Natasha Kaplinsky
[6] Kaplinsky's paternal grandparents were Jewish,[7] originating from the town of Slonim (then part of Poland, now located in western Belarus), and emigrated to South Africa in 1929.After graduating with a degree in English from Hertford College, Oxford in 1995,[2] one of Kaplinsky's first jobs was working in the press offices of Labour leaders Neil Kinnock and John Smith.This included the death of family members during the "liquidation" – massacre – of the Słonim Ghetto by the Germans and another's escape to the partisans in the Second World War and eventual immigration to Australia.Kaplinsky started out presenting on F2F, a youth chat show, for Granada Talk TV in 1996[2] with co-host Sacha Baron Cohen.Kaplinsky's first presenting role with ITV was in the summer of 2011, when she hosted a new Sunday entertainment series Born to Shine, which raised awareness for the charity Save the Children, of which Natasha is an ambassador.[11][12] In September 2011, she made a return to London Tonight, fronting the programme in place of then lead anchor Nina Hossain.Kaplinsky then co-presented the first half of the second series in 2004 with Bruce Forsyth, when regular presenter Tess Daly went on maternity leave.[23] On 8 February 2011, Kaplinsky commented in a BBC radio interview on Steve Wright in the Afternoon that she and Bower had performed as disguised extras for the English National Ballet although she "had insisted that her name was not used in the programme".[25] In April 2018, Kaplinsky, her father and eight-year-old daughter, Angelica were seriously hurt when the boat they were holidaying in burst into flames off the Greek island of Corfu.[27] A Corfu Port Authority spokesman said: "The vessel suffered a mechanical failure which caused a fire in the engine room, which was immediately extinguished by the people on the boat."[33][34] In October 2018, Kaplinsky and Michael Sheen became vice presidents (an ambassadorial role) of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH).