{{Short description|English tv and radio reporter (b.1966)}} {{Use British English|date=November 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox person |name = Tom Heap |image = |image_size = |caption = |birth_name = Thomas John Gillespie Heap |birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1966|01|03}} |birth_place = Hertford, Hertfordshire, England |death_date = |death_place = |other_names = |known_for = ''Countryfile'' presenter (BBC One)<br />''The Climate Show'' presenter (Sky News)<br />''Panorama'' reporter (BBC One)<br />''Costing the Earth'' reporter (BBC Radio 4)<br />Rural Affairs Correspondent for BBC News<br /> |education = Oakham School, Rutland<ref name="doe">{{cite web|url=https://oo-online.oakham.rutland.sch.uk/pdfs/DoE_Award_at_Oakham_School.pdf|title=The Duke of Edinburgh's Award at Oakham School 1960–2011|work=Oakham School, Rutland|date=21 May 2011|access-date=19 August 2014|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212827/https://oo-online.oakham.rutland.sch.uk/pdfs/DoE_Award_at_Oakham_School.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|30}}<br />Hills Road Sixth Form College |employer = BBC News, Sky News |occupation = Journalist, presenter }}
'''Tom Heap''' (born 3 January 1966 in Hertford, Hertfordshire)<ref name="Companies House">{{cite web |title=Annual Return 2014 for Checkered Shirt TV |url=https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/LreRDXr9o9GeRQS811ONxYEy_27xhShqyXKLBZjlQ4o/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3GWKGECWJ%2F20240217%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240217T160456Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEPz%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJGMEQCIHNeBazBAoC0h3K6W7Dgt3m9KmqcewH0JAkazbOURYlhAiAJAGLK6bbmnsF%2FP8XphpZDCQls8G9sKWWVjEnmyKPyVirEBQjV%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F8BEAQaDDQ0OTIyOTAzMjgyMiIMVDmiTwGqCIFS8Bg0KpgFDaaNvFvy2Utc0Ug9Sm%2BCRHFN%2FnhtpI86m5nZtBHzNkc1dlIwqh%2Bo%2BUJwLDhEfY%2B5HTeVJQC4fp%2Ft9C5v4uy%2BsChsPBQelcVixWSyxjzjRloGS1UrPfhvMD0rvm62SymRkxpLadUsf3XHLJKZjt7XzCm%2BVOPAOg0yPC7J8gJfWzq3raVomiC6GN255pHduUr05hTvX6DVrXVqumKiXw4CuUoZdjAqRk02gbyEATwMVYGGtCYdwC%2BeyTY7%2FK%2FcE3E%2F1DgnIpiKwxRyb02FCy9LGR1yyBSnUWSVlTn%2FtLhmx%2Fh2EvY66lsueP3546R1WidAUZhX1ssBqlemqFDdMNquV9%2FJjscfl%2B8O9exP8bo1TNzEr4%2B%2F3Bg6aSy6MhiycWW8MVAH1bkfNkDeedSaNcBdTPGNzxoFUBwv%2FZ2AbBOpyEH2WMqE46QbaH8N%2BIN5qjfZOQDiIdlWbk0kdL%2BM8OrkS8f%2B0B771QBaVJ6CmKnN54CN3G2sDF%2FXuqgFEn0ZdJlyqV%2FBooe8Cvm57yBzUosPcm2lD9WiLLbOUTgctrq%2FQYXRZdRsNXmSQW4XnHDbfl5OZIJYIDBaOfqL7qx9xaQnxu9Sbupy9XuZqyklIS3xWbcDBwNXfgNg4faMsVJlgD3GNcCG7EZzvGJxTkiO23utTm8D5m94v%2Bj9dUmVlcG%2BQ1iauFfZ5nPXdr0xMpgPle%2BIcRdvqVKr2M52WNNxaJKv4gvnABNtaxKicW9cY4jH7WwXNstjHTIyOf9fY%2BPEc9y7obayW0aTGA%2FoulD5hlbeqH9vc74cEZM1R21JvjGG%2B3lfxZftcjAt%2BVxYEZ3MJq320hcFcjWqyawGNx6eGhmddhFxMt%2Bf6HnbQVvAjvVvkM77%2FfwPoJJHGDC0ucKuBjqyAcgwPuf2ZL0xuao5rEtUQbDcJ7Cz7HJyevqUG1PQVZkrlefbTZfdlHmR4X5NEUbVgVZXqWAztnlA%2B71Mre1JEY2WfNohh5U75fbhm1qX%2FAEaxpx%2Bbc89oGq5Myh0XgiZFk99G0fVrGMXsJtVeYGS6R7e0kVw1EJi9UdtBhMiXhsT9jq46Hk0W0FfeG1SjkKiy81Ege8GKCc7OXfAUZlO4TgzjPrAZ1iTlPFqVdRjxulyxxE%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D%22companies_house_document.pdf%22&X-Amz-Signature=3f98abc4d1a7e4093a1b7ae4e26fd4726f2624f827a1862e96647709b1383ad6|publisher=Companies House |access-date=2024-02-17}}</ref> is an English television and radio reporter and presenter best known for his contributions to the BBC One programme ''Countryfile'', the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Costing the Earth'' and ''The Climate Show'' on Sky News.
