After Dinner Speakers: Shauna Lowry, Ranulph Fiennes, Brazil Yes!!!

Shauna Lowry is 31 and was born and brought up in Belfast. She broke into television at the age of only 16 as a features researcher and reporter for the BBC in Northern Ireland. Her first network break came just two years later when she was chosen to host Ghost Train, the weekend children's programme for ITV. Shauna then moved to Dublin and RTE, who asked her to present both their flagship youth programme, Jo-Maxi, and their travel programme, Bon Voyage. Both series ran for several highly successful seasons. In 1995, she returned to British television as a globetrotting reporter on the BBC's science feature programme, Cat's Eyes, and decided to move to London in 1996 to try her luck with bigger audiences. The move paid off quickly, Shauna joining the hugely popular prime time series Animal Hospital as co-presenter/reporter. She recorded eight successful series picking up several awards along the way, with the Animal Hospital team. She has also joined BBC2's countryside series Tracks as wildlife reporter and hosted four series of the BBC's fashion and makeover show, Style Challenge. In the autumn of 1998 Shauna was invited to host the Battersea Dogs Home series for BBC1. Initially scheduled for daytime, the series proved enormously popular and quickly moved to primetime. A second primetime series followed in autumn 1999. . During summer 1999, Shauna also hosted the Midweek Lottery Show and the Saturday Night Lottery Draw for BBC1, filmed for Summer Holiday (BBC1) and presented VIP, a new series for children's BBC which began airing in January 2000. A second series followed in early 2001 Shauna was excited and honoured to be asked to present the BBC's Millennium Eve coverage from Derry, Northern Ireland; her contribution to this significant programming was picked up and shown around the world. Her love of live broadcasting has made her a natural choice for major events; The Lord Mayor's Show, The Cat Show and Crufts are among recent assignments for BBC TV and she also guest-hosted Saturday Live, RTE's primetime talk show. Her newest project has seen Shauna taking over as host of one of BBC's most important and successful daytime programmes, City Hospital. She proved hugely popular and returned for a second series in autumn 2000 and a third series in spring 2001. Concurrently, for prime time BBC1, she hosted her own series of The Midweek Lottery Show, subtitled Amazing Luck Stories. Autumn 2001 saw her take on the role of people's champion in a new series for BBC Northern Ireland, Fair Play. Alongside this, she hosts a new wildlife series for Anglia, Wild At Heart and she also joined Animal Planet's television campaign, Adopt a Wild Animal, filming orang-utans in Borneo. But her committment to the animal world goes well beyond television. Shauna is President of the USPCA, she sits on the committee of the Battersea Dogs Home and fronts many press campaigns for the wildlife charity, Care For The Wild. What little free time she has is spent indulging her passions for horse riding, wildlife and scuba diving. She is a keen traveller and has journeyed all over the world. Her other great loves she can practice anywhere - food, drink and good company.