Zeb Soanes
| Zeb Soanes | |
|---|---|
Soanes in 2014
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|
| Born |
Zebedee Soanes 24 June 1976 Lowestoft, Suffolk |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Journalist, Presenter, Newsreader |
| Notable credit(s) |
BBC Radio 4 BBC Proms |
| Website | zebsoanes |
Zebedee "Zeb" Soanes (born 24 June 1976), is a newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4 and presenter on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Soanes was born in Lowestoft in Suffolk, the son of a Methodist minister. He is named after the Biblical fisherman Zebedee, who was the father of two of Jesus' disciples. Soanes has two sisters, Anna and Rebecca.
Soanes was educated at Northfield St Nicholas Infants School and then Harris Middle School in Lowestoft and then at Denes High School, a state comprehensive school in the town, followed by the University of East Anglia, where he read Drama and Creative Writing. He then taught drama and toured Britain as an actor.
Near the end of his degree course Soanes appeared on a local BBC radio station, promoting a charity improvised comedy show in which he was taking part. He was spotted by one of the presenters and a few days later Soanes was called in to do some improvisation live on air.
Soanes was formerly a presentation announcer for the television channels BBC One and BBC Two. His was the first voice of BBC Four when the channel launched in March 2002 and was the channel's sole announcer for the first ten months.
In 2001 he began reading the Shipping Forecast, a weather report for the seas around the British Isles, which is broadcast four times a day on BBC Radio 4. For the 2008 Beijing Olympics he was asked to read the shipping forecast to a worldwide audience of over a billion. Describing the forecast in 2012, Soanes said: "To the non-nautical, [it] is a nightly litany of the sea... It reinforces a sense of being islanders with a proud seafaring past. Whilst the listener is safely tucked-up in their bed, they can imagine small fishing-boats bobbing about at Plymouth or 170ft waves crashing against Rockall."
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Wikipedia