Victoria Jemma Butler-Henderson (born 16 February 1972) is a British
racing driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...
, former
presenter
Presenter may refer to:
People
* News presenter, person who presents news during a news program
* Sports commentator, an announcer who presents analysis of a sporting event
* Radio personality, presenter or announcer on a radio show
* Television ...
of ''
Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the ori ...
'' and current presenter of ''
Fifth Gear
''Fifth Gear'' is a British motoring television magazine series which has been broadcast since 2002. Originally shown on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011 (and branded as ''5th Gear'' until 2005), it began as a continuation of the original version ...
''.
Biography
Butler-Henderson was born into a racing family. Her grandfather used to race a
Frazer Nash
Frazer Nash was a brand of British sports car manufactured from 1922 first by Frazer Nash Limited founded by engineer Archibald Frazer-Nash. On its financial collapse in 1927 a new company, AFN Limited, was incorporated. Control of AFN passed ...
at
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...
, her father was in the British
karting
Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...
team and her brother
Charlie is a racing driver. She has an older sister, Lottie, who does not race. Butler-Henderson grew up on the family farm, and was educated at the
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
schools
St Francis' College in
Letchworth
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990.
Letchworth ...
and
Perse School for Girls
The Stephen Perse Foundation is a family of private schools in Cambridge and Saffron Walden for students aged 1 to 18.
The Foundation is made up of:
- 3 nurseries (2 in Cambridge and 1 in Saffron Walden, Essex) for ages 1–5.
- 2 Junior S ...
in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
.
[
] She is the great-granddaughter of
Eric Butler-Henderson, a director of the Great Central Railway, after whom the preserved
GCR Class 11F locomotive ''Butler-Henderson'' is named.
Butler-Henderson started racing karts at the age of 12, being overtaken by
David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard (born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster from Scotland who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "DC", Coulthard was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' ...
in her first race.
She holds a car race licence as well as a power boat racing licence. After supplementing her income as a racing instructor at
Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 British Grand ...
, she also undertook a dual career in
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...
where she worked on numerous British motoring magazines including ''
Auto Express
''Auto Express'' is a weekly motoring magazine sold in the United Kingdom published by Carwow Group. The editor is Paul Barker.
History and profile
Launched in September 1988, its 1,000th issue was published on 20 February 2008. Its only w ...
'', ''
What Car?
''What Car?'' is a British monthly automobile magazine and website, currently edited by Steve Huntingford and published by Haymarket Media Group. Other team members include deputy editor Darren Moss and test editors Will Nightingale, Neil Wi ...
'' and ''
Performance Car
A performance car is a car that exhibits above-average capabilities in one or more of the following areas: acceleration (torque and throttle response), top speed (horsepower), cornering and braking. It is debated how much performance is requi ...
''. She was the assistant launch editor and mechanic in ''
Max Power'' magazine, referred to simply as "VBH."
Media career
In 1994, she joined the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
's flagship motoring show ''
Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the ori ...
''. After the BBC cancelled the original show in 2001, Butler-Henderson, along with co-presenters
Quentin Willson
Quentin Willson (born 23 July 1957) is an English television presenter and producer, motoring journalist, author and former car dealer. He was a presenter of the motoring programmes '' Britain's Worst Driver'', '' Fifth Gear'', and the original ...
and
Tiff Needell
Timothy Richard "Tiff" Needell (born 29 October 1951) is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of '' Lovecars'', and formerly served as co-presenter of '' Top Gear'' and '' Fifth Gear''.
Biography
Needell attende ...
, moved to
Channel 5 in 2002 to continue their work on a show called ''
Fifth Gear
''Fifth Gear'' is a British motoring television magazine series which has been broadcast since 2002. Originally shown on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011 (and branded as ''5th Gear'' until 2005), it began as a continuation of the original version ...
.'' In 2004, she presented
ITV's coverage of the
British Touring Car Championship
The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), officially known as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by ...
, in which her brother Charlie briefly competed in 2004; and from February 2006 the ten-part series ''Wrecks To Riches'' for
Discovery Real Time
Discovery Real Time was a British television channel owned by Discovery Networks UK focused on educational and learning content.
History
It was originally launched on 9 March 1992 as The Learning Channel, United Kingdom's version of the Ameri ...
. Also in 2004, she was a presenter for
Formula Woman on ITV.
