Coordinates: 51°29′27″N 0°07′38″W / 51.490833°N 0.127222°W / 51.490833; -0.127222

Tate Britain
Location within Central London
Established	1897 as National Gallery of British Art; became Tate Britain in 2000
Location	Millbank, London, England
Visitor figures	1,501,837 (2009)[1] Ranked 9th nationally
Director	Penelope Curtis[2]
Public transit access	Pimlico
Website	www.tate.org.uk/britain
Tate
Tate Britain · Tate Liverpool · Tate Modern · Tate St Ives

Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.

History[link]

It is housed in the Tate's original premises on Millbank on the site of Millbank Prison. The front part of the building was designed by Sidney R. J. Smith with a classical portico and dome behind. Construction, undertaken by Higgs and Hill,^[3] commenced in 1893. The gallery opened on 21 July 1897 as the National Gallery of British Art, but became commonly known as the Tate Gallery, after its founder Sir Henry Tate. There have been several extensions over the years. The central sculpture gallery was designed by John Russell Pope.

World War II bomb damage still visible on the Atterbury Street wall

Clore Gallery housing works by J. M. W. Turner

Crises during its existence include flood damage to work from the River Thames and bomb damage during World War II, though most of the collection was in safe storage elsewhere, and a large Stanley Spencer painting, deemed too big to move, had a protective brick wall built in front of it.

The gallery housed and displayed both British and Modern collections, but was renamed "Tate Britain" in March 2000, before the launch of Tate Modern, since which time it has been dedicated to the display of historical and contemporary British art only.

Tate Britain includes the Clore Gallery of 1987, designed by James Stirling, which houses work by J. M. W. Turner.

On July 1, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales visited the gallery, it was her 36th and last birthday. However, it was not a birthday party but instead she was a guest of honour at an event that day. The Princess died almost two months later, in Paris.

Facilities[link]

Millbank Millennium Pier outside Tate Britain, which is linked by a high-speed boat to Tate Modern.

The front entrance is accessible by steps. A side entrance at a lower level has a ramp for wheelchair access. The gallery provides a restaurant and a cafe, as well as a Friends room, open only to members of the Tate. This membership is open to the public on payment of an annual subscription. As well as administration offices the building complex houses the Prints and Drawings Rooms (in the Clore galleries),^[4] as well as the Library^[5] and Archive^[6] in the Hyman Kreitman Reading Rooms.^[7] The restaurant features a mural by Rex Whistler.

Tate Britain and Tate Modern are now connected by a high speed boat along the River Thames, which runs from Millbank Millennium Pier immediately outside Tate Britain. The boat is decorated with spots, based on paintings of similar appearance by Damien Hirst. The lighting artwork incorporated in the pier's structure is by Angela Bulloch.^[8]

Shows[link]

The main display spaces show the permanent collection of historic British art, as well as contemporary work. It has rooms dedicated to works by one artist, such as: Tracey Emin, John Latham, Douglas Gordon, Sam Taylor-Wood, Marcus Gheeraerts II, though these, like the rest of the collection, are subject to rotation.

Tate Britain draped for the 2003 Tate Triennial exhibition

The gallery also organises career retrospectives of British artists and temporary major exhibitions of British Art. Every three years the gallery stages a Triennial exhibition in which a guest curator provides an overview of contemporary British Art. The 2003 Tate Triennial was called Days Like These.^[9] Art Now is a small changing show of a contemporary artist's work in a dedicated room.

Tate Britain hosts the annual and usually controversial Turner Prize exhibition, featuring four artists under the age of fifty, selected by a jury chaired by the director of Tate Britain. This is spread out over the year with the four nominees announced in May, the show of their work opened in October and the prize itself given in December. Each stage of the prize generates media coverage, and there have also been a number of demonstrations against the prize, notably since 2000 an annual picket by Stuckist artists.

Tate Britain has attempted to reach out to a different and younger audience with Late at Tate Britain on the first Friday of every month, with half-price admission to exhibitions, live music and performance art.^[10] Other public involvement has included the display of visitors', as opposed to curators', interpretation of certain artworks.

