Magenta Devine (born Kim Taylor; 4 November 1957 – 6 March 2019) was a British television presenter, journalist and music promoter best known for presenting the travel programme ''

Rough Guide Rough Guides is a travel company that offers tailor-made trips planned and arranged by local travel experts based in destinations around the world. Originally established as a guidebook publisher in 1982, Rough Guides expanded into customized t ...

'' and youth programme ''Reportage'' on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

in the 1990s. She later presented '' Young, Gifted and Broke'' for ITV.

Career

Devine originally worked for Tony Brainsby, a publicist for

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...

and

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...

. While still living with boyfriend (ex-

Generation X Generation X (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...

bassist) Tony James, she became the music promoter for James's new band

Sigue Sigue Sputnik Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band have had three UK top-40 hit singles, including " Love Missile F1-11" and " 21st Century Boy". The band's music, image and in ...

. She began her television career in 1986 as a presenter of

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, ...

's pop music show ''Juice''. Following her breakup with James, producer Janet Street-Porter booked Devine to be a presenter on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's youth programme '' Network 7''. She then moved after Street-Porter to

to present ''

DEF II DEF II was a programming strand on BBC2, which aired at 6 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 May 1988 to 23 May 1994, to serve the teenage market. It was produced by Janet Street-Porter, and followed on from her influential youth TV show '' ...

'', of which ''Rough Guide'' was a feature before it became a separate programme. Devine appeared on ''

Richard & Judy ''Richard & Judy'' (also known as ''Richard & Judy's New Position'') is a British television chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The show originally aired on Channel 4 from 26 November 2001 to 22 Augus ...

'' in 2004, and on '' Extreme Celebrity Detox'' in 2005. Her

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, filmmaking, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice that is not part of the narrative (i.e., non- ...

work included advertisements for Peugeot, Motorola, Toyota, and Sea France. In 2006, Devine fronted an

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...

(OFT) campaign that urged consumers in the travel market to book with a member of

Association of British Travel Agents Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

(ABTA). In 2001, she narrated a

BBC Four BBC Four 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 launched on 2 March 2002

programme, ''The New Romantics – A Fine Romance'', on the

New Romantic New Romantic was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New Romantic mo ...

movement. Apart from being a television presenter, she also was UN Goodwill Ambassador in 1998, and campaigned for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

Later life and death

Devine sought treatment in the 1990s for heroin addiction and depression. In 2003, she was declared bankrupt by London's High Court. Devine died on 6 March 2019, after a short illness for which she was undergoing treatment at a central London hospital. She was 61 years old.

Television programmes

's pop music show ''Juice'', presenter *

's youth programme '' Network 7'' (1987) *BBC2's ''

'' *BBC2's ''Rough Guides to the World'' *BBC2's ''Reportage'' (1988—94) *'' Young, Gifted and Broke'' ITV documentary series *'' This Morning'' with

(1996) interviewee *'' Extreme Celebrity Detox'' (2005) *

BBC Four BBC Four 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 launched on 2 March 2002

programme ''The New Romantics – A Fine Romance'' (2001) on the

movement as narrator *'' Big Mouth'' (2005), an aftershow of ''Big Brother'', as guest panellist

References

External links

*
Magenta Devine – a life in pictures
at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Devine, Magenta 1957 births 2019 deaths British television personalities English television presenters English travel writers British women travel writers English voice actresses Mass media people from Hertfordshire Music promoters People from Hemel Hempstead Women music promoters