Vanessa Feltz

Infobox journalist
name = Vanessa Feltz


caption =
birthname =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1962|02|21|df=y
birth_place = United Kingdom
death_date =
death_place =
education =
occupation = TV Presenter/Journalist
alias =
title =
family =
spouse = Michael Kurer (1985-1999),
domesticpartner = Ben Ofoedu
children = Allegra, Saskia
relatives =
ethnic = Jew
religion =
salary =
networth =
credits = Presenter of The Big Breakfast (Channel 4) Presenter of "Vanessa" (ITV) Columnist for The Daily Express Presenter of Vanessa's Real Lives

Vanessa Jane Feltz (born 21 February 1962) is an English journalist and broadcaster.

Biography

Early life

Vanessa Feltz was born in Islington and grew up in Totteridge. On her radio show she frequently refers to Totteridge as "the Beverly Hills of North London", and her middle-class Jewish background as like "growing up in "Fiddler on the Roof". Her father Norman was in the lingerie business [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/nov/29/broadcasting.g2 When more is more | Media | The Guardian] ] . Her mother Valerie (nee Ohrenstein) was a housewife who died from cancer at the age of 57 in 1995 [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_19980705/ai_n14481407/pg_2 Why I feel betrayed ... by my own father | Sunday Mirror | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] . She has one sister who runs a violin and roof repair shop in London [ [http://www.atelierviolins.org/ Violin repairs restorations custom made violins. Atelier Violins, London, England] ] . She was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, an independent school in North West London. She then went on to study English at Trinity College, Cambridge, England.

Personal life

Feltz married Michael Kurer, a surgeon, in 1985. They have two daughters, Allegra (born 1986) who is a trainee lawyer, and Saskia (born 1989), an undergraduate. Kurer left Feltz in 1999.

She is engaged to Ben Ofoedu, former lead singer of Phats and Small, whom she plans to marry during 2008.

She lives in St John's Wood in a house that was previously occupied by Reverend John Hugh Smyth-Piggott, and by Charles Saatchi, and which was featured in Sir John Betjeman's 1973 film "Metro-land". [http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/04/25/vanessa_home_history_feature.shtml]

During the break-up of her marriage, Feltz lost six stones in weight (38kg, 84 lbs) and reduced from a dress size 24 to a size 12, but she subsequently regained much of the weight. She has reported on her radio show that she has been slimming since April 2007, and has lost four and a half stones (29kg, 63 lbs).

Career

1980's and 90's

After graduating from Cambridge with a First Class Honours Degree, she moved from temping work to writing for "The Jewish Chronicle", then the Daily Mirror. She often specialised in sex advice, even writing for top shelf magazine "Men Only", and her sex tips for girls book called "What Are These Strawberries Doing on My Nipples? I Need Them For The Fruit Salad!" [ [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/075151005X Book on Amazon] ] . She also presented a Jewish radio show on BBC GLR (now BBC London 94.9).

She replaced Paula Yates on Channel 4 morning TV show "The Big Breakfast" presenting a regular item where she interviewed celebrities while in a bed. She also presented a show called "Value for Money" similar to the BBC's "Watchdog".

Her career peaked when she presented the ITV daytime television chat show "Vanessa" made by independent TV company, Anglia Television. She moved to the BBC to host a similar show, "The Vanessa Show", in 1998 in a reported £2 million deal, when demands for a doubling of her wages to £2.75m million fell on deaf ears. [ [http://www.myhampstead.co.uk/hampstead/celebs&gossip-vanessa_feltz.htm Vanessa Feltz ] ] ITV replaced her show with Trisha.

In 1999, her BBC television show was cancelled when it was revealed that some guests were actors from an agency. BBC One controller Peter Salmon said the bad publicity had effectively killed the show. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/365302.stm BBC News | Entertainment | Vanessa 'will be back' on BBC ] ]

2000's

Vanessa Feltz was a contestant on the first British version of "Celebrity Big Brother" in 2001, but was the second person evicted by public vote. This was after showing signs of stress when she scrawled on the house table with chalk and screamed an obscenity at the voice of Big Brother. Despite this Feltz is an active fan and commentator of Big Brother series. She has appeared on its spin-off shows "Big Brother's Big Mouth" and "Big Brother's Little Brother" on numerous occasions. It has been speculated that Vanessa's appearance on (and subsequent close association with) Big Brother actually helped revive her media career, rather than to destroy it.

In May 2003, she was voted 93rd [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/nov/29/broadcasting.g2 When more is more | Media | The Guardian, accesed 14 May 2008] ] on to the list of worst Britons in Channel 4's poll of the "100 Worst Britons", due to perceived media over-exposure and poor judgement when choosing television appearances. Vanessa appeared along such 'worst' Britons as Tony Blair (no. 1 worst), Queen Elizabeth II (no. 10), and Andrew Lloyd Webber (no. 38).

She made an appearance in a sketch in the first episode of the second series of the BBC comedy sketch show "Little Britain", playing a spokeswoman for fictional slimming club Fat Fighters. In 2004, she appeared in the second series of the reality TV show, "Celebrity Fit Club", in a bid to lose weight.

In recent years Feltz has been a regular guest on The Wright Stuff and presented two series of Cosmetic Surgery Live, both screened on Five.

Since late 2005, she has been presenting a three-hour radio show on BBC London 94.9, Monday to Saturday. She replaced previous host Jon Gaunt. The show is a phone-in on current topics, with occasional studio guests. She also writes a weekly column on her views on topical subjects which is published in the Tuesday "Daily Express" newspaper.

Her show has been criticised for constant right wing editorialising, with consistent and relentless references to right wing media such as the Telegraph, Mail and Times. This despite BBC policies designed to maintain editorial impartiality.Fact|date=September 2008

In December 2006 she made a comeback to ITV as the host of the talk show Vanessa's Real Lives, and she recently played herself in an episode of the BBC comedy drama series Hotel Babylon. This was followed in April 2007 by her participation in an episode of Channel 4's Celebrity Wife Swap, in which Vanessa moved in with magician Paul Daniels for one week, while his wife Debbie McGee moved in with Vanessa's fiance, Ben Ofoedu.She discussed the appearance on ITV1's 'Loose Women' programme, on 13th April, berating Daniels and discussing her relationship with Ofoedu.

On 22 September 2007 Vanessa Feltz and her Musician fiance, Ben Ofoedu won £150,000 for a Cancer Charity on the celebrity version of ITV's Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. Just over a year later Feltz won another £10,000 for Cancer Care as a victorious member of Anton Du Beke's team on BBC One gameshow Hole in the Wall.

Footnotes

External links

*imdb name | id=0271676 | name=Vanessa Feltz
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/radio/presenters/vanessa/ Profile at BBC London 94.9]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0v6irhiHAE Harry Hill Sketch about the "National Index of A Big Face" Featuring Feltz]