Journalist and television presenter, who became best-known faces and voices in Scotland. Born Jackie Macpherson in Bellshill (North Lanarkshire), she was educated at Earnock High School in Hamilton (South Lanarkshire). Bird began her career at seventeen working on the teen magazine Jackie for D.C. Thompson in Dundee. She went on to work for newspapers and in radio before joining ITV's Television South as a reporter. In 1989, she joined BBC Scotland as an anchor of their daily news programme Reporting Scotland and remained in that role until 2019, their longest serving presenter. She has reported on major events including the Dunblane Massacre, the opening of the Scottish Parliament, the Lockerbie Air Disaster inquiry and the return of Rhona Martin and her Olympic medal-winning team to Scotland in 2002. Bird has also presented events such as Hogmanay Live.
Bird was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Glasgow in 2012. She lived for a time in Cumbernauld but now makes her home on the south side of Glasgow.
