Selina Scott
Scott was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1951, the eldest of five children. Her late father, Charles was a police sergeant and her mother, Betty (née Bumby), was formerly a journalist from Ryedale, North Yorkshire.
She completed her secondary education at the Laurence Jackson School in Guisborough, North Yorkshire where she was head girl, whilst living in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Cleveland. She then continued her studies at the University of East Anglia, reading English and American Literature.
Career
Initially resisting the temptation to continue a family trait working in journalism Scott succumbed and went to work on the Sunday Post in Dundee, Scotland for 2 years. She then took up the post of Press officer for the Tourist board on the Isle of Bute. She then began broadcasting after being hired by Ted Brocklebank, then Head of News & Current Affairs, now a Tory MSP, as a reporter and presenter with Grampian TV in 1978. She made her television debut on the nightly news programme Grampian Today, presenting from a North Sea oil platform and at the summit of Cairn Gorm. She later became one of the launch team for North Tonight.
Several months after North Tonight began, Scott, at the age of 29, progressed to national television; appearing first as a newsreader on ITV's News at Ten. In 1982 at the outbreak of the Falklands War Scott became the Forces' pin-up girl causing viewing figures to soar. She then went on to launch Breakfast Television in the UK joining the BBC's Breakfast Time programme in January 1983. She presented the show with Frank Bough and Nick Ross. Ironically, Scott had been hired by ITN to replace Anna Ford who had defected to launch ITV's Breakfast Television channel TV-am. Before TV-am began broadcasting in February 1983, Scott had already quit ITN to launch the BBC's rival show. She later presented The Clothes Show, and was a guest host on the chat show, Wogan (named for its regular host Terry Wogan).
1988 saw Scott cross the Atlantic to join the US channel CBS hosting a current affairs programme - West 57th.
Back in the UK she joined Rupert Murdoch's satellite channel Sky, co-anchoring its 1992 election night coverage with Sir David Frost.
Scott has also produced documentaries on royal figures in Europe including A Prince Among Islands, a profile of Prince Charles, a film with King Juan Carlos of Spain (which achieved record viewing figures for a documentary in Spain) and The Return of the King, which involved travelling with King Constantine of Greece after 25 years of exile.
By 1995 in the US she had her own chat show on NBC. By 1997 she was back in the UK signing a contract with Sky. She anchored the breakfast programme, later switching to the 5pm news. Latterly she had her own chat show but this was halted after 8 weeks.
In 2003 she moved from Perthshire, Scotland to her native North Yorkshire after buying a 200-acre (0.81 km2) farm near Ampleforth to accommodate her 27 Angora goats. The fleeces are washed, spun and dyed, producing Mohair wool for her farm business, creating socks for the gun makers Purdey, growing into her own company designing and creating socks. Through this venture she has greatly enhanced her role as a Countryside Custodian whilst living in an area designated as an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
October 2006 saw a new departure as Scott was chosen to launch the new season's fashion campaign for Country Casuals, now known as CC.
In Spring 2007 Kingfisher Productions hired Scott to co-host Tales from the Countryside. The first series showed Scott's own working farm and her herd of Angoras being shorn through to the eventual production of the socks. A second series was commissioned and shown in Spring 2008 featuring unique rural stories.
In 2007, Scott appeared as one of the dog handlers on the BBC 2 dog trials series The Underdog Show screened to highlight the Dogs Trust Charity for rescued dogs. After six weeks of competition, she was voted the winner, beating singer Huey Morgan and actress Julia Sawalha in the final.
July 2007 saw Scott presenting the BBC's Animal Rescue Live Show daily from Battersea Dog's Home in central London, co-hosting with Matt Baker. Running daily for three weeks, the programme highlighted the plight of many animals at the home appealing to the public to consider re-homing.
In August 2008, Scott announced her intention to sue Five, a UK television station, for age discrimination. She claimed Five reneged on an agreement for her to cover Natasha Kaplinsky's maternity leave because she was 'too old'. Scott hired Simon Smith of Schillings, and Five denied the claim. A preliminary hearing began on 24 September 2008 with a full five-day hearing scheduled for Dec,ember 2008. On 5 December 2008 she won, with Five issuing a public apology and a confidential out of court financial settlement. It was later reported that she accepted the offer, despite publicly declaring she would have her day in court, as her father had become seriously ill in December. He died on Christmas Eve after a stroke, and she wanted to be at his side and felt unable to continue the action as planned.
In April 2009 Scott wrote a two-piece article for the Daily Mail documenting her experience of ageism, legal action and its coincidence with her father's deteriorating health and death. This piece also records her view of the National Health Service and what she believed were its failings in caring for him.
October 2008 saw Scott present a four-part series for the Sky Arts channel & ITV - Edward Seago - The Forgotten Painter, shown in HD (High Definition) & including interviews with and access to Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh; an admirer of Seago's work.
In a departure from broadcasting, Scott has written her first autobiographical book, "A Long Walk in the High Hills: The Story of a House, a Dog and a Spanish Island."
Personal
Scott is from a family of journalists: her mother Betty was a journalist and her grandfather, George Bumby, was the editor of the Malton Herald in Malton, North Yorkshire. Her grandparents came from Aberdeen in Scotland.
Scott's brother Robin Scott is the editor of Sporting Gun Magazine.
She is the eldest of five children: brother Robin, sisters Angela, Vanessa and Fiona, a fine art portrait artist, also based in Ampleforth, who regularly exhibits at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Exhibition in London. In April 2007 she exhibited a long-awaited portrait of her famous sister. Scott bought it.
A very private person, Scott has resolutely managed to keep her life just that. She has been linked, mainly by rumour and/or conjecture, with various names including Ted Brocklebank in her Grampian TV days and Prince Andrew but she has always been single and has no children.
She has two dogs, one of which is Nip, a female collie cross and Kiki, a German shepherd she rescued from Majorca. Leisure pursuits include angling, countryside walking, wildlife conservation and countryside management.
Scott has a home on the island of Majorca near to the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range.
Continuing her interest in Literature, Scott became the Patron of the Charles Dickens (Malton) Society based in Malton, North Yorkshire where Dickens based A Christmas Carol.