Vanessa Feltz was born in
IslingtonIslington is the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district in London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, London, and grew up in
TotteridgeTotteridge is an area of the London Borough of Barnet in north London, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land situated 8.20 miles north north-west of Charing Cross....
. 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 RoofFiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem...
". Her father Norman was in the lingerie business.
At 10 years old, her first kiss was with DJ
Pete TongPeter "Pete" Tong is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is known worldwide by fans of electronic music for hosting programmes such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for his record label FFRR Records, and for...
, then 12 years old, during a family holiday in Majorca.
Her mother Valerie (née Ohrenstein) was a housewife who died from cancer at the age of 57 in 1995.
Family and early life
Vanessa Feltz was born in
IslingtonIslington is the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district in London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, London, and grew up in
TotteridgeTotteridge is an area of the London Borough of Barnet in north London, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land situated 8.20 miles north north-west of Charing Cross....
. 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 RoofFiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem...
". Her father Norman was in the lingerie business.
At 10 years old, her first kiss was with DJ
Pete TongPeter "Pete" Tong is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is known worldwide by fans of electronic music for hosting programmes such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for his record label FFRR Records, and for...
, then 12 years old, during a family holiday in Majorca.
Her mother Valerie (née Ohrenstein) was a housewife who died from cancer at the age of 57 in 1995. She has one sister who runs a violin and roof repair shop in London. She was educated at
Haberdashers' Aske's School for GirlsHaberdashers' Aske's School for Girls is a British independent school in Elstree, near Borehamwood, in the county of Hertfordshire. Often known as "Habs" or "Habs Girls", to distinguish it from the neighbouring Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, the school was founded in 1875 by The Haberdashers'...
, an independent school in North West London. She then went on to study English at
Trinity College, CambridgeTrinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 160 Fellows ....
, England.
Personal life
Feltz married Michael Kurer, a
surgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a person who performs surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such to remove a diseased organ or to repair a tear or breakage. Surgeons may be medical doctors,...
, in 1985. They have two daughters, Allegra (born 1986) and Saskia (born 1989). Kurer left Feltz in 2000 and they divorced the same year.
During her breakup with Kurer, Feltz lost four stones in weight with the help of fitness instructor Dennis Duhaney. After a six-year relationship with Duhaney, Feltz met Anglo-Nigerian singer
Ben OfoeduBen Ofoedu , is a Nigerian/British singer-songwriter, most famous for being the former lead singer of the band Phats and Small.-Music career:...
in 2006. They became engaged in December 2006, and their wedding was originally planned for late 2007.
She lives in
St John's WoodSt John's Wood is a district of north-west London, England, in the City of Westminster, and at the north-west end of Regent's Park. It is approximately 2.5 miles north-west of Charing Cross. Once part of the Great Middlesex Forest, it was later owned by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem...
, London, in a house previously occupied by Reverend John Hugh Smyth-Piggott, and by
Charles SaatchiCharles Saatchi was the co-founder with his brother Maurice of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, leading the world's largest agency until they were forced out in 1995...
, and which was featured in Sir John Betjeman's 1973 film
Metro-landMetro-land was a widely praised and fondly remembered documentary for BBC television by the then Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman and Eric Simms . It was directed by Edward Mirzoeff and first broadcast in colour on February 26 1973...
.
1980s and 90s
After graduating from
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
with a First Class Honours degree, she moved from temping work to writing for
The Jewish ChronicleThe Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.It appears every Friday providing news, views, social, cultural and sports reports, as well as editorials and a spectrum of readers' opinions on...
then the Daily Mirror. She often specialised in sex advice, writing for the magazine
Men OnlyMen Only is a British soft-core pornographic magazine published by Paul Raymond since 1971. However, the title goes back to 1935 when it was founded by C. Arthur Pearson Ltd as a pocket magazine . It set out its editorial stall in the first issue:'We don't want women readers. We won't have women...
