Jennie Bond
About
Pillar of propriety. Sophisticated and positive. Jenny nonchalantly oscillates between the worlds of royal refinement and mainstream entertainment.
Early Career
Jennie Bond studied at St. Francis’ College, a girls’ independent school in Letchworth, then at the University of Warwick. There she graduated with a degree in French and European Literature. Her career began in print, working for various local newspapers in London. Her first job in journalism was as a reporter for the Richmond Herald and then the Uxbridge Evening Mail.
Radio
In 1977, she moved to BBC radio, producing and editing. She produced on Woman’s Hour, Tuesday Call, International Assignment and for various television documentaries.
Royal Correspondent
She became a royal correspondent, which was to bring her to public attention, in 1989. During the 1990s she combined her reporting with several presentational roles – regularly fronting BBC Breakfast News, the BBC One O’Clock News and the BBC Six O’Clock News, including presenting the Six O’Clock News on the day of the death of her close friend and fellow news reader Jill Dando.
Bond held the position as royal correspondent until the summer of 2003. During that time she reported on many dramatic and notable events to do with the British Royal Family, including the 1992 Windsor Castle fire, two royal weddings, the break-up of The Duke of York’s marriage to Sarah Ferguson, the divorce of The Prince and Princess of Wales, the deaths of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and The Princess Margaret and has reported on The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh’s celebrations of her Golden Jubilee.
Writing
She wrote a book in 2001 called Reporting Royalty, which tells how she covered the Royal Family in the 1990s.
I’m a Celebrity
Jennie Bond appeared on I’m a Celebrity to raise money for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust and raised £260,989.85 which the charity used to buy a state-of-the-art navigation system and to extend its helicopter flying time throughout the summer.