MELANIE WALKER is probably best known for her derring-do and high flying stunts as 'Treasure Hunt's Action girl, which was on air in the late eighties and early nineties, for which she was nominated in the Best Presenter category at the Artes in 1989.

During – and since – Melanie was also an anchor presenter on GMSA, NNTV's "Bonus Sport", various programmes on Supersport, including Two Wheels, Pitch & Putter and SA Rugby's Make it your Game, and the anchor for e-tv's "Dance Sport". She is still very much involved in the television and movie industry, these days behind the scenes as a producer, assistant director (on movies like "The Ghost and The Darkness"), scriptwriter, voice-over artist – whatever!!

She is also fully into academia, with three degrees under her belt, and a fourth (LLb) in progress, and is to be found redesigning gardens, as a newly qualified Landscape designer, and organising large expo's for the cycling fraternity.

In her days as Miss Hillbrow (then the foremost beauty competition in South Africa), she founded the Hillbrow Action Group and got involved with charity organisations – World Vision, the Twilight Children, Streetwise, SPCA, the Guide Dogs Association, the Kidney Foundation, READ, the Remedial foundation and the National Cancer Association, along with Reach for a Dream.

Melanie trained in all aspects of radio and radio presentation at SABC's 5fm in 1991. She was also nominated to stand for the Democratic Party on two occasions – 1989, Hillbrow Ward; and in the 1994 General Elections, she was 21st on the National List, as well as being the PRO for the Democratic Party Environmental Committee for a couple of years.

Her abiding passion (other than for her twins, photojournalist husband Kim Ludbrook, plants and Ducati motorcycles) is music, music, music. Very involved in the music scene through the 80's and 90's, to the point of putting up posters all over town in the middle of the night for Tribe After Tribe, Ellamental and EMI!! She has always wanted to be on radio, playing the type of music she'd like to listen to, so Radio Today's "Rock Fest" is the perfect place to be!!!



AND ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
Melanie's alternative CV

In answer to the question – are there any significant experiences you have had, or accomplishments you have realised, that have helped to define you as a person? – I have the following to say:

I am a dynamic figure, often seen hanging from helicopters, scaling walls and crushing ice, amongst many other feats of derring-do. I have been known to remodel large buildings in Gauteng on the few lunch-breaks I have, making the buildings more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Mozambican refugees, I write award-winning poetry, I manage time efficiently.

Occasionally, I have been known to tread water for three days in a row. I woo men with my sensuous and god-like rain stick playing, I can pilot large motorcycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty Minute Crunchies in twenty. I am an expert in multi-colour knitting, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of tequila, I once single-handedly defended a small village in Kwa-Zulu Natal from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass saxophone, I was scouted by the all-girl sailing team on the Cape to Rio, I am the subject of numerous documentaries and magazine articles. When I'm bored, I build large Native American Tipis in my garden. I enjoy urban bungi-jumping. On Wednesdays, after work, I repair cars free of charge.

I am an abstract performance artist, a wool analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of short satin eveningwear. I don't perspire. I am now a private citizen, yet I still receive fan mail. Last summer, I toured the Cape with a travelling centrifugal-force demonstration. I score well over 400 in two player Scrabble.

My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Little children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets and coffee mugs at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read "Paradise Lost", "the Fountainhead" and all "The Rings of Power" in one day and still had time to redesign the inside of my house that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the SAS. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a hammock. While gambling in Mauritius with the vice-President of the Seychelles, I negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a roulette table. I have been known to astound and confuse people with the depth of my love and my knowledge of the Kama Sutra. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact Origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life, but forgot to write it down. (Actually, it's forty two, if my memory serves…) I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a tea strainer and a hot plate.

I breed prize-winning Parkmore prawns. I have won bullfights in Pamplona, cliff-diving competitions in Uvongo, and spelling bees at Yale. I have managed to weave the tapestry of the world using a pair of chopsticks and some hair. I have discovered the true meaning of Zen and the art of fly-fishing. I know that if you can dream it, you can be it.

I have tamed dragons, dived with Great Whites, delivered a baby. Riding Appaloosas western style while roping steers has become a cinch. I have taken people on magical mystery tours in Ancient Greece and the Eastern Cape, been nominated to Parliament and saved some of the world's finest dunes.

I have played Ophelia and the fool, have performed ingrown toenail surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

(But have not yet been in a submarine, been to the moon, divorced, discovered a cure for AIDS, written a beautiful song, parachuted or died.)