Alex Jones (Welsh presenter)

Jones was born in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire,[1] to Mary and Alun Jones, and has a younger sister, Jennie, who works for prolab. Her first language at home was English, but Jones was educated at the Welsh language school Maes yr Yrfa, and is fluent in Welsh. After training as a ballet dancer as a child,[3] Jones studied theatre, film and television at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, sitting her final exams in Magaluf, Spain, while appearing as a contestant on the first series of Sky1 show Prickly Heat.[3][5]

Jones became a television researcher after leaving university, but was sacked twice, once for mistaking Mike Peters from the band The Alarm for a workman who'd come to fix the office alarm. She was asked by a producer at Avanti productions to audition in front of the camera at age 21.[6][5] Her first presenting job was for BBC Choice, and she then joined S4C as a presenter on the singing programme Cân i Gymru (A Song for Wales).[5] Jones developed a speciality presenting Welsh-language children's programmes on S4C, including Hip neu Sgip?[7] and Salon, alongside occasional appearances on mainstream British television, including Channel 4's RI:SE.[5]

Jones presents travel show Tocyn (Ticket) on S4C with Aled Samuel, the extreme sports show Chwa, and was part of the crew on Jonathan Davies's Welsh-language rugby show Jonathan for the 2010 Six Nations Championship.[5] Jones is a regular co-host on Real Radio GMG in Wales.[8]

On 25 July 2010, Jones was announced as the new female co-host on The One Show, replacing Christine Bleakley.[3][8][9][10] Jones replaced Claudia Winkleman as co-presenter of Let's Dance for Comic Relief during the programme's third series in February 2011.[11] She also was part of the BBC team for The Royal Wedding 2011 on 29 April 2011, reporting from Kate Middleton's home town. Jones also presented the United Kingdom's points in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.

Since 2012, Jones, along with Matt Baker and John Inverdale has co-hosted The Sport Relief Games Show, live coverage of the Sport Relief games that afternoon.

On 19 July 2014, Jones hosted the Live at Edinburgh Castle concert event on BBC One.[12] Beginning on 9 August 2014, Jones presented the BBC One gymnastics competition series Tumble[13][14] which ran throughout September 2014.[15]

In 2015, Jones began presenting the daytime series Close Calls: On Camera for BBC One and in 2016 she began co-hosting the BBC series Shop Well for Less? alongside Steph McGovern. In September 2016 she fronted a one-off documentary Alex Jones – Fertility and Me for BBC One. She also presented The Secrets in My Family, a primetime documentary series for UKTV's W channel.

On 10 July 2012, Jones became a Fellow of Aberystwyth University.[18]

On 6 February 2015, during an episode of The One Show, it was announced that Jones had become engaged to New Zealand insurance broker, Charlie Thomson. On 31 December 2015, she and Thomson were married at Cardiff Castle.[19]

Jones was appointed as a member of the Gorsedd of the Bards during a ceremony at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Meifod, Powys, in August 2015; honoured for her contribution to Welsh culture.[20]

In February 2016, Jones was granted a restraining order against a homeless man who sent her vulgar tweets and turned up at her workplace, claiming to be in love with her. He was banned from contacting Jones and her family.[21]

On 2 September 2016, Jones announced via Twitter that she and her husband were expecting their first child; her last appearance on The One Show before her maternity leave was on 6 January 2017. On 26 January 2017, Jones announced via a live telephone call to The One Show that she had given birth to a baby boy, named Edward Alun Burrell Thomson, although he'll be called Teddy.[22] Later in 2017 Jones suffered a miscarriage.[23]

In December 2018 she announced, live on The One Show, that she was pregnant with her second child.[24] Alex gave birth to a baby boy named Kit,[25] on 13 May 2019 at Queen Charlotte Hospital.[26]

Television

Guest appearances

Film

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alex Jones (British television presenter).

• BBC One Show profile
• Alex Jones on IMDb