Cheerleaders from Virginia Union University wearing rah-rah skirts.

The rah-rah (or ra-ra) skirt is a short flounced skirt that originated in cheerleading and became popular among teenage girls in the early 1980s. As such it marked, as the Oxford Dictionary noted, the first successful attempt to revive the miniskirt that had been introduced in the mid 1960s^[1]. Later in the 1980s it was often worn with leather, denim or lace.^[2]

In the 1990s the mini came back into fashion in its own right, largely discarding the frills of the rah-rah. However, the latter did return again in Britain in 2008: "Eighties look is all the ra-rave".^[3]

Examples of the rah-rah were to be seen on the covers of gramophone records or compact discs such as 99 Red Balloons by Nena (1983) and Since Yesterday by Strawberry Switchblade (1984).

Etymology[link]

Rah-rah is a reduplication^[4] of an abbreviation for "hurrah"^[5], which is used as a synonym for "cheering".

Notes[link]

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Susanna Reid (born 10 December 1970)^[1] is an English journalist and presenter, best known for presenting BBC Breakfast.

Early life[link]

The youngest of three children, Reid was born in Croydon, South London to an English father who worked as a management consultant, of Scottish ancestry, and an English mother who worked as a nurse. Her parents separated and divorced when she was aged 9.^[2]

Reid was educated at the independent Croham Hurst School, Croydon from 1975–81, where comedienne Sue Perkins was amongst her classmates,^[3] followed by the independent Croydon High School (1981–87) and St Paul's Girls' School (1987–89) in London. Reid studied Politics, Philosophy and Law at the University of Bristol (1989–92), where she was editor of EpiGram, the university's student newspaper,^[4] when it was shortlisted for Best Student Newspaper in the 1991 The Guardian/NUS student journalism awards. She then undertook a Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism from the Cardiff School of Journalism.

Broadcasting career[link]

Reid started her career at BBC Radio Bristol and then become a reporter for Radio 5 Live, as well as latterly a producer.

She then joined BBC News 24 where she spent two years as a reporter. When the 23:00 presenter didn't turn up one night, she became a stand-in presenter for an hour (while three months pregnant with her first child), which turned in to a permanent position.^[2] Before going on maternity leave, she presented on the BBC's online interactive service. Reid then spent three months doing charity work in Sri Lanka, before becoming a reporter for Breakfast News. After a second maternity break, Reid became a presenter on the BBC News channel.

Reid is one of the main presenters on BBC Breakfast, presenting alongside Charlie Stayt and previously Bill Turnbull on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. She has held her current role since 2004, when she replaced Mishal Husain, who went on maternity leave and can occasionally be seen on Breakfast during the week. In 2010 she stepped down from presenting Breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays to take a role on new programme Sunday Morning Live.^[5] As of the final episode of the first series on 21 November 2010, she resumed her weekend presenting duties on BBC Breakfast within 2 weeks.^[6]

She was also the regular newsreader during the headlines on The Andrew Marr Show, On 16 May 2010 she stood in briefly for Andrew Marr, for the Sunday newspaper review, when he arrived late for the programme after interviewing the new Prime Minister David Cameron. This led to a slightly awkward scene when he turned up halfway through and there was a confusion as to who was fronting the show.^[7]

On 6 February 2009, Reid made a swift, off-the-cuff apology, while hosting Breakfast with Charlie Stayt, when a wrongly-cued, uncut audio clip of Hollywood actor Christian Bale, featuring the shouted line "You don't fucking understand!" was played on air. This was broadcast live at 6.55am on BBC1 in the UK. The clip was cut immediately and Reid's gasps were audible during and immediately after the clip.^[8]

On 22 February she presented the BBC's live coverage of the 2009 Oscars from Los Angeles.^[9] She also presented coverage of the 2010 Oscars on 7 March.

In 2010 the BBC received complaints about Reid's apparent cleavage, revealing clothing, and behaviour, accusing her of 'flirting' and 'behaving like a schoolgirl on her first date', during an interview with Hugh Grant. Reid replied "I'm always sorry when people don't like what we do, but I have come to accept that you can't please all the people all of the time. However, after breastfeeding three children, I'm amazed that people think I still have a cleavage worth complaining about."^[10] Reid has gained a large male fan base on the internet, due to her good looks and supposed 'revealing clothing', who post videos of her online with one video gaining over 200,000 hits.^[11] In February 2010 the press again discussed Reid after she wore a reportedly 'sexy ultra-tight dress', which drew much comment from her internet fans.^[12] Reid later defended her clothing, saying that after appearing regularly on TV she realised she 'had to raise my game if I was to look good presenting' and that her 'curvy' figure was suited to fitted clothing.^[13] Susanna has even been described as a 'sex symbol' and its been claimed that her 'raunchy' clothing has attracted many more males to watch the BBC Breakfast Show. Although she denies dressing in a purposefully revealing manner she commented "Perhaps it is because I am approaching my birthday and I’m in a more celebratory mood" when asked about a particular choice of clothing which drew much comment on social networking sites.^[14] In an interview with the Radio Times Reid dismissed those critical of her 'spicy' clothing-choices saying "People seem to be shocked that women have breasts" and said she chose clothes and necklaces that were not "too distracting".^[15]

In light of the move of BBC Breakfast to MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester, and existing Monday to Thursday presenter Sian Williams deciding to stay in London on other programmes, in April 2012 Reid had taken over Williams' position as a main weekday presenter, alongside Bill Turnbull.

Acting[link]

Reid appeared as an actress, with Shirley-Anne Field, in Agatha Christie's Spider's Web in 1982, and then in 1985 alongside Harriet Walter, Peter Barkworth, Adrian Dunbar and Derek Thompson in 'The Price' on Channel 4.^[4]

Charity interests[link]

Reid is a regular contributor to Media Trust, the charity which links other charities to the media industry, and has hosted events for the Myotubular Trust and Voluntary Arts England.^[4] In 1998 she worked for three months in Sri Lanka as a voluntary media consultant for a charity which counsels victims of the civil war and operates orphanages and social development programmes.^[4] Since 2008 she has also been part of the annual BBC's Children In Need "Newsreaders performance." During the 2011 charity night, she took part in a Strictly Come Dancing competition, along with three other BBC newsreaders. Reid and her professional dance partner, Robin Windsor won the competition.^[16]

On 22 April 2012 Reid took part in the London Marathon, raising money for Sports Relief. She completed the course in just over 5 hours

Personal life[link]

Reid lives in Lambeth, South London,^[17] with her longtime partner, former sports correspondent Dominic Cotton.^[18] Although not married,^[19] the couple have been together since 1998,^[20] and have three sons.^[18]

Reid is a pescetarian, something she discusses occasionally in her Saturday morning banter with chef James Martin when commenting on the dishes on his following programme, Saturday Kitchen.^[21]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Susanna Reid at the Internet Movie Database
• Susanna Reid Fansite

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