Last updated October 2008
Category: West TV
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Amanda Parr is a regular face on television screens across the West of England.
As a senior reporter for BBC One's Points West, she will either be out in the field, fronting reports, presenting in the studio, or off making programmes, many of which have celebrated the history, archaeology and natural history of the west.
Amanda has a passion for the past – and for the great outdoors.
She is closely allied with Bristol University, where she has spent the last few years working towards a Masters in Historical Archaeology.
Amanda has taken part in excavations, got to grips with field surveying and worked at some of the most challenging sites in the region.
On screen, she has presented alongside Alan Titchmarsh, combing the countryside for clues to our past in the acclaimed series, British Isles: A Natural History.
Amanda had another opportunity to cover some ground in the Seven Natural Wonders series which aired on BBC Two.
Seven Man-Made Wonders Of The West, which she also presented, followed soon after.
Originally from Kent, Amanda's early interest in history won her the top A-level score in the country from her examining board.
She went on to gain a first class degree in English at the University of Bristol, specialising in the stories of Arthurian legend, and the lives and writings of the Anglo-Saxons.
Bitten by the news bug, she went to London to study for a post-grad in Broadcast Journalism, at the same time working with the Breakfast With Frost team, BBC Radio 5 Live, ITN and in local radio.
And when the BBC offered her a news traineeship in Bristol, the move back west, she says, felt like coming home.
Her work with the BBC has been extensive; she has been a programme producer, camera woman, editor and a roving reporter, both in radio and on television.
She has also guest presented on Inside Out, co-anchored the politics show Points West Lobby, and regularly presents on Points West at all hours of the day and night.
Amanda lives in Bristol, where an infrequent compulsion to jog generally gives way to pit stops at local cafes.
She describes herself as a woefully inept but enthusiastic horsewoman, with a love of the theatre, literature, classical music and big Sunday lunches.
