Polly James (formerly Polly Lake; born ) is a Welsh radio and television presenter. She has presented for

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via digital audio broadcasting. The station focuses on alternative ...

, Radio X, and

Capital South Wales Capital South Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, Global as part of the Capital (radio network), Capital network. It broadcasts to Cardiff and Newport, Wales, Newport and the ...

. She has been a television sports broadcaster, covering

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

, as well as the ''Late Night Football Club'',

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's chat show for the duration of

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

' participation in the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Background

James was born in

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 ...

, Wales, and lived in Llanishen, Rhiwbina and Thornhill in the city and then

Penarth Penarth ( , ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a Seaside resort#Brit ...

. She attended Stanwell Comprehensive in Penarth. She competed for Wales and GB Juniors in athletics at an underage level.

Career

James starting broadcasting in

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

stations like Afan FM, and Bridge FM. After working for Nation Radio Wales, she presented an overnight show on

in the early 2010's, moving to

in 2013. During

Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

's restructuring in 2019, her

breakfast show (with Matt Lissack) was cancelled and she moved to Radio X. It was later nominated for Breakfast Show of the year. She presented for Radio X Friday and Saturday nights in 2019. She has covered darts, rugby, football and boxing as a sports broadcaster, and presented for

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on social media.

Personal life

James married fellow presenter Allan Lake and they founded a production company, Plush Productions, together in 2011. They divorced in the 2010s. She has one daughter and one son. In August 2018, her discovery of a homeless person sleeping on her porch made national headlines, and she rented out the property, with its unusual art collection (giant sheep, shark head, paintings by

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, and a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing lead guitar with several Brit ...

, a statue of Freddy Krueger and a door mural of Tom Jones in his underwear) in 2019. She has spoken out against social media

trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...

, and in favour of Welsh independence.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Polly Welsh women radio presenters Welsh radio DJs Welsh sports broadcasters Welsh women television presenters Mass media people from Cardiff Welsh art collectors 1986 births Living people Welsh DJs Welsh television personalities