Regular free tours operate on the hour, and at 1.15pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday short 15 minute talks are given on paintings, artists and artistic styles.^[11]

Permanent collection[link]

Tate Britain is the national gallery of British art from 1500 to the present day. As such, it is the most comprehensive collection of its kind in the world (only the Yale Center for British Art can claim similar expansiveness, but with less depth). More recent artists include David Hockney, Peter Blake and Francis Bacon. Works in the permanent Tate collection, which may be on display at Tate Britain include:

• The Painter and his Pug by William Hogarth
• Newton by William Blake
• Horse Attacked by a Lion by George Stubbs
• Giovanna Baccelli by Thomas Gainsborough
• Sketch for Hadleigh Castle by John Constable
• The Great Day of His Wrath by John Martin
• The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse
• Ophelia by John Everett Millais
• The Death of Chatterton by Henry Wallis
• Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
• The Golden Bough by J. M. W. Turner
• The Merry-Go-Round by Mark Gertler
• The Resurrection, Cookham by Stanley Spencer
• Norham Castle, Sunrise by J.M.W. Turner
• Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion by Francis Bacon
• Three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen by Joshua Reynolds
• The Cholmondeley Ladies by unknown 17th-century artist
• The Mud Bath by David Bomberg
• Recumbent Figure by Henry Moore
• Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge by James McNeill Whistler

The Tate collection is supported by BP.^[12] Recently, Tate Britain has unveiled a £45 million ($70.16 million) gallery makeover scheme designed by London-based practice Caruso St John Architects.^[13]

Statue of Millais[link]

Statue of John Everett Millais by Thomas Brock at Tate Britain.

When the Pre-Raphaelite painter and President of the Royal Academy, John Everett Millais, died in 1896, the Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VII) chaired a memorial committee, which commissioned a statue of the artist.^[14] This was installed at the front of the gallery in the garden on the east side in 1905. On 23 November that year, the Pall Mall Gazette called it "a breezy statue, representing the man in the characteristic attitude in which we all knew him".^[14]

In 1953, Tate Director, Sir Norman Reid, attempted to have it replaced by Rodin's John the Baptist, and in 1962 again proposed its removal, calling its presence "positively harmful". His efforts were frustrated by the statue's owner, the Ministry of Works. Ownership was transferred from the Ministry to English Heritage in 1996, and by them in turn to the Tate.^[14] In 2000 the statue was removed to the rear of the building.^[14]

Transport connections[link]

Service	Station/Stop	Lines/Routes served	Distance from Tate Britain
London Buses	Tate Britain	87
London Underground	Pimlico		0.4 mile walk[15]
National Rail	Vauxhall	South West Trains	0.5 mile walk[16]
London River Services	Millbank Millennium Pier	Tate to Tate	0.2 mile walk[17]

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tate Britain

• Official website of Tate Britain

v t e Museums and galleries in London National museums and galleries British Library British Museum Imperial War Museum Churchill War Rooms HMS Belfast National Army Museum National Gallery National Maritime Museum Queen's House Royal Observatory Natural History Museum National Portrait Gallery Science Museum Tate Tate Britain Tate Modern Victoria and Albert Museum Museum of Childhood Designated collections Courtauld Gallery Dulwich Picture Gallery Firepower – The Royal Artillery Museum Horniman Museum and Gardens Hunterian Museum Jewish Museum Kensington Palace (Dress collection) Library and Museum of Freemasonry London Transport Museum Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture Museum of London Museum of London Docklands Petrie Museum Sir John Soane's Museum English Heritage Apsley House Chiswick House Down House Eltham Palace Jewel Tower Kenwood House (Iveagh Bequest) London Wall Marble Hill House Ranger's House (Wernher Collection) Winchester Palace National Trust 2 Willow Road Blewcoat School Carlyle's House Eastbury Manor House Fenton House George Inn Lindsey House (restricted) Morden Hall Park Osterley Park Rainham Hall Red House Roman Baths Sutton House Other museums and galleries Barbican Art Gallery Bruce Castle Design Museum Estorick Collection Foundling Museum Freud Museum Garden Museum Geffrye Museum Guildhall Art Gallery Handel House Museum The Hayward Hogarth's House Institute of Contemporary Arts Leighton House Museum Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising Old Operating Theatre Queen's Gallery Royal Collection Royal Academy of Arts Royal Academy of Music Museum Saatchi Gallery Serpentine Gallery Sherlock Holmes Museum Wallace Collection Wellcome Collection Whitechapel Gallery William Morris Gallery Category Commons

The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art. It is a network of four art museums: Tate Britain, London (previously known as the Tate Gallery, founded 1897), Tate Liverpool (founded 1988), Tate St Ives, Cornwall (founded 1993) and Tate Modern, London (founded 2000), with a complementary website, Tate Online (created 1998). There are plans to open a TATE in Southampton in 2020. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.^[1]

Tate is used as the operating name for the corporate body which was established by the Museums and Galleries Act 1992 as The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery.

