Sian Williams

For the footballer, see Sian Williams (footballer).

Sian Williams
Born	Sian Mary Williams 28 November 1964 (1964-11-28) Paddington, London
Occupation	Journalist, presenter
Spouse(s)	Neale Hunt (1991–2001) Paul Woolwich (2006–)
Children	4
Ethnicity	Welsh
Notable credit(s)	BBC Breakfast BBC News at Six

Sian Mary Williams (born 28 November 1964) is a Welsh journalist and current affairs presenter. Since 2005, she has been co-presenter of BBC Breakfast on Mondays to Thursdays alongside Bill Turnbull. Williams regularly presented the News at Six and occasionally presented the News at One and the News at Ten.

Early life

Williams was born in Paddington, London, to Welsh parents, and raised in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Her mother, Katherine Rees from Llanelli, had moved to London to become a nurse. Williams' father was from Swansea, and his family had been farmers in Glamorgan, south Wales. She gained a BA in English and History from Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University), and was also a student of Japanese and international business at Liverpool John Moores University.

Radio career

Prior to her career in television journalism, Williams spent over a decade with BBC Radio after joining the corporation in 1985. She worked on BBC Local Radio in Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester before becoming a producer and reporter in Liverpool, and later joining a national spoken word network, BBC Radio 4, as a producer on The World at One and PM programmes. Williams spent the next few years reporting and editing news programmes on the station, and also on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Television career

Williams' first job in television news was when she joined digital rolling news channel BBC News 24, which was soon to launch, as an output editor. During screen tests for potential presenters, one applicant became unwell and Williams was asked if she would be willing to audition for the role. When she did, producers were so impressed that they offered her the position alongside Gavin Esler presenting from 4pm to 7pm, one of the prime slots on the channel.

She remained with the channel for nearly two years before joining the Six O'Clock News in 1999 as their Special Correspondent. During this time she also began filling in for the programme's presenters, Huw Edwards and Fiona Bruce, and during 2001 to 2002 she presented the Six O'Clock News on Fridays while Fiona Bruce was on maternity leave, as well as regularly presenting the national news bulletins on BBC One at weekends.

She joined the BBC's Breakfast programme in January 2001 as a relief presenter, initially presenting on Friday-Sunday alongside Darren Jordon, to cover for main presenter, Sarah Montague, and then later with Jeremy Bowen, to cover for Sophie Raworth. She also regularly deputised on the Six O'Clock News and the One O'Clock News during this period. In 2004, Williams covered for Raworth on the Six O'Clock News during her maternity leave, co-presenting with George Alagiah, and the following year, reported from Sri Lanka and Thailand on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and from Pakistan on the Kashmir earthquake.

In May 2005 she was confirmed as the main female presenter of BBC Breakfast, presenting initially alongside Dermot Murnaghan and since January 2008 with Bill Turnbull on Mondays to Thursdays. In November 2011, Williams was approached by ITV to take over as co-host of its flop breakfast show, Daybreak as part of an effort to relaunch the ailing format. Williams is leaving the BBC rival show due to the planned move to Greater Manchester in 2012 as she has decided not to relocate to Media City at Salford.

Other television credits include for BBC Wales the One Show, with Aled Jones, and the Big Welsh Challenge, where she spent a year learning Welsh as well as presenting BBC One daytime programmes including Now You're Talking and City Hospital. In 2010, Williams reported for Watchdog. Williams made a cameo appearance in the Doctor Who episode "The Wedding of River Song".

In 2010 she took part in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about her Welsh family history.

Other activities

Sian was the President of TRIC (Television and Radio Industries Club) for 2008–09. She supported two charities during her year of office. Sian also presented Hacker Time for a week along side Bill Turnbull.

Personal life

Williams married Neale Hunt in February 1991, a former director of advertising firm McCann Erickson, London. The couple have two sons, and were divorced in 2001.

Williams married Paul Woolwich in early 2006 and gave birth to her third son in October 2006, for which she disclosed in an interview to promote blood donation that she received two litres of blood as a result of complications from the birth. Williams gave birth to a daughter, Eve, in March 2009. Taking part in the BBC Cymru Wales TV series Coming Home in November 2010, Williams discovered she was the first member of her family to have been born outside Wales in all the 350 years of her known family tree. During the programme Williams said "When I started this journey, I felt Welsh, but I couldn't really understand why. Then I look at my family tree and every single person beyond me is Welsh going back hundreds and hundreds of years. Now I think, actually, it's not about where you're born, it's about where generations of your family come from. I can now proudly say I'm Welsh, it doesn't matter that I was born in Paddington, I'm Welsh, yes I am, and very proud of it too."

External links

• BBC Presenter Profile

Media offices
Preceded by Natasha Kaplinsky	Main Presenter of BBC Breakfast 2005–2012	Succeeded by Susanna Reid
Preceded by Natasha Kaplinsky	Deputy Presenter of BBC News at Six 2007–2008	Succeeded by Fiona Bruce