Tilly Lockey

Summary

Tilly Lockey (born 7 October 2005) is a British social media personality and amputee known for her bionic arms developed by Open Bionics, which she has used since 2016. In 2021, she competed and went on to win the sixth series of the CBBC competition series Got What It Takes?.

Tilly Lockey
Lockey at the SingularityU The Netherlands Summit 2016.
Born (2005-10-07) 7 October 2005 (age 18)
TelevisionGot What It Takes?

Life and career edit

Lockey contracted meningococcal septicaemia as a baby in 2007, at the age of 15 months.[1] Despite her parents being told that she was likely to die, Lockey survived following a successful operation to have both arms and her toes amputated.[2]

Lockey was initially provided with simple prosthetics from the NHS. While researching 3D printing, Lockey's mother discovered Open Bionics, who were looking for a below-the-elbow amputee to trial new prosthetic arms.[3] Since being chosen in 2016, Lockey has used bionic arms developed by the company,[4] which enable her to perform actions such as picking up small objects and playing video games.[5][6] These arms are the first of their kind to be medically approved in Britain.[7]

In 2014, Lockey's custom-made bicycle was stolen; it was recovered four days later and two people were charged.[8][1]

One set of arms used by Lockey was based on the Deus Ex video game series.[9] In 2019, she received new custom arms designed by the team creating Alita: Battle Angel.[10]

Lockey has created and shared make-up tutorials online,[4] and will be presenting the children's news show FYI on Sky.[11] She featured in the video for Kate Nash's song Bad Lieutenant in 2019.[12]

In 2021, Lockey competed in the sixth series of the CBBC competition series Got What It Takes?. On 6 July 2021, she was announced as the winner of the series.[13]

In 2023 she hosted her own show at Sunderland Uni radio,[14] and in 2024 was hosting the "Tuesday Hometime" drive time show on Spark Sunderland Radio.[15]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Tilly Lockey's bike theft leads to two being charged". BBC News. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  2. ^ "Tilly, 12, gets the bionic hands she dreamed of". ITV News. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  3. ^ Peters, Alex (25 June 2019). "Tilly Lockey: Without my hands, I can do pretty much anything". Dazed Digital. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  4. ^ a b Li, Johanna (14 February 2019). "13-Year-Old Uses Her 3D-Printed Bionic Arms for Makeup Tutorials". Inside Edition. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Meningitis survivor Tilly Lockey gets bionic hands". BBC News. 25 April 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  6. ^ Gordon, Daniel (20 July 2018). "Pimped-up and ready to go". BBC News. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  7. ^ "How my bionic hands made me a normal teenager". ITV News. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  8. ^ "Tilly Lockey's stolen bike found". BBC News. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  9. ^ Forster, Katie (13 June 2017). "NHS launches world's first trial of 3D printed bionic hands for children". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  10. ^ "'Alita: Battle Angel' filmmakers gift new bionic arms to young amputee". Yahoo! News. 13 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  11. ^ Novak, Kim (10 September 2020). "'Bionic teen' Tilly Lockey on cheating death and being able to 'feel' her prosthetic hands as she lands Sky presenting job". Metro. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  12. ^ Shaffer, Claire (7 November 2019). "Kate Nash Pays Tribute to Amputee Tilly Lockey in 'Bad Lieutenant' Video". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  13. ^ "Tilly Lockey wins CBBC's singing contest Got What it Takes?". The Northern Echo. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Tilly Lockey - Singer and Radio Presenter". Media City UK. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  15. ^ Spark. "Tuesday Hometime – Spark". Retrieved 2024-04-15.

External links edit