Growing up living above the pub The Pineapple in Bolton, Sara Cox never imagined that she would soon be one of the BBC’s most sought-after stars. Yet fast forward five decades and now Sara is preparing to take on one of the most coveted jobs to date – fronting the Radio 2 Breakfast Show. Monday will see her take on the job after she was announced as Scott Mills’ replacement, following his axing over a historical allegation of serious sexual offences. Yet despite the gravitas surrounding the position, Sara isn’t overthinking her new role, declaring: ‘It’s huge, but I’m ready. I’m not nervous because I know I can do a good job. ‘I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I’ve been doing radio for 28 years now.’ Indeed, Sara has earned her stripes in the radio world, and one of the most recognisable voices in Britain after spending decades in the nation’s homes via the airwaves. Growing up living above the pub The Pineapple in Bolton, Sara Cox never imagined that she would soon be one of the BBC’s most sought-after stars (pictured in the Nineties) Yet fast forward five decades and now Sara is preparing to take on one of the most coveted jobs to date – fronting the Radio 2 Breakfast ShowYet Sara’s life could have turned out very differently, given she came to radio via an accidental modelling career. Post A-levels, Sara headed to Paris to see a bit of the world, where she was approached by a modelling scout. This led to her working with an agency in Manchester. They printed her name wrong on her card – her real name is Sarah, which her family and friends still use – but the public identity of Sara Cox stuck.A few years of modelling followed, including three months in New York, a month in Milan and five months in Seoul. It wasn’t exactly glamorous – the flatshare in South Korea had so many cockroaches she had to crush them with shampoo bottles – but the nightlife made up for it.While modelling, Sara also supported herself working as a barmaid at the Bolton pub, before eventually relocating to London after model bookers realised she was also blessed with an infectious personality and scored her first TV job presenting The Girlie Show on Channel 4 in 1996. As she became a known face on the party scene, Sara soon adopted the ‘ladette’ label, described by the Cambridge Dictionary as ‘a young woman who drinks a lot of alcohol, uses rude language, and behaves in a noisy way’.She led the British ladettes brigade, completed by Zoe Ball, Gail Porter, Sarah Cawood, Donna Air, Claire Gorham, Rachel Williams and Jayne Middlemiss, yet has always said she hated the title, because ‘they just extended the word “lad”‘. More TV gigs followed for Sara, including hosting The Big Breakfast, before she was snapped up by BBC Radio 1 in 1999 to host The Surgery with Mark Hamilton as well as the Saturday lunchtime show with Emma B.Blown away by her talents, BBC bosses announced just three months later that Sara would replace Zoe Ball as presenter of Radio 1 Breakfast. Model bookers realised she was also blessed with an infectious personality and scored her first TV job presenting The Girlie Show on Channel 4 in 1996 She led the British ladettes brigade, completed by Zoe Ball, Gail Porter, Sarah Cawood (left, in 1995) Donna Air, Claire Gorham, Rachel Williams, and Jayne MiddlemissInitially, her listening figures grew from 6.9 million to 7.8 million listeners – earning Radio 1 its largest breakfast audience ever. Yet by August 2002, however, numbers had dipped back under 7 million and by the following year The Daily Mail reported that she had been given 10 weeks to increase ratings, or to face replacement.While the BBC denied the report, just two months later it was announced that Sara was being replaced by Chris Moyles. By then she was reaching 6.6 million listeners. Sara hosted her final breakfast show in December 2003 before moving to the afternoon drivetime slot, and in 2004 she announced she was expecting her first child, daughter Lola, with first husband Jon Carter.While she was on maternity leave, Scott Mills, who was covering her, was given the slot full time, with Sara relegated to a weekend afternoon slot when she returned to the BBC much earlier than she would have liked after giving birth.Sara admitted she was disappointed at the time ‘because I’m ambitious and I’ve always wanted to get on,’ but adds that the job swapping is commonplace across BBC radio.On reflection she said the move 20 years ago allowed her to focus on parenting. ‘Looking back, the quieter times in my career have been more of a blessing than a curse…,’ she told The Times. ‘My children were really young, so I could look like I was a really good, hands-on mum. I could do all the nursery runs and all the school runs. I was on first-name terms with most of the zookeepers at London Zoo.’Sara carried on, but after remarrying company director Ben Cyzer and having two further children, Isaac and Renee, in her 30s, things seemed to be stalling.‘I think people thought I’d taken a career break to be a good mum. And I might have spun it to sound like that – “Ooh, yes, I put my career aside for the kids.” But that wasn’t really the truth – I just didn’t have a job,’ she previously told The Daily Mail.‘The thing about working in showbiz. Is that when your career’s faltering a bit, you can’t escape everybody else’s success. ‘Unless you don’t ever listen to the radio or watch telly again, you just see other people flourishing and launching new shows, and you can’t help being a bit [she does a deadpan, sarcastic voice], “Oh, great, well done.”’ When Zoe was on maternity leave she was replaced by Scott Mills on the R1 Drivetime show. Now she is replacing him on the R2 Breakfast show but they remain pals (pictured in 2014)Yet Sara was determined not to give up, and after reaching out to industry peers for advice – including Davina McCall, Jonathan Ross and Richard Madeley – who advised her to keep pushing, so she reached out to Radio 2, who offered her the drivetime slot. Now, at the age of 51, she is ready for the biggest job in her broadcast career, hosting Radio 2’s Breakfast Show.Of replacing Scott, Sara refused to comment on the allegations against her friend, telling The Times: ‘I completely understand why you’re asking but I know no more than you do about the whole thing.’It was announced in April that Sara would take over after Scott was sacked when it was discovered he had been the subject of allegations of ‘serious sexual offences’ against a teenage boy under 16. Sara and Scott have been friends and BBC colleagues for three decades, since they both started at Radio 1 within a year of one another in the late Nineties. Sara was a guest at Scott and husband Sam’s 2024 wedding.