Lee McKenzie facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lee McKenzie
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McKenzie at Brands Hatch in 2011
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| Born | 1 December 1977 |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Journalist, presenter |
| Employer | BBC, Channel 4 |
| Known for | Motorsport journalism |
| Parent(s) | Bob McKenzie |
Lee McKenzie was born on December 1, 1977. She is a well-known journalist and TV presenter from Britain. She works as a reporter and a deputy presenter for Channel 4's Formula 1 coverage. She also presents the W Series and rugby for Channel 4.
Lee also covers many other sports for the BBC and Channel 4. These include tennis, rugby, and equestrian events. She has also worked on the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Before this, she presented for the BBC's F1 coverage, Sky Sports, and Sky Sports News.
Lee's father, Bob McKenzie, was a sports journalist for the Daily Express for 35 years.
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Lee McKenzie's Career in Broadcasting
Lee McKenzie has presented shows for ITV. She also helped launch the horse racing channel At the Races. She presented Lookaround for Border Television. There, she covered important news stories, like the Lockerbie Trial. Lee has been a journalist since she was 15 years old.
In 2007, Lee won the Jim Clark Memorial Award. This award recognized her important contributions to motorsport. She even competed in some rounds of the World Rally Championship in 2004. She also raced in the Norwegian Mountain rally in 2005.
Lee has hosted many different TV shows. This includes three seasons of Sky Sports' A1 Grand Prix coverage. She is a big fan of motorsport and all kinds of sports. She has presented shows on ITV, Channel 4, and Sky Sports. These shows include Speed Sunday and the British Superbike Championship (BSB). In 2006, Lee traveled over 240,000 kilometers. This is like going around the world five times! She was covering both Formula One and the A1 Grand Prix.
Lee has covered most major sports events. These range from the Rugby World Cup to Wimbledon. She has also covered the Derby, Netball, Grand Prix, and Football. She presented horse racing for Sky Sports on At the Races. She also presented the 6 o'clock news. Lee covered big news stories like the Lockerbie trial. She even appeared in a TV advert for Nokia. She has hosted award ceremonies for Formula One and other events.
Lee presented for Sony PlayStation. She also hosted the F1 Regent Street display for 300,000 people. Famous racers Nigel Mansell and Carl Fogarty asked her to host their magazine launch. She was also the on-track editor and columnist for their magazine.
Lee McKenzie's Work with the BBC
From 2009 to 2015, Lee McKenzie was a pit lane reporter for the BBC's Formula One coverage. She was the main presenter of Inside F1 for BBC News. Lee was the lead presenter for the BBC's F1 program at the Japanese Grand Prix in October 2010. This happened while Jake Humphrey was presenting the Commonwealth Games. She also presented the Canadian, German, and Hungarian Grands Prix in 2012. This was when Jake Humphrey was presenting Euro 2012 and the 2012 Olympic Games. This was a big moment, as it was the first time a woman had been the main anchor for F1 on British TV.
After the BBC lost the F1 rights to Channel 4, Lee continued to work for the BBC. She presented and reported on many events. These include the Commonwealth Games, the Olympics, and the Winter Olympics. She also covered Wimbledon, The Olympia Horse Show, and equestrian events. Other sports she covered were the 6 Nations rugby, the Women's 6 Nations Championships, and the Rugby Union Autumn Internationals.
For the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Lee presented daytime coverage for BBC Three. At the Rio 2016 Olympics, she presented the equestrian events for the BBC.
Since 2021, Lee has often done interviews with winning players right after their matches at Wimbledon. She does these interviews on Centre Court, in front of the crowd. This is different from the usual practice of interviewing off-court. This approach has made her popular with both players and fans. She talked about this during an appearance on the Fuelling Around Podcast.
She mentioned an interview with Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon in 2022. She said, "I stood back and actually Nick noticed this and he looked over from his chair and just sort of gave me a little nod and waved me on. That was perfect and I went on and we did a great interview. I just think he respected the fact that I had given him space and we just did this lovely interview.”
Lee also joined co-hosts Jason Plato and David Vitty to discuss the future of motorsport. They talked about whether Formula E would ever be as popular as F1. Lee explained her thoughts: "I love motorsport. I watch all forms of motorsport, it doesn’t really matter what’s on, I get excited about what it is. And I dip in and out every year, and I will watch Formula E. I’ve got friends who race in it, I’ve got friends who commentate on it, I know the teams, I know the drivers, and I still can’t quite get as excited about it as I would a Formula 1 race. And I don’t know why that is, and I’m hoping that I’m wrong."
Lee McKenzie's Work with Channel 4
On March 8, 2016, it was announced that Lee McKenzie would join Channel 4's F1 coverage. This happened after the BBC decided to stop broadcasting F1 live on TV. She continues to report on races, just like she did for the BBC. She also presents F1 Meets.. (also known as Lee Meets) and practice sessions. She was Channel 4's main presenter for the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix and 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
It was also announced that she would present the highlights of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Channel 4 gained the rights to this in June 2016.
Lee was named the main anchor and reporter for the Paralympics Breakfast show for Rio. She missed the Austrian, British, and Hungarian Grand Prix in 2017. This was because she was part of Channel 4's presenting teams for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 and 2017 World Para Athletics Championships.
Lee also presented highlights from the Winter Paralympic Games from London. She was one of the main presenters for Winter Paralympics Today and Winter Paralympics Highlights.
In 2018, Lee McKenzie co-presented the Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. She also became Channel 4's main presenter for Rugby Union. This included Wales mid-year Internationals and the European Rugby Champions Cup. For the 2021 Paralympics, Lee was part of Channel 4's small on-site team as a reporter. This was due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She was part of Channel 4's 2024 Summer Paralympics presenting team. She was also their lead commentator for Equestrian events.
Lee McKenzie's Racing Career
Lee McKenzie competes as an international co-driver in the World Rally Championship. She started after a challenge from ITV. They challenged her to train and become a World Rally Championship co-driver in just three months. She qualified for an international license. She then won her class at the 2004 Wales Rally GB. Since then, Lee has competed in the Norwegian Rally Championship for the X-Power MG ZR. Lee also owns and runs a company that manages drivers. This company helps drivers from GP2 to World Rally.
