Jan Leeming's Biography

Jan Leeming was born on 5 January 1942 in Kent.

Jan Leeming presented the news on the BBC in the 1970s and 1980s. She was twice voted newsreader of the year.

In 1982, Jan Leeming hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, and in 2006 she was on the jury to decide the United Kingdom entry for the contest.

In the run up to I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here 2006, a BBC blog reflected on the contrasting descriptions of Jan Leeming:

"The Mail demurely describes Jan Leeming as 'the news headliner', while the Sun pitches in with 'posh bird who used to present the news'."

In a different context, that of fronting ads selling Banner homes, The Telegraph came up with: "Leeming is sultry in a suburban, headmistressy way."

The jungle in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here may not have been such a shock to Jan Leeming's system. The Guardian reported:

"Jan Leeming ... who now lives part of the year in Cape Town, has joined a big-cat conservation project in South Africa, and has trained to become a qualified cheetah handler, enabling her to join the animals in their cages and bottle feed orphaned cubs."

Additionally, along with Claire King, Brooke Kinsella and others, Jan Leeming took part in the BBC's reality show Safari School.

Jan Leeming has been married five times and has one child. She also had a relationship with Owen Leeming, whom she did not marry but she changed her name by deed poll.

Jan Leeming is a patron of the charity Fight For Sight.

Jan Leeming was the seventh celebrity voted off I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2006.

Together with Johndeep More and Chris Crosby, Jan Leeming was cast in the Christmas panto in 2007, Cinderella, at the Theatre Royal in Windsor.

In September 2008, Jan Leeming placed a lonely hearts ad as Cheetahgirl on the internet.

In 2009 Jan Leeming was cast as Lady Cravenshire in the West End production of Calendar Girls.

In 2012, on her blog, in response to a reader's question, Jan Leeming replied: "There was certainly no ‘romance’ between myself and David Spinx on ‘Celebrity Come Dine with Me’ – but clever editing can say almost anything!! I haven’t seen any of my fellow contestants from that day to this."

In 2016, Jan Leeming was one of the celebrities on the BBC's The Real Marigold Hotel.