Penelope Jane Smith (born 21 September 1958) is an English author, television presenter, newsreader and radio presenter. She has presented for Sky News, GMTV, Classic FM, BBC Radio London, TalkRadio and is a regular contributor to TalkTV launched in April 2022. Smith is a current presenter of the weekday drivetime show on Scala Radio who credits her favourite classical composer as Giacomo Puccini. Early life and education Smith was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, and grew up in Rutland. She attended Uppingham Primary School in Uppingham and the Rutland High School for Girls (later Rutland College) in Oakham. Television and radio Smith began her career as a reporter and feature writer on the Peterborough Evening Telegraph in 1977. After four years, she left to backpack through Central and South America and South East Asia where she reported and presented on a current affairs programme for Radio Television Hong Kong. In 1984 she joined Radio Trent as a reporter/presenter and then worked for Central Television as press officer for documentaries and drama. After that, Smith co-presented Lookaround, the local evening news for Border Television and in 1987 she joined Thames Television to co-present Thames News with Andrew Gardner. Smith left the station toward the end of 1988 to help launch Sky News in February 1989. In April 1993, she joined GMTV where she stayed until 4 June 2010. Smith has also presented Crime Net, Crime File and Crime Fighters for Carlton, Crime Monthly and Britain's Most Wanted for LWT, Going for a Song for the BBC and Celebrity for ITV. She also co-presented the 1995 series of The Krypton Factor alongside Gordon Burns. In 2001, she appeared in Jonathan Creek "Satan's Chimney". In 2006, Smith appeared in the BBC One show Just the Two of Us. She sang with Curtis Stigers and was eliminated on 3 March. She came fourth. She later appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2006 and several episodes of Have I Got News for You. She also appeared in Garfield 2 when Garfield was watching television. In February 2009, she appeared on the ITV1 daytime programme Loose Women as a panellist on occasion. In July 2010, Smith presented BBC Radio 2's Kiri Prize, a nationwide hunt to find an opera star. Smith has also covered the Friday Night Arts Show on BBC Radio 2 when Claudia Winkleman was away. From January 2013 to January 2016, Smith co-presented