Carol Vorderman

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Carol Jean Vorderman MBE (born 24 December 1960 in Bedford ^[1]) is an English television personality best known for being a long-standing co-presenter of Channel 4 game show Countdown. She was awarded an MBE in June 2000.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Writing career 4 Controversy 5 Personal life 6 Trivia 7 Videos and writing 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Early life

Vorderman grew up in a single parent household in Prestatyn, North Wales, after her family relocated. Her mother remarried in 1969 to an Italian national. Vorderman attended the Roman Catholic comprehensive Blessed Edward Jones High School.

In 1978, aged 17, she was accepted by Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge to read Engineering.

After graduation, her mother's second marriage had broken down, and the family were back in financial difficulties. Vorderman found work as a graduate management trainee, but it was her mother who saw a newspaper advertisement asking for a woman with good mathematical skills to appear as co-host on a quiz show for the fledgling fourth terrestrial channel - Jean even wrote out the application for Carol. [1]

[edit] Career

In 1982, at the age of 21, Vorderman made her name on Countdown first with Richard Whiteley from the show's inception in 1982 until Whiteley's death in June 2005. In October of the same year, Desmond Lynam replaced Richard, and co-hosted with Vorderman. In January 2007, Des O'Connor replaced Lynam, and Vorderman continues to co-host the show. Vorderman was a new kind of game show hostess, revealing her intellectual ability by carrying out fast and accurate mathematical calculations as part of the game. Her continued success on the show saw her become one of the highest-paid women in Britain, being paid £3 million per year.

Vorderman worked as a researcher and producer on many shows, specialising in science and educational programmes. Vorderman went on to present numerous other television programmes including the BBC's Tomorrow's World, but was dropped after she starred in a commercial for washing powder. BBC management claimed it was a conflict of interests and dismissed her from the show. Months later, they asked her to return to anchor the programme but she refused.

She was chosen to compère the world chess championship match between Gary Kasparov and Nigel Short in 1993.

In 1999, having been offered a large contract, Vorderman moved to ITV, going on to present numerous other television programmes including: The Pride of Britain Awards since year 2000 Stars and their Lives, winning 11 million audiences

• What Will They Think of Next
• Tested to Destruction
• How 2 on CITV
• the popular Better Homes which began in 1999 and spawned a spin-off Better Gardens

Vorderman was a newspaper reviewer on the last episode of Breakfast with Frost.

In 2005, Vorderman beat off other celebrities in ITV's Gameshow Marathon, winning the series.

Vorderman appeared as a guest on Have I Got News For You on 14 May 2004 and hosted the show on 26 May 2006. Carol presented the Channel 4 entertainment show The Friday Night Project on 11 August 2006.

Recently Carol has expanded her business empire launching a number or Sudoku products. In March 2007 Carol launched a brain training game called Carol Vorderman's Mind Aerobics together with BSkyB.

[edit] Writing career

Carol has also had columns in newspapers The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mirror.

She has written books on Detox diets. She is also a self-described sudoku addict since April 2005 when she wrestled a book of the puzzles from her 12-year-old daughter Katie during a vacation in the Caribbean. Vorderman has written numerous books of sudoku puzzles with help on how to tackle them. She has sold millions of sudoku books worldwide in less than a year, with almost a million being sold in the UK alone.

[edit] Controversy

She also received some criticism in the British press for "growing old disgracefully", appearing in revealing dresses at several awards show or other media events (this despite the fact that she was only around 40 at the time). On the other side of this coin is the general consensus that Vorderman represents perhaps the archetypal "thinking man's crumpet".

[edit] Personal life

Vorderman refused to meet or have contact with her estranged father until January 2002 when (according to the Daily Mail) she relented and the two were reconciled.

Vorderman was first married in 1985 at age 24 to Chris Mather, a naval officer and former rugby league international player, but the marriage only lasted twelve months.

Vorderman's second marriage was to management consultant Patrick King in 1990 at age 29. With King she had two children, Katie and Cameron. She separated from King in 2000.

After meeting at a Christmas party in 1999, Vorderman and Daily Mail columnist and PR consultant Des Kelly lived together in London from 2001. The couple also used Kelly's house in Glandore, West Cork. After 5 years together, Vorderman and Kelly separated in December 2006, announcing the amicable split in January 2007 ^[2]. Vorderman and her two children live in Bristol.

[edit] Trivia

• Vorderman was once a member of Mensa
• Third-class honours degrees are sometimes referred to as "Vordermans" by students in the UK.^{[citation needed]}
• Vorderman was a member of the "Nines Club" at Cambridge, so-named because members achieve a third in each of their three years of study (3+3+3=9). This has also become known as 'Doing a Vorderman'.
• Vorderman was briefly a backing singer in the Leeds-based pop group Dawn Chorus and the Blue Tits, fronted by radio DJ Liz Kershaw.
• Before the start of series two of Strictly Come Dancing in 2004, there were many who thought Carol Vorderman could walk off with the trophy, but she was the second celebrity to be voted off the competition partnered with Paul Killick.
• In 2003, Vorderman commented harshly on fashion gurus Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine, after they had called her an "overdone Eighties nightmare" and placed her in their list of the 20 worst-dressed celebrities. ^[3]

[edit] Videos and writing

• How Mathematics Works
• Carol Vorderman's Guide to the Internet
• Carol Vorderman's Guide to Maths
• Carol Vorderman's Pop Times Tables
• Carol Vorderman's Detox Diet
• Carol Vorderman's How To Do Sudoku, 2005
• Carol Vorderman's Massive Book Of Sudoku, 2005

[edit] References

1. ^ http://thecarolvordermanfan.tripod.com/id2.html
2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6298567.stm
3. ^ Vorderman comments on Trinny and Susannah

[edit] External links

• Remind4u Carol's Greeting Card Site
• Carol's Bum - The Carol Vorderman Fan Site - As spoken about on Frank Skinner Show
• Another Carol Vorderman Fan Site
• Carol's Tribute to Richard Whiteley