How Lauren Laverne went from 90s ladette to BBC’s best paid…overcoming tragic deaths & radio backlash before cancer hell
SHE’S had a hugely successful TV and radio career, but Lauren Laverne has overcome a lot of hurdles to get to where she is today.
Lauren defied her critics after landing her dream job hosting Desert Island Discs not long after her father – who sparked her love of music – died.
When her mother died in 2022, she had to give up a job at Glastonbury too.
And now, The One Show presenter has revealed she sadly has cancer.
She said: “I recently had a cancer diagnosis. It was (thank God) caught early and unexpectedly during a screening test and I am expected to make a full recovery.
“I’m in hospital at the moment and wanted to take this moment to say thank you: firstly to medical teams who have got me this far with incredible skill and kindness.
“To my family and friends who have been absolutely extraordinary every step of the way – I am so very grateful and love you so much.
“And of course thank you to my colleagues…. for their support and for giving me the time off that I need to get better.”
We look into Lauren’s life and how she went from a grungy 90s ladette, performing in rock band Kenickie to becoming one of the BBC’s most beloved stars…
Hailed as next big thing
Lauren first shot to fame as lead singer and guitarist of alternative rock band Kenickie, which she formed at the age of 16 with her brother Peter, known as Johnny X.
The band managed to get four Top 40 singles, a Top 10 album with At The Club, and played Glastonbury.
Courtney Love even hailed them as the next big thing, and said they “will be huge and have Number Ones”.
But it was her banter and interview style on TV that gained them the most notoriety.
Lauren, as well as her bandmates Marie du Santiago and Emmy-Kate Montros became regulars on music panel quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
They eventually disbanded in 1998 after playing their last concert at the London Astoria, and Lauren pursued a solo career, releasing an EP Take These Flowers Away From Me in 2000 and singing on Mint Royale’s hit Don’t Falter.
But Lauren continued forging a career in TV at the same time, hosting music-led TV shows like Party In The Park and appearing as an expert on a music special of BBC One’s Test The Nation.
She eventually became one of the main presenters for Glastonbury on BBC2, thanks to her love of music.
In 2005, Lauren took over the XFM Breakfast Show, becoming the first woman to host the station’s flagship show.
Since then, the star has appeared on every major British television network, as well as presenting the breakfast show on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Dream job
When she landed her most high-profile radio job, taking over from Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs in 2018, Lauren was facing a tough time.
Tragically, she had only just lost her dad, Leslie Gofton, to kidney disease when she got the job.
And she has said her love of music is down to her beloved dad, who had been the guitarist for Roxy Music before they were famous.
Speaking to The Guardian, she said: “He always was, and still is, the font of all musical knowledge in our family – there’s no way anyone would ever defer to me with a question about musical history.”
What should have been a happy time for Lauren, after landing her dream job, was also marred by backlash from Desert Island Disc listeners with one commentator branding her “lightweight and uncerebral.”
I think it’s part of the job. People are entitled to their opinions. Some of it was constructive, some of it wasn’t.
Lauren Laverne
But Lauren rose above the negativity and wrote on Twitter: “Today has been an entirely unexpected inventory of who is in my corner.
“I have to say I couldn’t be happier. In fact it’s been the best day in ages. Isn’t it funny how it goes that way sometimes? Thanks very much to everyone who has been so kind. The wave of messages is as surreal as it is wonderful.
“As a seasoned festival-goer I’ve had many surreal experiences while wearing a kagoule but this is a new personal best.
“Thank you all so much for your kind words. I hope to live up to them.”
In a separate interview she spoke about the unkind comments she’d had.
She said: “I think it’s part of the job. People are entitled to their opinions. Some of it was constructive, some of it wasn’t. The less constructive stuff is people more or less saying, ‘I don’t like you.’ That’s fair enough.
“If you do my job, it doesn’t have to be a disaster if someone criticises you; certainly it doesn’t wound me in a deep way. In my personal life, I’d just lost my dad. So, really, it puts things into perspective, right?”
Another tragic loss
Lauren’s mum Celia – who opened the only reggae club night in the northeast of England – also sadly died in 2022, forcing Lauren to drop out of presenting Glastonbury that year.
