Carol Vorderman

Vorderman was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire, the youngest of three children of a Dutch father, Anton Vorderman (1920–2007), and a Welsh mother, Edwina Jean Davies (1928–2017).

Her parents separated three weeks after her birth, and her mother took the family back to her home town of Prestatyn, Flintshire, North Wales, where Vorderman and her brother and sister grew up in a one-parent household.

Vorderman did not see her father again until she was 42.

Carol Jean Vorderman, (born 24 December 1960) is a Welsh broadcaster, media personality, and writer.

In 1970, her mother remarried, separating ten years later.

In 1978, aged 17, she began studying engineering at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

She left with a third-class degree, a result which she has described as having been "disappointing".

In her spare time, she was briefly a backing singer with friend Lindsay Forrest in the Leeds-based pop group Dawn Chorus and the Blue Tits, fronted by radio DJ Liz Kershaw during the early 1980s.

In the mid-1980s, Vorderman worked part-time in the Information Services Department of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, principally in the production of in-house video programmes.

Vorderman's mother noticed an advertisement in The Yorkshire Post asking for "a woman with good mathematical skills" to appear as co-host on a quiz show for the fledgling fourth terrestrial channel.

She submitted an application on behalf of her daughter, then aged 21.

Her career began in 1982 when she joined the Channel 4 game show Countdown, appearing on the show with Richard Whiteley from 1982 until his death in 2005, and subsequently with Des Lynam and Des O'Connor, before leaving in 2008.

Vorderman appeared on Countdown from the show's inception in 1982 until 2008.

Initially, Vorderman's only contribution to the show was the numbers game, and she formed part of a five-person presentation team, billed as one of the "vital statisticians" along with Linda Barrett.

However, over the following years, the team was pared down, and Vorderman began handling tiles for both the letters and numbers games.

Vorderman thus became a new type of game show hostess, revealing her intellectual ability by carrying out fast and accurate arithmetic calculations during the numbers game to reach an exact solution if neither contestant was able to do so.

Her lasting success on the show led to her becoming one of the highest-paid women in Britain, ultimately earning her an estimated £1 million per year.

During 1984–85, she made regular appearances on the Peter Levy show on Radio Aire, appearing mid-morning to read a story for pre-school children.

Vorderman's father remarried; his wife died in the early 1990s.

Vorderman was educated at Blessed Edward Jones Catholic High School in nearby Rhyl.

While appearing on Countdown, Vorderman began presenting other television shows for various broadcasters, including Better Homes (1999–2003) and The Pride of Britain Awards (1999–present) for ITV, as well as guest hosting shows such as Have I Got News for You (2004–2006) The Sunday Night Project (2006), and Lorraine (2011, 2018–2019, 2022).

Vorderman was honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to broadcasting in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2000.

She has also worked as a newspaper columnist and nominal author of educational and diet books.

Vorderman left the BBC in November 2023 following criticism of her social media activity, saying she would "not be silenced".

She joined LBC two months later, presenting her own show.

She has also appeared on reality television shows, including Strictly Come Dancing (2004), I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (2016) and The Great Celebrity Bake Off (2020), winning the latter show.

Since 2022, Vorderman has been a news reviewer for This Morning.

In June 2005, the producers of Countdown asked Vorderman if she wanted to fill the role of main presenter vacated by the recently deceased Richard Whiteley.

Vorderman declined, and a search for a new presenter began while the show went into a four-month hiatus.

In October 2005, Des Lynam replaced Whiteley and co-hosted with Vorderman.

Vorderman did not trace the Dutch side of her family until 2007 (as part of the BBC genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are?).

It was only then that she discovered that her father had been an active member of the Dutch resistance during the Nazi occupation.

He died while the programme was being filmed.

Her great-grandfather Adolphe Vorderman played a key role in the discovery of vitamins.

Vorderman initially found employment as a junior civil engineer at Dinorwig Power Station in Llanberis, Wales, and later as a graduate management trainee in Leeds.

In January 2007 Des O'Connor replaced Lynam while Vorderman continued to co-host the show.

On 25 July 2008, after 26 unbroken years with the show, it was announced that Vorderman was stepping down from Countdown.

She later said she had resigned after failing to agree terms for a new contract, and it was reported that she had been asked to take a cut of 90% from her previous salary, estimated as £900,000.

The group recorded, among other songs, a version of The Undertones' hit "Teenage Kicks" (one of the tracks Vorderman had to identify during the "intros round" when she appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks in December 2009; the series often includes questions from contestants' pasts).

She was a presenter on the ITV talk show Loose Women from 2011 until 2014.