Victoria Valentine (formerly Fritz; born 14 May 1984) is a former English journalist, newsreader, and television presenter. She was a presenter on

BBC World News BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

, presenting the shows main news bulletins, and presenter for BBC World News's live business news programmes ''

World Business Report ''World Business Report'' is a television business news programme produced by BBC News and shown on international feed of BBC News alongside its UK counterpart and BBC One on weekdays between 1995 and 2024. There were two editions broadcast ea ...

'' and '' Worklife''. She was also a presenter and business correspondent on

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

and ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...

''. She stepped down from her role presenting her last BBC News bulletin on 22 September 2023.

Early life and education

Victoria Valentine was born on 14 May 1984. Her mother is Irish. Valentine was educated at

Woldingham School Woldingham School is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent Boarding school, boarding and day school for girls, located in the former Marden Park of outside the village of Woldingham, Surrey, in South East England. It is a Roman ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. She studied

law and economics Law and economics, or economic analysis of law, is the application of microeconomic theory to the analysis of law. The field emerged in the United States during the early 1960s, primarily from the work of scholars from the Chicago school of econ ...

, and

environmental economics Environmental economics is a sub-field of economics concerned with environmental issues. It has become a widely studied subject due to growing environmental concerns in the twenty-first century. Environmental economics "undertakes theoretical ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

from 2003 to 2006, and later studied

Cambridge Judge Business School Cambridge Judge Business School is the business school of the University of Cambridge. The School is a provider of management education. It is named after Sir Paul Judge, a founding benefactor of the school. The School is a department of the u ...

from 2006 to 2007, graduating with a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

degree.

Career

In 2006, Valentine began her broadcasting career at

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

' financial commentary brand,

Breakingviews Breakingviews is Reuters' brand for financial commentary. The company was founded in 1999 as Breakingviews.com and was acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2009. History Breakingviews was founded in 1999 by Hugo Dixon, a former editor of the Financ ...

. In September 2008, Valentine 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 ...

as a senior broadcast journalist, where she produced business and economics stories for

. In March 2013, Valentine became a business news presenter and correspondent for

and begin presenting business bulletins and reporting on breaking stories. Since 2015, Valentine has presented multiple news programmes on

, including the main bulletins, and the business news programmes ''

'' and '' Worklife''. She is also a business correspondent and relief presenter for ''

''. In January 2020, Valentine appeared as a contestant on the quiz show ''

Celebrity Mastermind ''Celebrity Mastermind'' is a celebrity version of ''Mastermind'', a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. ''Celebrity Mastermind'' began in 2002 as a one-off special hosted by Magnus Magnusson, the original host of the main ...

'' with the specialist subject "The

Chelsea Flower Show The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show,Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural So ...

". She won the show with 15 points. In March 2020, it was announced that Valentine would co-host a new global news show ''Around the World by BBC News'' with Ben Bland for the short-form streaming platform

Quibi Quibi ( ) was an American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in Los Angeles in August 2018 as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and was led by Meg Whitman as CEO. The service raised $ ...

. The show was short lived with the shut down of Quibi in December 2020.

Personal life

In 2011, Valentine married writer and barrister, Dan Fritz. They have two children together. On 15 November 2016, Valentine went into labour coming off-air after presenting a business news bulletin on ''

''. Valentine's husband was unable to attend the birth being stuck in traffic on the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

, so ''BBC Breakfast'' presenter

Sally Nugent Sally Nugent (born 5 August 1971) is an English journalist, newsreader and television presenter. Since October 2021, she has presented ''BBC Breakfast'' along with Nina Warhurst, Naga Munchetty, Charlie Stayt and Jon Kay. Early life and educ ...

acted as her birthing partner. On 26 October 2022, Valentine announced that she and Fritz were divorcing. She also announced that she would be changing her surname to "Valentine", her

mother's maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries and cultures that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" ...

, saying that "going back o my father's family name, rather my mother's original family namefelt emotionally regressive, stunting, depressing and quite frankly, anti-feminist."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, Victoria 1984 births Alumni of the University of Cambridge BBC newsreaders and journalists British business and financial journalists British people of Irish descent English television presenters Living people