The gallery was founded in 1897, as the National Gallery of British Art. When its role was changed to include the national collection of Modern Art as well as the national collection of British art, in 1932, it was renamed the Tate Gallery after sugar magnate Henry Tate of Tate & Lyle, who had laid the foundations for the collection. The Tate Gallery was housed in the current building occupied by Tate Britain which is situated in Millbank, London. In 2000, the Tate Gallery transformed itself into the current-day Tate, or the Tate Modern, which consists of a federation of four museums: Tate Britain which displays the collection of British art from 1500 to the present day; Tate Modern which is also in London, houses the Tate's collection of British and International Modern and Contemporary Art from 1900 to the present day. Tate Liverpool, in Liverpool has the same purpose as Tate Modern but on a smaller scale, and Tate St Ives displays Modern and Contemporary Art by artists who have connections with the area. All four museums share the Tate Collection. One of the Tate's most publicised art events is the awarding of the annual Turner Prize, which takes place at Tate Britain.

History and development[link]

The original Tate Gallery, now renamed Tate Britain

The original Tate art gallery was called the National Gallery of British Art, situated on Millbank, Pimlico, London at the site of the former Millbank Prison. The idea of a National Gallery of British Art was first proposed in the 1820s by Sir John Leicester, Baron de Tabley. It took a step nearer when Robert Vernon gave his collection to the National Gallery in 1847. A decade later John Sheepshanks gave his collection to the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria & Albert Museum), known for years as the National Gallery of Art (the same title as the Tate Gallery had). Forty years later Sir Henry Tate who was a sugar magnate and a major collector of Victorian art, offered to fund the building of the gallery to house British Art on the condition that the State pay for the site and revenue costs. Henry Tate also donated his own collection to the gallery. It was initially a collection solely of modern British art, concentrating on the works of modern—that is Victorian era—painters. It was controlled by the National Gallery until 1954.

In 1915, Hugh Lane bequeathed his collection of European Modern Art to Dublin, but controversially this went to the Tate, which expanded its collection to include foreign art and continued to acquire contemporary art. In 1926, and 1937, the art dealer and patron Joseph Duveen paid for two major expansions of the gallery building. His father had earlier paid for an extension to house the major part of the Turner Bequest, which in 1987 was transferred to a wing paid for by Sir Charles Clore. Henry Courtauld also endowed Tate with a purchase fund. By the mid 20th century, it was fulfilling a dual function of showing the history of British art as well as international Modern art. In 1954, the Tate Gallery was finally separated from the National Gallery.

Tate Liverpool opened in 1988

During the 1950s and 1960s, the visual arts department of the Arts Council of Great Britain funded and organised temporary exhibitions at the Tate Gallery including, in 1966, a retrospective of Marcel Duchamp. Later, the Tate began organising its own temporary exhibition programme. In 1979 with funding from a Japanese bank a large modern extension was opened that would also house larger income generating exhibitions. In 1987, the Clore Wing opened to house the major part of the Turner bequest and also provided a 200 seat auditorium. (The "Centenary Development," in 2001, provided improved access and public amenities)

Tate St Ives (on right), opened 1993, overlooks Porthmeor Beach

In 1988, an outpost in the North West England opened as Tate Liverpool. This shows various works of modern art from the Tate collection as well as mounting its own temporary exhibitions. In 2007, Tate Liverpool hosted the Turner Prize, the first time this has been held outside London. This is an overture to Liverpool's being the European Capital of Culture 2008.

In 1993, another offshoot opened, Tate St Ives. It exhibits work by modern British artists, particularly those of the St Ives School. Additionally the Tate also manages the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, which opened in 1980.

Tate Modern opened in 2000

Neither of these two new Tates had a significant effect on the functioning of the original London Tate Gallery, whose size was increasingly proving a constraint as the collection grew. It was a logical step to separate the "British" and "Modern" aspects of the collection, and they are now housed in separate buildings in London. The original gallery is now called Tate Britain and is the national gallery for British art from 1500 to the present day, as well as some modern British art. Tate Modern, in Bankside Power Station on the south side of the Thames, opened in 2000 and now exhibits the national collection of modern art from 1900 to the present day, including some modern British art. In its first year, the Tate Modern was the most popular museum in the world, with 5,250,000 visitors.

