Fern Britton

Infobox Person
name = Fern Britton

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image_size = 240px
birth_name = Fern Britton
birth_date = birth date and age|1957|7|17|df=yes
birth_place = Ealing, Middlesex, England
nationality = British
known_for = presenting "This Morning"
employer = ITV
occupation = Television presenter
home_town = Bristol
spouse = Phil Vickery (2000-present)
Clive Jones (?-2000)
children = 4
parents = Tony Britton & Ruth Britton
relations = Cherry Britton, Jasper Britton

Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957 in Ealing) is an English television presenter, currently known as the main co-presenter on the British magazine programme, This Morning, alongside Phillip Schofield.

Early life

Britton was born in Ealing, Middlesex to the English actor, Tony Britton and English mother Ruth Britton. She is the younger sister of scriptwriter Cherry Britton and older half sister of the actor, Jasper Britton. Spending most of her early life in Bristol, GloucestershireFact|date=July 2008, she then went on to launch her career on BBC South West news.

Britton attended Dr Challoner's High School at Little Chalfont and the Central School of Speech and Drama where she trained in Stage Management.Fact|date=July 2008

Career

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.cite web| url = http://www.express.co.uk/features/view/45332/Fern-The-Great-Britton | title = FERN: THE GREAT BRITTON | accessdate = 2008-06-01 | date = 2008-05-22| publisher = "Sunday Express"] 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. [" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1644878.stm Fern brightens This Morning figures] " — news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved February 2, 2007.] 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.

In April, 2008 Fern and her colleague Phillip Schofield presented a revival of the hit ITV show "Mr and Mrs", this time it was an 'All Star' version, airing as a six-part series on Saturday nights.

Other work

In 1988, Britton took part in a Cinderella pantomime where she played the title role.Fact|date=July 2008

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).

Personal life

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 Britton's first marriage and Grace (born 1996) and Winnie (born 2001) from her second marriage.Fact|date=July 2008

In May 2008, Fern announced that she had had a gastric band fitted to help her lose weight. She reported that she was very pleased with the band, but urged others not to follow her example. In a statement she said, "Many people are interested in my weight loss. As interest is so high, I am making public that I had a gastric band operation two years ago. I did this for myself and I would not wish to influence others to do the same. For me it has worked and I am pleased with the results." [ [http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2008/06/01/tv-s-fern-britton-yes-i-ve-had-gastric-band-to-lose-weight-98487-20591341/ TV's Fern Britton: Yes, I've had gastric band to lose weight - mirror.co.uk ] ] [ PMR - [http://petermusgrove.com/2008/06/09/men-prefer-fatty-fern-claims-survey/] ] She was later defended by Paul O'Grady on his Channel 4 show. She is frequently sent a perfectly folded pair of stockings from a secret admirer.cite web| url = http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article49330.ece | title = Curvy Fern's Navy undies | accessdate = 2008-08-27 | date = 2006-05-24| publisher = "The Sun"]

References

External links

*itv.com|id=lifestyle/thismorning/backstage/presenters/fernbritton.html|title=Fern Britton
*Imdb name|id=0110176|name=Fern Britton