Pam Rhodes
Pam Rhodes (born 22 September 1950) is an English television presenter best known for presenting the BBC television long-running religious series Songs of Praise.[1][2]
Rhodes was born in Gillingham, Kent. Her first job in television was in 1969 as programme secretary for Thames TV's Today which was hosted by Eamonn Andrews, going on to become programme organiser for the ITV network documentary series This Week.[3] She began her career in news journalism as the presenter of Anglia Television’s daily evening news programme for seven years in addition to presenting network holiday and travel programmes, her own daily interview series on Lifestyle Television, Radio 2, Premier Radio and other long-term programmes for London Weekend, Thames and BFBS Television. She is an after dinner speaker and conference host and has compered televised recordings in venues such as the Sydney Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall in London, is now often asked to compere large orchestral or musical events at symphony halls and theatres around the country.
Rhodes has also established herself as a mainstream author in recent years, with five novels: With Hearts and Hymns and Voices (Lion Hudson); The Trespassers, Whispers, Ties That Bind and Letting Go (all for Hodder and Stoughton Publishers); Coming Through (Macmillan Publishing); Colours for the Soul, As Time Goes By and Love Bites (all quotation books for Lion Hudson) and Hear My Song (SPCK Publishing).
Rhodes and her husband, Richard Crow, own and run Biggleswade Cat Lodge, a boarding cattery in Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, which also boards and re-homes RSPCA cats. She is a vice-president of the Church Army; patron of Livability and Methodist Homes for the Aged (the MHA Group); and an ambassador for Keech Hospice Care based in Great Bramingham Lane, Luton. She was made an honorary member of the Royal School of Church Music in 2009 and was awarded an honorary doctorate of arts for her contribution to news journalism and charity work by the University of Bedford in 2010.
In January 2015 Rhodes presented the "Songs of Dre's" feature on BBC Radio 2's Dermot O'Leary Show.