Jennifer "Jennie" Bond (born 19 August 1950 in Hitchin)) is an English journalist and television presenter. She worked for fourteen years as the BBC's royal correspondent. She has most recently hosted Cash in the Attic and narrated the five series programme, Great British Menu.
Bond was educated at St. Francis' College, a girls' independent school in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, and at University of Warwick, from where she graduated with a degree in French and European Literature. Her career began in print, working for various local newspapers in London in journalism and sub-editing roles. Her first job in journalism was as a reporter for the Richmond Herald and then the Uxbridge Evening Mail.
In 1977, aged 27, Bond moved to BBC radio, producing and editing. She was also a producer on Woman's Hour, Tuesday Call, International Assignment and for various television documentaries.
In 1985 Bond became a radio news reporter and in 1988 she moved on to report on television. She began her role as royal correspondent, which was to bring her to wide public attention, in 1989. During the 1990s she combined her reporting role with several presenting ones - regularly fronting BBC Breakfast News, the BBC One O'Clock News and the BBC Six O'Clock News, including presenting the Six O'Clock news on the day of the death of her close friend and fellow news reader Jill Dando.
Bond held the position as royal correspondent until the summer of 2003. During that time she reported on many dramatic and notable events to do with the British Royal Family, including Windsor Castle fire, two royal weddings, the break-up of Prince Andrew's marriage to Sarah Ferguson, the divorce of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales, the deaths of Her Majesty The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret and has reported on the Queen and Prince Philip's Golden Jubilee celebrations. Bond has also travelled extensively with the Royal Family. Bond was in Australia, in January 1994, when an attempt was made to shoot Prince Charles.
She travelled with Diana, Princess of Wales on her trip to Angola, with the Queen on her first official visits to Russia in 1994 and when she met Nelson Mandela in South Africa a year later. But however, her hardest and most challenging moments and coverage as the BBC's royal correspondent came when she had to report on the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
Bond's reporting style suggested that she was very close personally to members of the Royal Family. She commented that she had become close to Diana and that her death came as a great shock. Bond actually instigated her first meeting with Diana. She sent a note, suggesting that if she was to report on the Princess properly then she should at least know what her character was actually like, not basing her thoughts on reports that had been made in newspapers. She commented on that meeting at Kensington Palace, stating: "Princess Diana was charming articulate, fresh. Interesting, but manipulative. She knew I was a journalist. This was no girlie-girlie meeting."
She wrote a book in 2001 called Reporting Royalty, which tells how she covered the Royal Family for the BBC in the 1990s. Impressionists such as Ronni Ancona on Alistair McGowan's Big Impression took to spoofing Bond's royal reports by posing as Bond and pretending to be the Queen herself, crown and all; in one sketch it was announced that Bond was imminently to accede to the throne.
Following from her departure from the BBC in 2003, Bond's career took a different turn. In 2003, Bond made an appearance in an episode in the comedy series Little Britain. In February 2004 Bond proved popular with the public, when she finished as runner-up in the third series of reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. The episode where Bond became the runner-up on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! on 9 February 2004, received viewing figures of 14.99 million, making it the most watched programme on ITV and BBC One that week.
Bond appeared on the show to raise money for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust and as a result, Bond managed to raise £260,989.85 for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust which the charity used to buy a state-of-the-art navigation system and to extend its helicopter flying time throughout the summer. During Bond's time on the reality television show, she was required to do various bushtucker trials, which involved her eating various creatures such as a stick insect and a witchety grub, as well as being placed in a dark, water-filled coffin with rats for a duration of ten minutes. She also had a feud with fellow contestant Lord Brocket during the show.
Shortly afterwards she presented E!'s coverage of the BAFTA film awards, Live from the Red Carpet. She also presented her own three part documentary called Jennie Bond's Royals on Five and in 2005, she presented the BBC's daytime coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, alongside Charlie Dimmock. In the same year, Bond appeared in Have I Been Here Before?. More recently she appeared in Posh Swap on Five, where she was transformed into a Brummie woman. Bond had to convince two of her best friends she really was the Brummie lass. Bond is also the host of Great British Menu on which different chefs have to compete by cooking meals, where the winner of the first series had the chance to cook for the Queen on her 80th birthday. As well as this, Bond has presented the BBC's Cash in the Attic. In 2006, she was a celebrity guest on Stars in Their Eyes where she sang as Debbie Harry. She has recently been presenting the second series of Great British Menu during April and May 2007.
On 28 July 2007, Bond appeared on a special celebrity version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Michael Buerk to raise money for NCH the children's charity. With a combined effort, they raised £64,000. On 22 August 2007, she presented an episode of Driving Me Crazy which saw Bond investigating whether the authorities are giving motorists excessive penalties through speeding fine and parking tickets.
Jennie Bond has also starred as the celebrity 'hider' in a 2008 episode of the CBBC show Hider in the House. In the show Bond managed to complete all her challenges without being 'discovered'. Also in 2008, she hosted a show called Lost Royals.
Bond is married to a former journalist, Jim Keltz. Together, they have one daughter, Emma Natasha Keltz (born Camden, London, 1990). She also has two stepchildren, Stephen and Danielle.Lives in the South Hams, Devon over looking the sea.