Sir Nicholas Serota has been the director of the Tate since 1988, when he took over from Sir Alan Bowness.

Tate Online[link]

Tate Online is the Tate's web site. Since its launch in 1998, the site has provided information on all four physical Tate galleries (Tate Britain, Tate St Ives, Tate Liverpool and Tate Modern) under the same domain. Tate Online helps visitors prepare and extend visits to the physical sites but also acts as a destination in its own right. Other resources include illustrated information on all works in Tate's Collection of British and Modern international art, structured and informal e-learning opportunities for all visitors, over 600 hours of archived webcast events, all articles from the magazine Tate Etc., and a series of bespoke net art commissions. BT was the primary sponsor of Tate Online from 2001 to 2009.

In addition to providing information about the galleries and organisation, Tate Online has been used as a platform for Internet art exhibits, termed Net Art,^[2] which are organised as part of Tate's Intermedia Art initiative^[3] covering new media art. So far, 13 net art exhibitions have been shown since the initiative started in 2000 including Tate in Space (2002) which was nominated in the Interactive Art category for the 2003 BAFTA Interactive awards.

Administration[link]

The Tate receives annual funding from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. It is administered by a board of trustees, who are responsible for the running of the gallery and appoint the Director (for a period of seven years). Under the Charities Act 1993, the Tate is an exempt charity accountable directly to Government rather than the Charity Commission for financial returns etc. However, the Trustees are still expected to follow the broad responsibilities of charity trustees, and may be subject to Charity Commission oversight on these elements of their activities.

Various bodies have been set up to support the Tate including Tate Members for the general public, where a yearly fee gives rights such as free entry to charging exhibitions and members rooms. There is also Tate Patrons for a higher subscription fee and the Tate Foundation. There are a number of corporate sponsors. In addition individual shows are often sponsored.

The Outset Contemporary Art Fund was established in 2003, by Tate patrons Yana Peel and Candida Gertler. In collaboration with the Frieze Art Fair, the fund buys works from the fair for the Tate's collections.

Controversies[link]

• In the 19th century, there was dispute over the acquisitions made with the Chantrey bequest and accusations that favouritism resulted in the purchase of dull work by Royal Academicians
• In 1971, an exhibition by Robert Morris called Bodyspacemotionthings was closed after five days due to health and safety concerns^[4][5]
• In 1972, the Tate Gallery purchased a work by Carl Andre called Equivalent VIII. During a 1976 exhibition of the work, The Times newspaper published an article using the work to complain about institutional waste of taxpayers' money. The article made the piece infamous and it was subjected to ridicule in the media and vandalism. The work is still popularly known as "The Bricks," and has entered the British public lexicon
• Each year, the Turner Prize is held at a Tate Gallery (historically at Tate Britain) and is awarded to an artist under 50 who is either British or primarily working in Great Britain. It is the subject of great controversy and creates much media attention for contemporary British art, as well as attracting demonstrations
• In 1995, it was revealed that the Tate had accepted a gift of £20,000 from art fraudster John Drewe. The gallery had given Drewe access to its archives which he then used to forge documents authenticating fake modern paintings that he then sold
• In 1998, Sir Nicholas Serota, director of Tate, conceived 'Operation Cobalt', the secret and ultimately successful buyback of two of the Tate's paintings by JMW Turner that had been stolen from a German gallery in 1994. See Frankfurt art theft (1994)
• Charles Saatchi stated that an offer of a major gift of works was rejected by Serota. Serota responded that no such offer had been made
• In 2005, the Stuckists offered a donation of 175 paintings which had been exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery. This was rejected and the Tate was accused of "snubbing one of Britain’s foremost collections"^[6]
• In 2005, there was a scandal over the Tate's purchase of its trustee Chris Ofili's work The Upper Room for £705,000, and accusations of conflict of interest^[7] In July 2006, the Charity Commission completed an investigation into this and censured the gallery for acting outside its legal powers^[8]
• In 2006, a legal opinion was given that the Tate and National Gallery have no legal right to ownership of the Turner Bequest, as Turner's conditions for that had never been fulfilled and are still binding^[9]
• In 2006, it was revealed that the Tate was the only national-funded museum not to be accredited to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), as it did not wish to abide by guidelines that deaccessioned work should first be offered to other museums. The MLA threatened to bar the Tate from acquiring works under the Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme, whereby works are given to the nation to settle inheritance tax. A total of 1,800 museums are accredited with the MLA^[10]
• Tate has been criticised for its partnership with BP. Environmental campaigners Art Not Oil have called for a protest against the petrol company's sponsorship of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.^[11]

