Fran Godfrey

Frances Helen Godfrey (born 29 June 1953) is a BBC Radio 2 newsreader, most famous for her appearances on Wake Up to Wogan, a long-running breakfast show in the United Kingdom. She was described by Sir Terry Wogan as "Fran Godfrey – Traffic Totty and Mimi (Me, me, me, me, me...)..." Godfrey began contributing to Wake Up to Wogan in 1993 and made her final appearance on the show on 9 May 2008.

Born in Hampstead, London, Godfrey left England at the age of two to live in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), returning four years later with parents and brothers Tony and Nick to live for a short time near Oxford, before moving to Highcliffe in Dorset. She was educated at the Convent of the Cross, and the Polytechnic of Central London before moving into secretarial work for several years in London and Bournemouth.

In 1980 she approached the independent local radio station in Bournemouth – 2CR – and accepted a job as a Technical Operator. Godfrey then became Assistant to the Commercial Producer, which involved creative writing and producing. In 1984, Godfrey began presenting, and in time presented every type of programme on the station.

She joined the BBC network in September, 1990, but rose to prominence by being part of the team for Wake Up to Wogan. Godfrey was associated with the programme for many years as one of several newsreaders who would appear on a rotation basis; her contemporaries in this respect being Alan Dedicoat and John Marsh. She moved from presenting the morning news in the late 2000s, but continued to present bulletins for Radio 2.

In September 2012 it was announced that Godfrey would take voluntary redundancy along with her colleague, Fenella Fudge at the end of the year. Her decision came about as the BBC made budget cuts as part of its Delivering Quality First initiative. As part of the programme the broadcaster would reduce the number of its continuity announcers and merge the news teams for separate networks, but returned to the BBC after her voluntary redundancy leave.

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