Jane Kennedy (born 9 June 1964) is an Australian actress, comedian, radio presenter, and television producer best known for her work with the Working Dog Productions – a tight-knit group of performers responsible for a variety of television and films.
She met the other members of the group, which over time included Tom Gleisner, Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Tony Martin, Mick Molloy, and Judith Lucy amongst others, whilst working on Melbourne commercial radio on the D-Generation Breakfast Show. Kennedy was not originally a member of the group, but was the newsreader assigned to work with them during their timeslot. The team quickly made a game of trying to make her laugh while she read the news. After their frequent success in this aim led to Kennedy's sacking, the D-Generation adopted her as a member and she continued to work with them on the radio show. The group stayed together to later write, direct and produce The Late Show, a comedy sketch show, and Frontline, a widely acclaimed spoof of television current affairs in which she played ambitious reporter Brooke Vandenberg.
Jane Kennedy may refer to:
Jane, Janet, or Jean Kennedy (died 1589) was a companion of Mary, Queen of Scots, during her captivity in England.
Jane was perhaps a daughter of Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis. After the battle of Carberry Hill, Jane is said to have waited on Mary at Lochleven Castle where Mary was confined and signed abdication papers. Varying accounts mention her jumping from a wall while practicing for the Queen's escape, or leaping from a window to join the Queen as she fled the island, and helping row the boat to Kinross.
In England, Jane was listed as a "maid" in Queen Mary's household at Tutbury Castle in October 1569, her name recorded by a French scribe as "Gin Cannate." At Sheffield Castle, in 1571, she was listed as a "maid of the chamber." In 1586, at Chartley Manor, Jane, described a Gentlewoman of the Queen's chamber, was responsible for Mary's jewels. An inventory of the jewels and silver in Jane's keeping was made when Mary was taken to Tixall for a fortnight and her possessions searched. Jane was also in charge of linen and laundry. At Fotheringhay Castle, Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle helped Mary onto the scaffold and Jane tied her blindfold. Jane and Elizabeth had been chosen for this duty by Mary herself. The two ladies are featured and named in the Blairs Memorial Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots; Jane holds a white cloth. Another version of the picture is in the Royal Collection.
Jane Elizabeth Kennedy PC (née Hodgson; born 4 May 1958) is a British Labour Party politician and the inaugural Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside. Kennedy was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Broadgreen from 1992 until 1997 and for Liverpool Wavertree from 1997 until she stood down in 2010.
Formerly a member of the Government, on 8 June 2009, she returned to the backbenches leaving her position as Minister of State for Farming and the Environment at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
She was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria, and attended Haughton Comprehensive School (now part of the 'Education Village') on Rockwell Avenue in Haughton Le Skerne, then Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington. She studied Chemistry at the University of Liverpool. She worked in social care for Liverpool City Council from 1979-88 when she became a trade union organiser for the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE). In Liverpool she had been active in ending the Militant group's infiltration of the Liverpool Labour Party.