Butler-Henderson has in later years broadened her media career outside racing and cars to become a general presenter. After co-hosting radio shows on
Virgin Radio
Virgin Radio is a branding of radio stations broadcast in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. As of April 2024, there were over 40 stations globally.
The stations ...
, in 2005, she presented a daytime television show for ITV called ''Date My Daughter'' in which a single man 'dates' three mothers after which they decide if he is worthy enough to date their daughter.
She has recorded voice overs for radio and television advertisements, including Wrigleys Extra Thin Ice and
Sony Centres. She also provided a voiceover for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
game ''
Gran Turismo 4 Prologue''. In January 2006, Butler-Henderson appeared in a TV commercial for the Kent & Medway Safety Camera Partnership in which she stated that the Partnership "don't want your cash, they just want you to slow down". Butler-Henderson was also a narrator for
National Geographic Channel (UK)
National Geographic is a British pay television channel that features documentaries. It is a localized version of the original namesake American channel. It features some programming similar to that on the Discovery Channel such as nature an ...
's science documentary entitled ''
I Didn't Know That''. In 2009, she starred in several Dutch commercials for
Toyota
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
. She worked at
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 ...
doing traffic news on the ''
Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show''. She left the breakfast show on 9 July 2009.
Butler-Henderson lent her views in the Golden Garages Award, a search for the United Kingdom's best garage run by Motor Codes. Butler-Henderson was part of a professional panel of six independent judges including the ''Telegraph''s Honest John and motoring editor of ''
Which?
''Which?'' is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights, and offering indepen ...
'' magazine, Richard Headland. She later presented the prize in person to the winners of the competition, Kinghams of Croydon.
In 2016, Butler-Henderson's fourteen-year stint at ''Fifth Gear'' ended after the show was cancelled. In 2018, the programme returned on
Quest
A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of every nat ...
with all of the original presenters (incl. Butler-Henderson) returning.
Since 2019, Butler-Henderson and
Alex Riley
Kevin Robert Kiley Jr. (born April 28, 1981) is an American former professional wrestler and commentator. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, under the ring name Alex Riley, where he was a participant in the second season of '' NXT''.
Pr ...
have co-presented ''The Car Years''; a motoring series shown on
ITV4
ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which first aired on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV plc.
The channel focuses primarily on general entertainment programming targeting a male audience, including action series and films, ...
.
Personal life
In 2007 Butler-Henderson married television producer and director Phil Churchward. Churchward worked on several motoring programmes as a producer of ''
Fifth Gear
''Fifth Gear'' is a British motoring television magazine series which has been broadcast since 2002. Originally shown on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011 (and branded as ''5th Gear'' until 2005), it began as a continuation of the original version ...
'', series director of
''Top Gear'' and ''
The Grand Tour
''The Grand Tour'' is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and Andy Wilman, for Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 November 2016. The programme was devised in the wake of the depar ...
''.
Butler-Henderson owns or has owned a
Mk II Golf GTI, a
Honda S2000
The Honda S2000 is a Mid-engine design, front-mid engine Roadster (automobile), open top sports car that was manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda, from 1999 until 2009. First shown as a concept car called the SSM at the Tokyo Mo ...
, a
Ducati Monster 750 and a
Ford Ranger (T6)
The Ford Ranger (T6) is a range of mid-size pickup trucks manufactured and sold by Ford Motor Company since 2011. The T6 consolidated worldwide production of the Ranger onto a single model range, replacing both the 1998–2012 Ranger markete ...
Raptor.
At
Autosport International
Autosport International is a four-day motorsport event that includes a two-day trade show for industry professionals and a two-day public show.
It is held at the National Exhibition Centre, NEC, in Birmingham, United Kingdom and operated by Mo ...
on 15 January 2011, Butler-Henderson's ''Fifth Gear'' co-presenter
Jason Plato
Timothy Jason Plato (born 14 October 1967) is a British auto racing, racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been List of BTCC champions, BTCC Champion, in 2001 British Touring ...
announced that she would not be able to attend as she was having a baby girl. Her second child, a son, was born in 2015.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler-Henderson, Vicki
British motoring journalists
1972 births
English television presenters
English racing drivers
Sportspeople from Hertfordshire
Living people
People educated at the Perse School for Girls
English female racing drivers
Porsche Carrera Cup GB drivers
Mini Challenge UK drivers