FERN BRITTON

'Fern Britton' (born July 17, 1957 in Ealing, London) is an English television presenter. She currently co-hosts the daytime television show, ''This Morning''.

Contents

Early life

Career

Presenting

Other work

Personal life

References

External links

Early life

Britton attended Dr Challoner's High School at Little Chalfont and the Central School of Speech and Drama where she trained in Stage Management.

Career

Presenting

After working with a touring theatre company she started her broadcasting career in 1979 at Westward Television in Plymouth, the then-incumbent ITV regional company, as a newsreader on the nightly local bulletin Westward Diary. Around the time that Westward lost its franchise in 1981, Britton moved to the local BBC headquarters as a presenter with ''Spotlight'' in the South West before moving to BBC One's ''News After Noon'', becoming the BBC's youngest ever-national news presenter. She then went on to present with TVS, hosting ''Coast to Coast'', ''Coast to Coast People'', ''The Television Show'' and ''Magic Moments''.
She has since worked on a variety of programmes including Carlton Television's ''After Five'', BBC's ''Breakfast Time'', GMTV, London News Network's ''London Tonight'', and as a guest reporter for BBC One’s ''Holiday''. She also appeared in the first two series of ''The Brian Conley Show''. In 1994, Britton presented the popular television cookery gameshow ''Ready Steady Cook'' which she continued to do until 2000, when chef Ainsley Harriott took over. In 2002, Britton was the host of the Pride of Britain Awards. She has also appeared twice on the satirical panel show, ''Have I Got News for You'', which she later guest presented on April 27, 2007. In 2006, UK DJ Shitmat named a song after her, titled ''The Fern Britton Experience''. This Track can be found on the album 'Hang The DJ`.
In 2006, Britton co-presented the reality television show ''Soapstar Superstar'', and in the same year co-hosted the British Soap Awards. She has also made a guest appearance on the comedy show ''Extras''. On May 3 2007, Britton hosted the Classical BRIT Awards at the Royal Albert Hall and she also co-hosted the British Soap Awards 2007 with Phillip Schofield.
Currently, Britton co-hosts the popular magazine television show ''This Morning'' along with Phillip Schofield, who are infamous for their outbursts of laughter and giggling. She has hosted ''This Morning'' since 1999. When Britton joined the show, ''This Morning'' saw viewing figures rise considerably.^[1] Since Britton and Schofield began presenting ''This Morning'', the show has won the TV Quick Award for Best Daytime Viewing in both 2003 and 2004, and a National Television Award for Most Popular Daytime Show in 2004. On July 13, 2007, whilst Britton was presenting ''This Morning'', members of her family appeared on the set after the show had organized a mini-celebration for Britton's 50th birthday. September 3, 2007 marked Britton and Schofield's 5th anniversary together presenting ''This Morning''.

Other work

In 1988, Britton took part in a Cinderella pantomime where she played as the main character Cinderella.
Britton has appeared as herself in advertisements for Ryvita Minis. The adverts began with Britton consuming some Ryvita Minis with her head superimposed on the body of a skinny woman in her dressing room. Someone would then come in and dress Britton in a fat suit, before she went on to present television. She continued to appear in the advertisements in 2007, which brought the new catchphrase "Britton loves Ryvita."
March, 1998 saw the launch of Britton's first book, ''Fern’s Family Favourites'' published by Andre Deutsch, written with cook and home economist Susie Magasiner. The book is a collection of sixty of Britton's favourite recipes and tips on preparing food for the busiest of cooks. In October, 1999 Britton released her second book ''Winter Treats and Summer Delights'' (Andre Deutsch).

Personal life

Fern is the daughter of the actor Tony Britton and the half-sister of actor Jasper Britton. Her current husband is celebrity chef Phil Vickery with whom she lives at Holmer Green in Buckinghamshire with their children, thirteen-year-old twins Jack and Harry (from Fern's first marriage), ten year-old Grace and six-year-old Winnie.
Recently Fern has been criticised in celebrity magazines and newspaper columns about her weight and body image. This began after photographs of her emerged on holiday in a swimming costume. Fern hit back at the abuse she received in late 2005 saying "I would rather be big and happy than on a diet and miserable". Many people however believe that she is a good model for larger women, like Dawn French. Some magazines continue to refer to her as "sexy".
On April 14 2007, according to ''The Sun'', Britton was voted the "UK’s favourite big and beautiful celebrity", where she described herself as a "jolly size 16" and is a strong believer in healthy eating, but admits she is not a follower of diets.^[2]

References

1. ''Fern brightens This Morning figures'' — news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved February 2, 2007.
2. Telly Fern voted a great Britton — thesun.co.uk. Retrieved April 16, 2007.

External links

★

★