Caron Keating

Caron Louisa Keating (5 October 1962 – 13 April 2004) was a British television presenter.

Born in Fulham, West London, aged 3 months her parents moved back to Northern Ireland, where she was raised. Her parents were television presenter Gloria Hunniford and BBC producer Don Keating, who died of heart disease in 1997, aged 61. Caron attended Methodist College Belfast, where she gained 8 'O' levels and 3 'A' levels. Caron was accepted to study at Bristol University where she graduated three years later aged 21 with a BA Honours Degree in English and Drama.

Keating's television career began in Northern Ireland where she presented The Video Picture Show, Channel One and the music programme Greenrock, but her big break undoubtedly came when she was selected to join the team of Blue Peter from 13 November, 1986.

Keating brought a new, 'trendy' image to the programme, and was extremely popular with both male and female viewers because of her looks and fashion-conscious image. She appeared on the programme alongside Peter Duncan, Janet Ellis, Mark Curry, Yvette Fielding, and John Leslie. Highlights of her Blue Peter career included a trip to Moscow in 1987 when perestroika was still in its fledging stages, swimming with sharks, abseiling down skyscrapers and standing strapped to the top of a light aircraft whilst it performed aerial acrobatics.

After four years, she left Blue Peter on 22 January 1990. Keating went on to present several other programmes including This Morning, before being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. Caron also appeared in a TV advert for So Good soya drink in 1999. Caron also presented We Can Work It Out in 1999.

After various conventional and alternative treatments, including a period away from her family on the Gold Coast, Australia and at a hospice in Switzerland, she died at the age of 41, on April 13 2004, at her mother's house in Sevenoaks, Kent.

Keating was married to Russ Lindsay, and the couple had two boys, Charlie and Gabriel. Lindsay remarried on 4 September, 2006 to television presenter Sally Meen.

The Caron Keating Foundation

Set up in Keating's memory, The Caron Keating Foundation is a fund-raising partnership set up to raise money to offer financial support to professional carers, complementary healing practitioners, and support groups dealing with cancer patients, as well as individuals and families who are affected by the disease. It will also financially help a number of cancer charities with their ongoing quest for prevention, early detection and hopefully an ultimate cure. It was set-up by her mother, TV presenter Gloria Hunniford and her two brothers Michael and Paul Keating. The foundation website is www.caronkeating.org

References

External links

• Caron Keating at the Internet Movie Database
• The Caron Keating Foundation official site
• Caron Keating presenter biography
• Blue Peter's Caron Keating dies - BBC obituary
• Interview with mother Gloria re Caron and the Foundation