Top 66 Konnie Huq Quotes

My parents were first-generation immigrants. My mum wore a sari but at school and as a teenager and in my 20s I wanted to fit in.

When I was in the sixth form I presented a cable and satellite programme about music, television and video. I used to do public speaking competitions.

I was mindful that clothes, objects and items had all been designed and manufactured. Thought had gone into those processes, so to mindlessly treat everything without care or as disposable was disrespectful. Things should be valued.

The internet creates a mask and you are talking to people who you don’t necessarily know.

There were no small brown kids as the centre of the children’s fiction I grew up with.

About the only useful thing my economics degree taught me was that, in all decisions in life, you have to do a cost-benefit analysis.

My parents are proof that arranged marriages can work. It is a great part of my culture but I grew up in a completely different place, so I wouldn’t want anyone to arrange a marriage for me.

The brilliant thing about ‘Blue Peter’ is the variety of the stuff you do and the experiences that you have, just amazing experiences.

I’m all for education – in fact, I have spent my career extolling its virtues.

I don’t really worry about things, I’m too busy.

Getting the spot of ‘Blue Peter’ changed the path of my life.

Since I’ve left ‘Blue Peter’ I’ve presented all sorts of different things. I’ve done a music show, for instance, and ‘Blue Peter’ had music on it. I’ve done a politics show, but on ‘Blue Peter’ I interviewed the Prime Minister. I’ve done travel stuff where I’ve gone abroad, but ‘Blue Peter’ had that within it as well.

There’s enough wealth in the world that no one should go without.

I remember being in Vietnam in my early 20s, at the height of Lonely Planet’s fame, and all the travellers would converge on internet cafes to send emails back home. It was a great place to exchange tips and recommendations, so you actually interacted with people.

Never mess with other people’s kids. You will never win. It’s the child’s word against yours and they have parental reinforcements as back-up. You just can’t triumph.

And then I saw this article in ‘Time Out’ magazine for TV presenters, so I went along with my sisters and we did this audition. It was open auditions, it was just a fun day out, but there were maybe 600 people there or something. It was just crazy.

I’m trying to start reading books that you gain knowledge from in order to challenge myself more. As a rule, I tend to read easy reading/populist-type books, but I don’t feel like I’m learning enough.

I guess when you’re on ‘Blue Peter’ there’s that goody-two-shoes image which people find attractive.

An experience that shaped me happened early in my TV career when I filmed in Mozambique, Angola and Bangladesh for ‘Blue Peter’ and Comic Relief. Places with extreme poverty. When you see that first-hand as a young person, you take it with you for life.

West Wittering in Chichester is perfect for a short break and if I’ve got longer, Devon and Cornwall are my favourites places in Britain.

My husband Charlie says I get ready five minutes before I go out the door. I am one of those people who can’t do anything unless it’s imminent – that’s how I roll.

I’ve never been more terrified than when I learned how to paramotor. They attached this machine to my back, as if I was a stuntman in a James Bond movie, and I had to fly over all these trees and patches of concrete in Cirencester.

Food lovers tend to make life difficult for themselves on their travels. It’s like travelling first class, if your expectations are so high, you’re bound to be disappointed.

Growing up as the youngest daughter to immigrant parents, it was instilled in me from an early age to not be wasteful and to be respectful of money and possessions.

When I was growing up, I always felt a bit like I didn’t quite fit in, a feeling that perhaps still lingers in the background to this very day. I was the small brown girl in the big white suburb.

I remember as a kid liking long, funny words. And often being into things like that can be perceived as square. But actually, as we know now that we’re adults, it’s really cool. The more knowledge you have, the better.

Blue Peter’ scarred me for life. I was kayak-surfing in Cornwall and the waves were so strong it was more like white-water rafting. I had to hang on for dear life. At one point I let go and my hand was crushed on a rock.

