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

radio presenter A radio personality 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 (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

, DJ, and music

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

. 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. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

. 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. 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 ...

and makes occasional appearances on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

and

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

. He makes frequent TV appearances as a personality pundit and pop-culture expert.

Early life and education

Hawkins was born in Loppington,

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He studied at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

, where he obtained a degree in American Studies, and spent some time at

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

in the United States as an exchange student. Also, as a school boy at the independent school Ellesmere College 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 and BBC GLR. He has worked for the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

doing the UK Album Chart Show and the UK Top 20, presented a daily show on GLR 94.9 ( BBC London 94.9) for over two years,

Talk Radio UK Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

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 broadcasts 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 ...

. 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. Also regularly appearing at the Rockaway Beach Festival as a DJ as well as interviewing artists in front of live audiences.

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 to

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is south of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish had a population of 26,213 and the built up area had a p ...

near Salford City and

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

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 King's Trust (formerly the Prince's Trust) is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by Charles III, King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds w ...

. 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 service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

'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