Matt Baker (television presenter)
| Matt Baker | |
|---|---|
Matt Baker presenting the BBC's coverage of Crufts
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| Born |
Matthew James Baker 23 December 1977 Easington, County Durham, England |
| Residence | Buckinghamshire |
| Occupation | TV presenter |
| Employer | BBC |
| Known for |
Blue Peter (2000–06) Countryfile (2010—) The One Show (2011—) Big Blue Live (2015) |
| Spouse(s) | Nicola Mooney (m. 2004) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | Official website |
Matthew James Baker (born 23 December 1977) is an English television presenter, best known for his television work with the BBC.
Baker has co-hosted children's show Blue Peter from 2000 to 2006, BBC One's Countryfile since 2009 and The One Show since 2011, with Alex Jones.
Born in Easington, County Durham, Baker's father ran a newsagents shop, and his parents had a smallholding in the village. He has one sister and two half-sisters.
Baker attended Easington Village School, then, when he was aged 10, his parents bought a farm west of Durham, which they moved into and renovated. He continued his education at Belmont Comprehensive School in Durham. He was a Junior British gymnast and sports acrobatics champion, but was forced to give up after being diagnosed with anaemia aged 14. After this, Baker undertook various activities to fill the gap in his life, including sheepdog trials and pole vaulting. He took A-levels in Drama, Biology and Sports Science at Durham Sixth Form Centre.
In the late 1990s, as a drama student at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, Baker worked as an entertainer, and with a 1970s comedy disco-dancing revival show called "Disco Inferno", which toured the north of England. The Disco group, Disco Inferno, was very popular in nightclubs in Cleethorpes (Pier 39), Barnsley (Hedonism) and Wakefield (Foundation). Baker played the part of "Butch Vendor, the LA Bartender", on stage along with other disco dancers with names such as: Lionel Flare (played by former UK child TV star Ryan Dyer), Randy Todger, Jock Strap and Richard Itchin. He had to Disco Dance, do freestyle routines with back flips, and juggle wooden clubs which his father painted to look like champagne and spirits bottles. His leaving gift from the Disco Inferno team was a duck suit, the Village People leather man outfit and a signed picture of Lynne Perrie.
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Wikipedia