We rip out a perfectly good kitchen worth thousands of pounds, only to replace it with another costing roughly the same. The old one has to be disposed of, the new one had to be made. From raw materials, factory processes and transportation the extra effort is substantial. Overcomplication.

Because my parents are Muslim, there’s no doubt they wished I would marry someone Muslim.

If you’re broke and you’re living on the street and you’re happy, you’re still winning compared to someone who is rich and depressed, because your mental wellbeing is still there.

By fermenting tiny single-cell organisms we will be able to synthesise all manner of foodstuffs in the future, everything from pasta to eggs, fish and meat. Small tweaks in the process will enable production of different proteins used to replicate food we already eat.

Forget quantitative easing – I’ve always thought the idea of injecting virtual money into the system is an accident waiting to happen.

As for other radio, I dip in and out of various channels depending on my mood.

I say throwaway, jokey things. When you’re young-looking and you are presenting something that has gravitas you can’t look down your nose, but when David Dimbleby does it, it’s OK.

Back in humanity’s hunter-gatherer days, you only ate meat if you’d recently made a kill, which required a huge amount of effort, and was therefore relatively rare. There’s a reason humans only have one set of incisors to rip our meat apart: we’re not supposed to eat the stuff at every meal.

I’ve worn a chainmail suit to swim with sharks, glided over Cirencester with a James Bond-style paramotor strapped to my back, eaten hippo steaks and had a bat dive down my bra. And all the while, I had to face the camera and smile.

When they do actually get pregnant, most expectant mothers understandably keep the whole thing a secret because of how fragile the first four months can be.

Economics is a good degree to have but the subject is very theoretical at Cambridge and I found it frustrating that you can’t apply a lot of the models to particular circumstances.

Me and my husband think the internet is a really positive thing. We know games that have taught our children problem-solving skills but that doesn’t mean we are going to say play ‘Call of Duty.’

My mum is your archetypal Asian mum, always feeding people. If there was no food in the cupboard, she’d still manage to rustle up a feast – Bangladeshi food such as pilau rice, curry and korma.

I’m lucky in that the media is much more freelancey. So I didn’t have that pressure that lots of people have if you jump off the ladder, then you get left behind.

I have surreal dreams, so much so that I can never make head nor tail of them.

Imagine owning a one million pound coin. Where would you put it? The pressure. I never even take my wedding rings off after the time I lost one for days, only to find it in a random trouser pocket.

I had an instamatic wind-on camera and remember buying the flashcubes and fixing on top of the frame. The flash credits were limited so you had to be careful not to waste any.

I used to watch TV in the days that I was on TV. But in that time, streaming has come along. So I can honestly say, I have no idea what’s on real-time TV.

A serious economic downturn will undermine women’s rights on multiple levels. And it is the women who are already the most disadvantaged, that will be hit hardest of all.

If, as statistics suggest, millennials’ diets are more plant-based than ever, and we continue to bring up our kids to eat less or no meat, the future could be bright – the future could be vegan.

Journalists know other journalists – that’s the only reason my engagement made it into the papers. I don’t think real people are interested – just the media, just Twitter!

Ethnic minority women generally have poorer outcomes from their pregnancy compared to white women.

I did this show for Sky called ‘King of the Nerds’, which was a reality show looking for the world’s biggest nerd, essentially, celebrating the geek, which is also what I’m about.

My parents are very proud that I was a ‘Blue Peter’ presenter and of me going to Cambridge to do economics.

At eight or nine I passed the exam for Notting Hill and Ealing High, a private school. I had an assisted place; I was always the one who, for financial reasons, didn’t go on the skiing trip or whatever.

The thing about local government is they want to hear what local people think, but for the most part, their systems are so long, dull and bureaucratic that people only get involved when there’s an issue they really care about.

My parents really wanted me to have an arranged marriage when I was younger, but I think they have updated a bit with the times.

Most people don’t go around talking about their miscarriages. It’s not really something you shout about. What’s more, people often feel embarrassed or even guilty about them.