Mary Kingston

Kingston grew up in the small seaside area of Inchydoney, the third eldest in a family of eight children. In 1981, after leaving primary school, she started attending the Sacred Heart Secondary School, Convent of Mercy, in nearby Clonakilty.

In college, she studied Communication studies and graduated with an Honours Degree. After leaving college, she joined Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) as a children's television presenter, and has worked there since. She was an outside broadcast presenter on early Saturday-morning TV show Scratch Saturday, she then presented The Works, a kids science programme, for four years where she became known for her catchphrase, distinguishable by her regional accent: "Are you laughing?". She was a regular on The Den before hosting The Disney Club and Mary K in The Loft on Sunday mornings. For the next five years she has presented The Children of Ireland Awards with the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. In 2003, she took part in Celebrity Farm on RTÉ. In 2005, she took part in The Restaurant, her star studded performance is one of her proudest moments.

Kingston has authored a children's book, Fantastic Far-Flung Facts for Fun. The book describes her journey from Africa to Asia to South America to Madagascar, it's a compilation of the many Fantastic facts she learned along the way, it includes hundreds of the photos Kingston took and endorses her sentiment "Leave only footprints, take only memories .........and photos!"

She has travelled extensively, and holds a PADI Open Water Scuba Diving licence.

She has been involved in charity work for a number of organisations involved in the welfare of children and animals. She has spent time working with AIDS children in a reconstructed modern hospital in Bucharest, Romania, called Dr Victor Babes. She is the junior patron for the Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA).

• Mary Kingston - In 10 brief lines, facts compiled on RTÉ.ie page for The Den
• Biography on RTÉ.ie page for TV programme Celebrity Farm
• Far-Flung Facts for Fun, Mary's 2004 children's book.