Rachel Burden
Rachel Mary Ann Cecilia Burden (born 22 January 1975 in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England) is a newsreader, radio news reporter and presenter. She has presented the BBC Radio 5 Live weekday breakfast show since 2011. She is also one of the main weekend presenters of BBC Breakfast.
Early life
[edit]The fourth of five children,[1] Burden is the only daughter of former BBC journalist Paul Burden and his wife,[2] and the niece of the actor Hugh Burden. Her maternal grandmother was from Skerries, County Dublin. One of her three older brothers was hit by a train, late at night on December 8 1987, a week after his 16th birthday, and killed.[3]
She went to school from 1987 to 1993 at Wycombe High School, a girls' grammar school in High Wycombe, taking English, History, Politics and Practical Music at A-level.[4][5] After graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, she studied broadcast journalism at Cardiff University.[1]
Career
[edit]Burden began her career as a reporter at BBC Radio Suffolk, and 15 months later joined BBC Radio Bristol where she co-hosted the early morning breakfast show, working alongside Nigel Dando, the brother of murdered presenter Jill Dando. She joined Radio 5 Live in 2003, the day before her father retired from the BBC.[6] She took over the weekday breakfast show from Shelagh Fogarty in May 2011, alongside co-presenter Nicky Campbell. Burden made her debut on the BBC Breakfast television programme as a relief presenter on Saturday 23 August 2015.[7]
In May 2025, Burden presented VE Day 80: We Were There; a BBC2 documentary which was part of the BBC's VE Day 80th anniversary celebrative programming.[8]
Personal life
[edit]Burden has been married to journalist Luke Mendham since 2004 and they have four children.[9][10] The family live in Marthall, Cheshire.[1][11]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "BBC's Rachel Burden - my new life in Knutsford". Cheshire Life. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ↑ "- YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
- ↑ Daily Mirror Thursday 10 December 1987, page 7
- ↑ Bucks Free Press June 2015
- ↑ "Former Student Profile: Rachel Burden". Wycombe High School. 15 June 2015.
- ↑ "About Rachel Burden", bbc.co.uk. Accessed 9 November 2011
- ↑ "BBC presenter shares very rude note left on her 'tiny cr*p car". Wales Online. 15 September 2022.
- ↑ "VE Day 80: We Were There". bbc.co.uk/programmes. Retrieved 7 May 2025.[dead link]
- ↑ Williams, Sally. "BBC's Rachel Burden: I had a premature baby — then a pay gap battle". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
- ↑ "BBC Breakfast presenter says she was 'really selfish' to have a baby aged 41". Metro. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
- ↑ "BBC Radio 5 Live's Rachel Burden from Chelford announces birth of her son, Henry". Knutsford Guardian. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
External links
[edit]- Rachel Burden at IMDb
- 5 Live Breakfast (BBC Radio 5 Live)