Fern Britton

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Fern Britton
Born	17 July 1957 (1957-07-17) (age 50) Ealing, London
Occupation	Television presenter
Spouse	Phil Vickery

Fern Britton (born July 17, 1957 in Ealing, London) is an English television presenter. She currently co-hosts ITV1's daytime television show, This Morning.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Presenting 2.2 Other work 3 Personal life 4 References 5 External links

[edit] 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.

[edit] Career

[edit] Presenting

After working with a touring theatre company, Britton started her broadcasting career in 1979 at Westward Television in Plymouth, the then-incumbent ITV regional company, as a continuity announcer and 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 where she became the BBC's youngest-ever national news presenter.^[1] She then went on to work at TVS, co hosting the award winning news programme Coast to Coast as well as Coast to Coast People, The Television Show and Magic Moments.

Britton 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) 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, she was the host of the Pride of Britain Awards. Britton has also appeared twice as a panellist 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, she 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 television magazine show This Morning along with Phillip Schofield. The two are famous 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.^[2] 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 organised a mini-celebration for Britton's 50th birthday. From 10 December 2007, Britton went on a secret trip to Basra for four days to broadcast behind-the-scenes footage of the lives of the troopers there.

In 2007, Britton presented her own nostalgic ITV1 Saturday night series called That's What I Call Television. In each show, she was joined by a celebrity co-host who selected their favourite TV moments from the 1980s, and then re-united some of the original stars of selected shows. Julian Clary was her first co-host, followed by Matthew Kelly on the second show, and finally Bradley Walsh for the third. In December 2007, a Christmas edition was broadcast with co-host Ronnie Corbett, and a week later another was broadcast this time with Desmond Lynam. On January 12, 2008, Britton won on the first episode of the television comedy series Thank God You're Here, presented by Paul Merton.

[edit] Other work

In 1988, Britton took part in a Cinderella pantomime where she played the title role.

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 slim 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 in 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 plus tips for busy cooks on food preparation. In October 1999 Britton released her second book Winter Treats and Summer Delights (Andre Deutsch).

[edit] Personal life

Britton is the daughter of the actor Tony Britton and the half-sister of actor Jasper Britton. Her husband is celebrity chef Phil Vickery, with whom she lives at Holmer Green in Buckinghamshire with children, twins Jack and Harry (born 1994) from Briton's first marriage), Grace (born 1996) and Winnie (born 2001) from her second marriage..

Britton had been criticised in celebrity magazines and newspaper columns about her weight following publication of photographs of her on holiday wearing a swimming costume. Britton responded in late 2005 saying "I would rather be big and happy than on a diet and miserable". On 31 May 2008 Britton revealed that her weight loss of 3 stones over the previous two years was due in part to gastric banding surgery.^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Fern Britton at itv.com
• Fern Britton at the Internet Movie Database

Media offices
First	Host of Ready Steady Cook 1994–2000	Succeeded by Ainsley Harriott
Preceded by Coleen Nolan and Twiggy	Host of This Morning 2001–present with John Leslie (2001–2002) Phillip Schofield (2002–present)	Incumbent