Logo and brand[link]

The Tate logo was designed by international brand consultancy Wolff Olins in 2000 as part of a larger rebranding effort focused around the idea "look again, think again." The museum uses a range of logos that move in and out of focus, "suggesting the dynamic nature of Tate - always changing but always recognizable"^[12] Variations include a standard logo, a blurred version, a faded version and a halftone version consisting of dots rather than smooth fading.^[13]

See also[link]

• Tate Etc.
• Turner Prize
• Tate Publishing Ltd, a publisher of art books associated with the Tate Gallery

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tate Online 65,000 works from the Tate Collection online, information on Tate's exhibitions and events programmes, and online learning resources
• TATE ETC. Magazine
• Tate online shop Classic, modern and contemporary design products for adults and children, including items produced exclusively by Tate and items represented in its collection.
• Turner Worldwide - an ongoing online cataloguing of JMW Turner's work around the world
• Turner Collection Online The online catalogue of Tate's collection of nearly 300 oil paintings and 30,000 works on paper by JMW Turner
• Tate Gallery Records Tate's own historical records
• Tate Podcasts Audio and video podcasts from Tate
• Tate in Space
• Turner Museum
• Tate Channel Filmed artist talks and interviews, studio visits, and exhibitions

Media related to Tate at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Museums and galleries in London National museums and galleries British Library British Museum Imperial War Museum Churchill War Rooms HMS Belfast National Army Museum National Gallery National Maritime Museum Queen's House Royal Observatory Natural History Museum National Portrait Gallery Science Museum Tate Tate Britain Tate Modern Victoria and Albert Museum Museum of Childhood Designated collections Courtauld Gallery Dulwich Picture Gallery Firepower – The Royal Artillery Museum Horniman Museum and Gardens Hunterian Museum Jewish Museum Kensington Palace (Dress collection) Library and Museum of Freemasonry London Transport Museum Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture Museum of London Museum of London Docklands Petrie Museum Sir John Soane's Museum English Heritage Apsley House Chiswick House Down House Eltham Palace Jewel Tower Kenwood House (Iveagh Bequest) London Wall Marble Hill House Ranger's House (Wernher Collection) Winchester Palace National Trust 2 Willow Road Blewcoat School Carlyle's House Eastbury Manor House Fenton House George Inn Lindsey House (restricted) Morden Hall Park Osterley Park Rainham Hall Red House Roman Baths Sutton House Other museums and galleries Barbican Art Gallery Bruce Castle Design Museum Estorick Collection Foundling Museum Freud Museum Garden Museum Geffrye Museum Guildhall Art Gallery Handel House Museum The Hayward Hogarth's House Institute of Contemporary Arts Leighton House Museum Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising Old Operating Theatre Queen's Gallery Royal Collection Royal Academy of Arts Royal Academy of Music Museum Saatchi Gallery Serpentine Gallery Sherlock Holmes Museum Wallace Collection Wellcome Collection Whitechapel Gallery William Morris Gallery Category Commons

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Coordinates: 51°29′28″N 0°07′37″W / 51.491°N 0.127°W / 51.491; -0.127

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

Lauren Laverne
Lauren Laverne in 2007
Born	Lauren Cecilia Gofton (1978-04-28) 28 April 1978 (age 34) Sunderland, England, UK
Nationality	British
Other names	La La
Occupation	Disc jockey, television presenter, singer, author
Years active	1994–present
Television	The Culture Show 10 O'Clock Live

Lauren Cecilia Fisher (née Gofton) (born 28 April 1978), known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is a British radio DJ, television presenter, author and singer. She currently presents a radio show on BBC Radio 6 Music, and has presented a variety of television programmes including 10 O'Clock Live for Channel 4, and The Culture Show and coverage of the Glastonbury Festival for the BBC. Laverne has also written a published novel entitled Candypop: Candy and the Broken Biscuits.

In her previous career as a musician, Laverne was best known for being lead singer and sometime guitarist in pop band Kenickie, although her greatest chart success came when she performed vocals on Mint Royale's "Don't Falter" single.

