Shelagh Fogarty

Shelagh Fogarty was born on January 13, 1966, in Anfield, Liverpool, the youngest of seven children to Irish parents. She received her education at Mary Help of Christians R.C. High School in Croxteth, a girls’ Catholic grammar school, an environment she credits as providing significant life inspiration. Fogarty pursued higher education at Durham University, where she studied French and Spanish, graduating in 1988. Her career in broadcasting began as a BBC trainee, working across various regional stations including Radio Humberside, Radio Guernsey, Radio Bristol, Radio Sheffield, and Radio Merseyside. During her time at Radio Merseyside in the early 1990s, she co-hosted the ‘Morning Merseyside’ breakfast show for approximately three years and later worked on ‘Merseyside Tonight’ in 1998. She then moved to Radio 4 in 1994, transitioning to freelance work in 1999.

Fogarty’s career advanced significantly when she joined Radio 5 Live. She initially co-presented ‘Weekend Breakfast’ before moving to co-host the popular ‘Breakfast’ program with Nicky Campbell. In April 2011, she took over from Gabby Logan to host the lunchtime show, which covered a range of news, sport, and interview topics. This period included notable events, such as a gun being pointed at her and her film crew in January 2008 while filming a report for ITV’s ‘Tonight with Trevor McDonald’ in her childhood area of Croxteth. She also joined ‘The Daily Politics’ presenting team in January 2010, co-hosting with Andrew Neil on Thursdays. In March 2010, she participated in Sport Relief 2010 by swimming a mile in The Serpentine in Hyde Park. By July 2014, Fogarty announced her departure from 5 Live to pursue other opportunities, with her final program broadcasting on September 3rd of that year.

Following her departure from BBC Radio 5 Live, Shelagh Fogarty joined LBC, initially as a guest presenter. In December 2014, she officially joined the station to present its 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm weekday slot. During her tenure at LBC, she has been involved in several notable broadcasts, including a widely discussed exchange with Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis regarding Boris Johnson’s political career in May 2022, which LBC highlighted as one of its “best of 2022” moments. She has also launched ‘The Followers’, a 5-part podcast series on Global Player, exploring issues of stalking and harassment. Throughout her career, Fogarty has demonstrated her range as a journalist, covering major international events such as the Boxing Day Tsunami in Thailand, the death of Pope John Paul III in Rome, and more light-hearted events like Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s wedding.