Lauren paid an emotional tribute to her mum on social media, writing: “Yesterday I lost my Mam, Celia. She was the kindest, most compassionate and most tenacious person I have ever met.
“Born in the middle of nine kids, she was a master peacemaker and persuader. She passed her 11+ and went to grammar school which changed our family’s direction forever.
“She met my dad at 16 and loved him every day of her life. She ran the only reggae club night in the NE and told me that being young in the 60s felt like that line in Mr Tambourine Man ‘to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free’. She worked as a seamstress and a casino dancer (also making costumes for the troupe) to pay her way through college and became a wonderful teacher, eventually managing all Sunderland’s colleges.
“Somewhere along the line she had me and my brother and got political (she once chased someone from the BNP down our garden path with a rolling pin in one hand and me in the other arm) protested at Greenham Common and eventually became a city councillor. She delighted in helping people, especially those who like her knew what it was like to grow up without.
She continued: “She loved children and was the most devoted and adored mother and grandmother you could ever meet. But she also knew that mother is a verb as well as a noun and mothered so many others along the way who needed love and support throughout her life.
“She made connections wherever she went including with the incredible teams at UCLH who cared for her – and us – at the end of her life. Thank you to them for everything. We are all utterly heartbroken to lose her.”
Lauren concluded with an emotional vow as she wrote: “Mam, I love you forever. Thank you for my fantastic life. I have no idea what I’m going to do without you but I’m going to try to make it interesting and you will be in my heart, always XXX”.
Love story
Lauren got another huge job not long after her mum died and was announced as a new presenter of The One Show, along with Roman Kemp in August 2023.
Now, earning £350,000-399,999 a year, Lauren is one of three women in the BBC’s top 10 on-air salaries, along with Fiona Bruce and Naga Munchetty.
But away from her career, as she begins her battle back to full health, she has the love of her husband of almost 20 years, as well as their two sons.
Lauren has been married to DJ Graeme Fisher since 2005, having met him on a pop TV show she worked on with him in the early 2000s.
She said: “He invited me to a gig and we both thought other people would come, but nobody did. We realised that it was Valentine’s Day and ended up getting together.”
Lauren and Graeme are now parents to Fergus, 17, and Mack, 14, and live together in Muswell Hill, London.
Lauren has said she’s the “breadwinner” in the family, due to her career.
She told the Guardian: “Graeme, my husband, has gone from the job he was doing making TV programmes to being the main carer for our boys.
“He has a fantastic relationship with them, we both muck in, and to be honest, it’s all a bit of a scramble.
“I started on Ten O’Clock Live 10 weeks after having Mack and that was a hard time. But you get through it – and I really love my job and I know how lucky I am.”
In an interview with Red magazine, she added: “I think we’re really lucky and I’m really glad we’re happy and we still get on well.
“But I’m not going to sit here and spout kernels of wisdom, because there might be people reading this going through a divorce thinking, ‘Lauren, shut up.’ We’ve been together a long time and we get on great, but that’s not necessarily the goal for everyone.”
Cancer screenings in England
CATCHING cancer early gives you the best chance of survival, and a huge part of that is attending regular screenings.
NHS programmes can help diagnose the disease, or risk of it, and improve the likelihood of successful treatment.
There are three national screening programmes in England: cervical screening, breast screening and bowel screening.
“If you are eligible, please make every effort to have your screening test as they can detect a problem early, before you have any symptoms. ,” the NHS says.
“Finding out about a problem early can mean that treatment is more effective.”
Cervical screening
This is offered in England to people with a cervix aged 25 to 64 and is routinely carried out every three years up to the age of 49, and every five from 50 to 64.
Depending on the result, people may be recalled earlier.
During a cervical screening, samples are tested for high risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which causes nearly all cervical cancers.
Those that test positive are then analysed further.
Breast screening
Breast screenings, which involve an X-ray test called a mammogram that can spot cancers when they are too small to see or feel, are usually offered to women aged 50 to 71 in England.
But the NHS is trialling them for women under 50 if they have a high risk of developing breast cancer.
Bowel screening
This test detects whether patients are showing any early signs of cancer.
Men and women aged 60 to 74 are sent an at-home test kit every two years.
This involves providing a small poo sample to be checked for tiny amounts of blood, which could be caused by cancer.
Source: NHS