Katie Derham was only 27 when she became the youngest-ever newsreader on British national television. Now seven years on and she's on our screens daily presenting the ITN Lunchtime news and proving that it is possible to have both beauty and brains.The latest addition to Katie's brimming CV is presenting The Peoples £50 Million Lottery Giveaway' where she will oversee the allocation of the biggest public grant in history. In a photoshoot for the programme Katie was pictured wearng a dress entirely from money- she managed to wriggle out of the £50,000 gown to chat to Female First about the show, her career so far and what she would do with £50 million.
So what's this dress all about?
£50,000 it's worth! I'm not kidding you. I couldn't quite believe it was real actually. It wasn't heavy but it was quite awkward if you know what I mean. I didn't want to stand on a £20 note with my heel. It certainly wasn't one for dancing in.Tell us about 'The People's £50 Million Lottery Giveaway'?
It' a bit of a ronseal title- as it says on the tin- it's basically a joint venture between ITV and the Big Lottery fund and we're giving away £50 million to one of four projects. Now these four projects have been chosen by a panel of judges from loads of applicants- as you can imagine lots of people would have had wonderful ideas of how to spend £50 million.A video has been made about each of the four finalists and they will be shown on ITV the week beginning 3rd December and then on the Friday the viewers can vote to choose who gets the grant. It's an amazing prize. I think it's the biggest grant to be given in this way ever so its extraordinary really.
What kind of projects are in the running?
They are really varied but they've all got kind of a green theme but in a very different way. We;ve got one that is sort of an extension to the Eden Project down in Cornwall and that's focusing on how we should be living with climate change.There's a project in the black country about urban regeneration which is wonderful. It's not just about building a few parks in the centre of Birmingham-it's much much bigger than that. Re-planting part of Sherwood Forest is another one and then a big UK wide network of cycling and pedestrian footpaths. So you can see they are long term, wide reaching and going to affect people for many generations- not just a little one off project.
What would you do with £50 million?
After I'd done a bit of shoe shopping and paid off my mortgage- I've been thinking about this and if I thought it would really help I'd buy up large areas of rainforest. I'm not sure if that would be the right thing to do to help and I'm sure I'd need to take advice but that would be a great thing to do.
How did you end up as a newsreader?
I studied Economics then got a job at the BBC as a secretary then because I'd done economics I quite soon got a job in the business programmes department so I learnt how to be a journalist on the job by working my way up through the ranks of radio business programmes. Then I moved to TV programmes and eventually to ITN. I started off as a reporter at first then stood in the odd shift doing lunchtime weekend news programmes and things like that and one thing led to another.
Do you prefer being in the studio or out on the road reporting?
It's really different. I love them both in different ways. Reading the news is fantastic and it's a different challenge everyday- holding things together when it's live- and things can go wrong and it's always interesting. But what's great about being out on the road is you meet the most interesting people and so I guess in an ideal world we could all do a bit of both. But I do love my job and I'm very lucky.
You were the youngest person the become a newsreader on British TV. Did you encounter any snobbery from the older generation of journalists?
Well I never heard anything to my face to be honest. You live and fall by what you do and if I'd of made any mistakes I'm sure that would have been pointed out to be but people were generally really nice. I know that I had a lot to learn and I've learnt a lot over the years but people were generally very supportive.
Yourself, Natasha Kaplinsky and Sophie Rayworth are often referred to as the 'babes of the news'. Do you think you are taken less seriously than the men?
On one hand it's very flattering and on the other you take it all with a big pinch of salt. We all know each other and we all know that we worked very hard to get to where we are so it's all a bit of fun really. I know what I look like without make up so I know there's not a lot of truth in that.
What do you think has been the biggest news story so far this year?
Domestically the floods. Definitely the floods in Sheffield and Gloucestershire that was a huge story. Also the goings on in Iraq and the stories coming out of Pakistan are going to be big too. So it's been a huge year really.
If you could report on any event in history what would it be?
The Spanish Armada. Can you imagine being on board one of the ships then. It would be fantastic. I've got good sea legs so I should be alright.
Some fans of Strictly Come Dancing have been calling for you to appear in the show. Would you ever consider that?
Have they really? Wow. I have to admit I'm slightly obsessed with that programme. I've got two little girls aged seven and two so I watch it with them. And also two of my best friends Gaby and Kenny Logan have been in it so I've been rooting for them and I've been along to the studio to watch them a couple of times and they are fantastic. So as you can imagine we were all outraged when they got voted off. There was revolution in the Derham household. Would I go on it? I don't know you see. I only think I'm a good dancer when I've had a couple of glasses of wine and I suspect that sober and in front of an audience of seven million I would be rubbish so I think I ought to pass on that one.Caz Moss- Female First
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