Sarah Montague

Sarah Montague on Today

When Sarah Montague joined the Today programme, it was the first time she had broadcast on radio. Before that she had worked in television, joining the BBC in 1997 for the launch of BBC News 24.

When the then editor Rod Liddle approached her about presenting the programme, the offer came completely out of the blue. But she grabbed opportunity to do "exactly what I want to be doing".

She studied biology at Bristol University, then began a career in finance with NatWest in London, first as a private client stockbroker then in eurobond sales.

She knew the city was not for her, so went travelling for a year, before going into business with a friend in mail order shirts.

The business survived; the friendship and Sarah's job did not.

From tea to TV

So, aged 24, having been sacked twice, she decided to follow her heart and try to get into radio current affairs.

With no luck finding a job, she asked her local television newsroom in Guernsey if she could come in, unpaid, and make tea for a few weeks.

The gamble paid off and for three years Sarah worked as a reporter and presenter at Channel Television in both Guernsey and Jersey.

In 1994 she moved to London as a freelance television news reporter before joining Reuters for a daily business programme. From there she went to Sky News in January 1996 as a business presenter.

To the BBC

Sarah was one of the presenters on BBC News 24

In 1997 she was approached by the BBC to be one of the presenters at the launch of its new BBC news channel - BBC News 24. Although desperate to move to sensible hours she agreed to more early starts presenting the breakfast show.

Since joining the BBC, she has presented many of its television news programmes, including BBC Two's Newsnight, BBC One's Breakfast with Frost, BBC Breakfast news as well as news bulletins on BBC One.

Alongside the Today programme, she still presents BBC World's Hardtalk, on which she has interviewed world leaders as well as rock stars.