Early years[link]

Laverne was born and brought up in Sunderland.^[1] She first attended St. Mary's R.C. Primary School in 1982, where she befriended Marie Nixon, later to become a fellow Kenickie guitarist, and then St. Anthony's R.C. Comprehensive School between 1989 and 1994, where she and Nixon met Emma Jackson. Laverne went on to study at City of Sunderland College from 1994 to 1996.^{[citation needed]}

Music[link]

During her time at college, Laverne, Nixon and Jackson formed a teen punk band called Kenickie with Laverne's brother Peter, taking the stage names Lauren Laverne, Marie du Santiago, Emmy-Kate Montrose and Johnny X. As their popularity grew, Laverne had to continually alternate between studying for A-levels and touring with the band. Despite this strain, Laverne won a place at nearby Durham University to study Medieval History, but her entry was deferred in order to concentrate on the band in 1996-7. The band's rapid rise to prominence in 1997 coincided with a relocation from Sunderland to London, as the thrice-weekly commute was proving too costly and tiring, which meant she never took up the place. In all, Kenickie achieved four top 40 hits and a top ten album and became darlings of the British music press, due to their refreshing style and outspoken views.^{[citation needed]}

Laverne became as famous for her funny and acerbic interview style as for her music, making her a popular contestant on comedy panel shows such as Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Have I Got News For You, memorably referring to contemporaneous girl group the Spice Girls as "Tory scum".^[2]

In 2000, she brought out a solo EP, Take These Flowers Away, contributed a version of "In The Bleak Midwinter" to Xfm London's It's A Cool Cool Christmas album, played at the Reading Festival and made the top 20 for the only time in her singing career as vocalist on "Don't Falter" by Mint Royale. She was also working on a solo album at this time, but this was permanently put on hold by the collapse of Deceptive Records.

She subsequently provided guest vocals on The Divine Comedy's 2004 single "Come Home Billy Bird".^[3]

Television[link]

Laverne's first television presenting job was Play UK's series The Alphabet Show, with Chris Addison, made while Kenickie were still together. She has since presented Planet Pop and Loves Like A Dog for Channel 4, Fanorama for E4, Party in the Park with Melanie Brown and Pop for Five and Orange Playlist for ITV, as well as reporting for RI:SE, leading the house band on Johnny Vaughan Tonight and appearing as an expert in a music special of BBC One's Test the Nation. In recent years she has been seen as one of BBC2's main presenters for their coverage of the Glastonbury Festival and the host of ITV2's coverage of events such as the British Comedy Awards and the BRIT Awards.

She also presented a documentary for Sky One on the rise of popularity of the US hit TV Show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, called Buffy: Television With Bite. This was done when the show was returning for its sixth season in 2001.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004 she was a regular guest on the quiz show HeadJam. She could also be seen briefly in the movie Shaun of the Dead, where she was one of the zombies (more obvious in the bonus content).

In 2005, she became host of ITV's Saturday morning music show CD:UK, along with Myleene Klass and Johny Pitts, starting on 17 September with a programme featuring Laverne interviewing Sir Paul McCartney. The show finished in April 2006.

in April 2006, she appeared as guest host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks. In August, Laverne presented Channel 4's coverage of the V Festival. In March 2007, she presented the NME Awards live from the Hammersmith Palais.

In July 2007, Laverne appeared on the satirical comedy show Mock the Week, and on Have I Got News for You on 14 December of the same year. She appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 10 January 2008, this time as a guest. In September 2008, Laverne appeared again on Mock the Week.

In March 2008, Laverne appeared on the Lily Allen and Friends show with fellow Sunderland musicians The Futureheads, and on Would I Lie To You?.

From 2006 to 2010, she was a regular presenter with the weekly BBC arts magazine programme The Culture Show, alongside Mark Kermode. She also presented the second series of the late-night Channel 4 music show Transmission with T-Mobile opposite Steve Jones.

Laverne replaced radio DJ Jo Whiley on the talent show Orange Mobile Act Unsigned, which searches for the top unsigned acts in the country.

Laverne became a regular presenter in the new 'magazine' format third series of It's Not Easy Being Green, first broadcast on BBC Two in January 2009. She also narrated Tough Guy or Chicken? on BBC Three in August 2009.

