' is a British radio consumer affairs programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and produced by BBC News. History ''You and Yours'' began broadcasting in October 1970, when its first presenter was Joan York. In the 1980s it briefly ra ...

'', the lunch-time consumer programme on Radio 4. She has also since been a television reporter on BBC1's ''

Countryfile ''Countryfile'' is a British television programme which airs weekly on BBC One and reports on rural, agricultural, and environmental issues. The programme is currently presented by John Craven, Adam Henson, Matt Baker, Tom Heap, Ellie Har ...

'', until 2009,''Telegraph'' November 2010
/ref> and returned as an occasional relief reporter from 2014.

Personal life

She has two children. She has a younger brother, Jeremy Smith.

References

External links

''Farming Today'' profile
*

Video clips

Farm tourism in Leicestershire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Charlotte Alumni of the University of Kent BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC Radio 4 presenters People in agriculture People educated at Loughborough High School People from Quorn, Leicestershire 1964 births Living people