==Early life== Heap is the son of John Heap, a former scientific adviser who became the head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Polar Regions Section (from 1975 to 1992), and Margaret Grace Gillespie Spicer, known as 'Peg',<ref name=Telegraph>{{cite news |title=Obituaries: John Heap |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1513269/John-Heap.html |url-access=subscription |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=18 March 2006 |access-date=24 July 2022}}</ref> the daughter of Captain Sir Stewart Spicer, 3rd Baronet, of the Royal Navy. He has two sisters.<ref name=Telegraph/>
==Education== Heap was educated at Oakham School, a boarding and day independent school in the market town of Oakham in Rutland in central England, where he was trained to abseil by the Lieutenant M.B. Rochester of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF),<ref name="doe" />{{rp|30}} and received a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award in 1980.<ref name="doe" />{{rp|100}}
==Career== Heap began his broadcasting career with Sky News as a sound mixer. He then joined a News Trainee scheme with BBC News and worked on the ''Today'' programme, the BBC News 24 channel and ''Panorama''. He became a correspondent specialising in and around rural affairs, science and the environment and took on a newly created role as the Rural Affairs Correspondent for BBC News. In around 2013 he reported for the BBC live from the Khumbu Icefall on Mount Everest with the broadcasting team covering the 50th anniversary of the conquest of the mountain.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/1WbsTktL0P2rJVXZ0GJdn0L/tom-heap|publisher=BBC|work=Panorama|title=Our reporters {{!}} Tom Heap|access-date=24 July 2022}}</ref> After making contributions to ''Countryfile'', in around April 2012 he took over the investigative reporter role on the programme from John Craven.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.fwi.co.uk/farm-life/countryfile-s-tom-heap-promoted-as-investigative-reporter|work=Farmers Weekly|title=Countryfile's Tom Heap promoted as investigative reporter|first=Philip|last=Case|date=4 March 2012|access-date=24 July 2022}}</ref> In 2014 he interviewed Princess Anne in this role.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Princess-Anne-s-Countryfile-comments-gassing/story-20917244-detail/story.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140409220905/http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Princess-Anne-s-Countryfile-comments-gassing/story-20917244-detail/story.html|work=Western Daily Press|first=Jeff |last=Wells |title=Princess Anne's Countryfile comments on gassing badgers and GM food stoke highly charged debate|date=5 April 2014|archive-date=9 April 2014}}</ref> Since 2022, Heap has presented ''The Climate Show'' on Sky News.
==Family== Heap married Tammany Robin Stone in 1992, and lives in Napton on the Hill near the market town of Southam in Warwickshire, south of the city of Coventry. They own the media company Checked Shirt TV.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07946576/officers|work=Companies House|title=CHECKED SHIRT TV LIMITED {{!}} People|access-date=24 July 2022}}</ref>
During an edition of ''Countryfile'' screened in November 2014, it was revealed that Heap is the great-nephew of Olympic medallist and soldier Thomas Gillespie who was killed in action at La Bassee, France, in October 1914, aged 21.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b04ph5v9|work=BBC Countryfile|title=Countryfile: World War One Special|date=9 November 2014|access-date=24 July 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|1648186}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Heap, Tom}} Category:1966 births Category:English reporters and correspondents Category:BBC newsreaders and journalists Category:Living people Category:People educated at Oakham School Category:People from Hertford Category:Sky News newsreaders and journalists Category:Television personalities from Hertfordshire