Zoe Louise Ball, born 23 November 1970 in Blackpool, Lancashire, is an English television and radio personality, most famous for becoming the first female host of the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show and for her earlier work presenting 1990s kids show Live & Kicking.
The daughter of children's TV presenter Johnny Ball, Zoe was educated at a convent school in Buckinghamshire. Her first TV appearance was as a child in the studio audience of Saturday morning children's show Saturday Superstore, on which her father was appearing as a guest.
She began her television career as a runner at Granada Television and researcher on BSkyB. She worked two years as a researcher for quiz shows.
Her presenting jobs have included hosting The Big Breakfast & The Priory on Channel 4, BBC One's Saturday morning children's programme Live & Kicking and pre-school programme Playdays.
Although known primarily for her TV work, it was in radio where she became a major British celebrity after she was recruited to co-host the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show in October 1997 with Kevin Greening. She eventually graduated to become the sole host - the first female DJ to do so. At this time, her hard-drinking, hard-partying antics contributed to the identification of the so-called "ladette culture" of the late 1990s. She later notoriously re-created the naked pose on a backturned chair made famous by Christine Keeler when doing an interview and spread with SKY magazine.