On 6 May 2010, she was a co-host of Channel 4's Alternative Election Night, along with Jimmy Carr, David Mitchell, and Charlie Brooker. Starting 20 January 2011, she re-joined her co-hosts in Channel 4's satirical news programme 10 O'Clock Live.^[4]

Radio[link]

Having previously sat in for BBC Radio 1's Steve Lamacq, Laverne joined Xfm London in 2002, co-hosting a Saturday morning show with Mark Webster, while occasionally standing in for various DJs on BBC Radio 6 Music, including Phill Jupitus' breakfast show where one morning she interviewed her own brother Pete (who records under the name J Xaverre) Laverne took over XFM's drivetime slot from Zoe Ball at the start of 2004, winning Best Newcomer at the Commercial Radio Awards in 2004.^[5] She became host of the XFM breakfast show on 31 October 2005 after Christian O'Connell moved to Virgin Radio, but left suddenly in April 2007 to pursue her television interests. However, Laverne has recently guest presented on BBC Radio 2. She stood in for Russell Brand on BBC Radio 2 on 9 February 2008 whilst he was taking a break.

She presents her own show on BBC Radio 6 Music Weekdays 10-1pm.^[6] Laverne was widely quoted by mass media in early March 2010 when her emotional reaction to proposals to kill BBC 6 music captured the attention of her listeners and the press. Following the BBC Director General's announcement that the station would be recommended for closure as part of cost-cutting plans, she started her show saying "This is probably not the easiest of day for us, probably not the easiest day to be on the radio, to be honest with you, especially not this station, which I love with all my heart. So thank you very much for all your kind words." ^[7]

She has also been a panelist on BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute.

Writing[link]

In 2010, she published her first novel Candypop – Candy and the Broken Biscuits, about rock chick Candy Caine, 15, on her journey to the world's biggest music festival, Glastonbury. The book is published by HarperCollins.

Personal life[link]

Laverne dated music journalist Taylor Parkes while in the band Kenickie and later Malcolm Middleton, from the band Arab Strap. She married television producer and DJ Graeme Fisher in County Durham^[8] in August 2005,^[9] and the couple live in Muswell Hill, London.^[10] Laverne also retains a flat in Sunderland. The couple had their first child, a boy named Fergus James, in October 2007.^[11] On 30 March 2010, Laverne revealed on her BBC Radio 6 Music show that she was pregnant with their second child. Lauren gave birth to the couple's second son, Mack, in the early hours of 20 September 2010. She is a vegetarian.^[12]

In 2005, Laverne's passion for her home city resulted in her becoming an ambassador promoting and raising awareness of Sunderland. She received an honorary fellowship from the University of Sunderland in July 2009.^[13]

Laverne is a supporter of the Labour Party, famously referring to Geri Halliwell as "Tory scum" for her support for the Conservatives in the 1997 general election.^[14] Laverne's mother, Celia Gofton, was elected a councillor for the Pallion ward in the City of Sunderland in 2006, and sought nomination as Labour candidate in 2008 in the Sunderland Central constituency but was defeated by Julie Elliott, who went on to win the seat for Labour in the 2010 general election.^[15]

Laverne identifies herself as Roman Catholic.^[16]

Discography[link]

See also Kenickie discography.

Solo singles[link]

• Take These Flowers Away EP (did not chart)

1. "I Fell Out Of A Tree"
2. "Good Morning Sunshine"
3. "To Have A Home"
4. "Some Kind Of Other Presence"
5. "If You Phone (Netmix)" (internet only bonus track)

Other solo releases[link]

• "Don't Falter", Mint Royale featuring Lauren Laverne, #15 (w/b 31 January 2000)
• "In The Bleak Midwinter" (on It's A Cool Cool Christmas compilation) (did not chart)
• "Come Home Billy Bird", The Divine Comedy (uncredited vocalist), #24 (w/b 28 March 2004)

Miscellaneous solo songs[link]

Other solo songs performed on radio sessions include:

• "Don't Falter (acoustic)"
• "Mexico"
• "Thank You"
• "Ian"
• "Open"

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lauren Laverne at BBC Programmes
• Lauren Laverne on Facebook
• Lauren Laverne at the Internet Movie Database
• Kenickie site
• Q&A: Questionnaire style interview from The Guardian.
• Lauren Laverne, Spitz, London: Review of post-Kenickie solo performance in The Guardian, 16 April 2001.
• "Blonde ambition" interview from The Guardian, 18 March 2007
• "Drink Less Miss Less" campaign"