Pam Rhodes (born September 1950) is an English television, radio presenter and author, known for presenting

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

's long-running religious series '' Songs of Praise'' since the early 1980s.

Early life

Rhodes was born in 1950, and grew up in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

and attended Gosport County Grammar School. Her first job in television was in 1969 as programme secretary for Thames TV's ''Today'' which was hosted by Eamonn Andrews, going on to become programme organiser for the ITV network documentary series '' This Week''.

Career

In January 2015, Rhodes presented the " Songs of Dre's" feature on BBC Radio 2's " Dermot O'Leary Show". Rhodes wrote a number of novels: ''With Hearts and Hymns and Voices'' (

Lion Hudson Lion Hudson is UK's largest publisher of children's Christian books. It is based in Oxford, United Kingdom. Since 2021, it has been an imprint of Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, SPCK. History It had its origins as Lion Publishing ...

); ''The Trespassers'', ''Whispers'', ''Ties That Bind'' and ''Letting Go'' (all for Hodder and Stoughton Publishers); ''Coming Through'' (Macmillan Publishing); ''Springtime at Hope Hall (2020), Summer's out at Hope Hall (2021)'' and ''Christmas at Hope Hall (2021)'' (all for Lion Fiction), ''Colours for the Soul'', ''As Time Goes By'' and ''Love Bites'' (all quotation books for Lion Hudson) and ''Hear My Song'' ( SPCK Publishing). Rhodes also wrote four novels as part of ''The Dunbridge Chronicles'': ''Fisher of Men'', ''Casting The Net'', ''If You Follow Me'' and ''Saints And Sailors''. In 2020, Rhodes received the Thomas Cranmer Award for Worship from Justin Welby,

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, "for her outstanding work in hosting ''Songs of Praise'' on the BBC for over 30 years."

Personal life

Rhodes and her husband, Richard Crow, owned and run Biggleswade Cat Lodge, a boarding cattery in Biggleswade in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

, which also used to board and re-home RSPCA cats. She is a vice-president of the

Church Army The Church Army is an evangelistic organisation and mission community founded in 1882 in association with the Church of England and now operating internationally in many parts of the Anglican Communion. History The Church Army was founded in ...

; patron of Livability and Methodist Homes for the Aged (the MHA Group); and an ambassador for Keech Hospice Care based in Great Bramingham Lane, Luton. She was made an honorary member of the Royal School of Church Music in 2009 and was awarded an honorary doctorate of arts for her contribution to news journalism and charity work by the University of Bedfordshire in 2010.

References

External links

Official websiteBBC Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodes, Pam Living people English television presenters English Christians English religious writers English non-fiction writers English women novelists People from Gillingham, Kent English women religious writers Church Army people Year of birth missing (living people) 1950 births