Kate Bottley


The Reverend Kate Bottley is a Church of England minister in North Nottinghamshire. She is noted for her part-time roles as a journalist, media presenter and reality television star. She appears frequently on British radio and television as well as in newspapers.

Early life and education

Kate Stevenson was born in 1975 in Sheffield, England. She was educated at Walkley Primary School, Myers Grove School and at Tapton School, both state schools in Sheffield. She fell in love at a young age with the son of a local vicar and this led to her interest in the Church of England.
Bottley studied secondary religious education with Qualified Teacher Status from 1993 to 1997 at Leeds Trinity & All Saints and then trained to be a religious education teacher in secondary schools. From 1997–2000 she worked as an RE teacher at Ecclesfield Secondary School. From 2000–05 she was head of religious education at Yewlands Technology College in Grenoside.
She trained for ordination by being a vicar's personal assistant at St Mark's Church, Grenoside, and then at studying at St John's College, Nottingham.

Media career

Newspapers

Bottley has written for The Guardian, The Independent, The Times Educational Supplement and Radio Times, on topics of religious faith, television and education.

Radio

Bottley has been a guest contributor on BBC Radio 2's "Pause for Thought" on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show and presented the station's The Sunday Hour programme from 2017. From February 2018, with Jason Mohammad, she began presenting Good Morning Sunday. She has presented "Prayer for the Day" on BBC Radio Four.

Reality television

Bottley has gained most fame appearing on Channel 4's Gogglebox with her family, Celebrity Mastermind and Celebrity MasterChef.
Channel 4 approached her to appear on Gogglebox following her involvement in a viral video recorded at a wedding in 2013, where she officiated and danced to Kool & the Gang's "Celebration". The video garnered more than 8 million views on YouTube. Bottley appeared on Gogglebox from 2014 to 2016, over five series.

Religious television

Bottley has appeared on BBC One's Songs of Praise. In 2016, she presented BBC One's main Easter programme.

Gameshows

Bottley has appeared on Channel 4's 8 Out of 10 Cats quiz show as a panellist and on BBC1's Impossible celebrity version. In November 2019 she appeared on and won Richard Osman's House of Games.

Ordained ministry

Bottley was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 2008 by George Cassidy and as a priest in 2009. She served her curacy at St Andrew's Church, Skegby in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham between 2008 and 2011. From 2011 to 2016, she was chaplain to North Nottinghamshire College, a further education college in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. She also ministered at St Mary and St Martin's Church, Blyth, where she was priest-in-charge from 2011 to 2013 and vicar from 2013 to 2016. Since 2016, she has been a non-stipendiary associate priest in the Retford Area Team Ministry.

Personal life

Kate Stevenson married Graham Bottley in May 1998 in Sheffield. Together they have two children: one son and one daughter.