Liz Barker
Elizabeth Jane 'Liz' Barker (born 16 May 1975) is a television presenter on British television. She has one younger sister, Suzanne (Suzie) and is a distant relative of guitarist Dave Hill.
Born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, Barker grew up in the village of Oakington, near Cambridge and attended Impington Village College before undertaking a philosophy degree at the University of Southampton. After this was completed, she became a runner for independent production company Lion TV, a researcher, and eventually the sports presenter for BBC Choice programme Backstage. She was also previously a librarian.
Career
On 23 June 2000, Barker joined the children's television programme Blue Peter. During her six years there, Liz reported from Vietnam, Morocco, Brazil, Austria, Greece, India and the US. Her adventures have included lawn mower racing, paragliding, walking a circus high-wire and cleaning windows at London's Canary Wharf tower.
On 25 May 2004, Barker announced that she was pregnant with her first child, by husband Michael Todd. A boy, Dexter Jack Barker Todd, was born on Saturday 4 December 2004 and featured on the show many times, including at just 13 days old, on his first birthday and on Barker's leaving date. While Barker was pregnant, scan images were also shown. She became the first presenter to rejoin Blue Peter after having a baby, but on 23 January 2006, she told viewers that she would be leaving the programme at Easter and moving away from London so she could spend more time with Dexter and the rest of her family. She was replaced by Zöe Salmon, who originally took Liz's place in December 2004 when she had her baby but she returned earlier than expected in early 2005.