, and her sex tips for girls book called "What Are These Strawberries Doing on My Nipples? I Need Them For The Fruit Salad!". She also presented a Jewish radio show on BBC GLR (now
BBC London 94.9BBC London 94.9 is London's BBC Local Radio station, and part of BBC London. Broadcasting across Greater London and beyond on 94.9 FM, DAB, Virgin Media Channel 930, Sky Digital Channel 0152 and also online. Previously known as BBC London Live, GLR and Radio London...
).
She replaced
Paula YatesPaula Elizabeth Yates was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two iconic television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.-Early life:...
on
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
morning TV show
The Big BreakfastThe Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002. 2,482 shows were produced The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former Boomtown Rats and Live Aid...
, presenting a regular item where she interviewed celebrities while in a bed. She also presented a show called
Value for Money.
She presented the
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
daytime television chat show
Vanessa, made by independent TV company
Anglia TelevisionAnglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
. She moved to the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
to host a similar show,
The Vanessa Show, in 1998 in a reported £2.7 million deal. ITV replaced her show with
Trisha.
In 1999 her show was cancelled and BBC One controller
Peter SalmonPeter Salmon is a British television producer and executive. Since October 2006 he has been the Chief Creative Officer of BBC Vision Productions, effectively overseeing all of BBC television's in-house programme production...
said the bad publicity about the fact that some guests were actually actors from an agency had effectively killed the show.
2000s
Vanessa Feltz was a contestant on the first British version of
Celebrity Big Brother in 2001. She has appeared on its spin-off shows
Big Brother's Big Mouth and
Big Brother's Little Brother on numerous occasions.
In May 2003 she was voted 93rd on the list of worst Britons in
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
's poll of the
100 Worst Britons100 Worst Britons We Love to Hate was one in a series of "100 Greatest..." shows shown on British TV.The poll by the British TV station Channel 4 in 2003, was inspired by the BBC series 100 Greatest Britons, although it was less serious in nature...
.
She made an appearance in a sketch in the first episode of the second series of
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
comedy sketch show
Little BritainLittle Britain is an award winning character-based comedy sketch show first appearing on BBC radio and then television. It was written by stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams...
, playing a spokeswoman for fictional slimming club Fat Fighters. In 2004, she appeared in the second series of reality TV show
Celebrity Fit Club in a bid to lose weight.
In recent years Feltz has been a regular guest on
The Wright StuffThe Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, andcurrently airing on Five each weekday at 9:15am. It is repeated later on at 11:00am on Fiver....
and presented two series of
Cosmetic Surgery LiveCosmetic Surgery Live, "All New Cosmetic Surgery Live", is a UK TV show broadcast on Five. It is presented by Vanessa Feltz, cosmetic surgeon Dr Jan Adams and Daniella Westbrook, and features both live and prerecorded footage of plastic surgery and body modification."Dr Jan and Vanessa will be...
, both screened on Five.
Since late 2002 she has been presenting a three-hour radio show on
BBC London 94.9BBC London 94.9 is London's BBC Local Radio station, and part of BBC London. Broadcasting across Greater London and beyond on 94.9 FM, DAB, Virgin Media Channel 930, Sky Digital Channel 0152 and also online. Previously known as BBC London Live, GLR and Radio London...
, Monday to Saturday. She replaced previous host
Jon GauntJonathan Charles Gaunt, better known as Jon Gaunt or "Gaunty", , is radio talk show presenter, and a former newspaper columnist for The Sun. He describes himself as a "working-class, educated guy with, in broad strokes, a rightwing agenda"...
. 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, published in the Tuesday
Daily ExpressThe Daily Express is a conservative, British tabloid newspaper. It is a middle-market title, the flagship title of Express Newspapers and is currently owned by Richard Desmond...
newspaper.
In December 2006 she made a comeback to
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
as the host of talk show Vanessa's Real Lives, and she recently played herself in an episode of BBC comedy drama series
Hotel BabylonHotel Babylon is a BBC television drama series based on the book of the same name by Imogen Edwards-Jones, first shown in January 2006. Produced by independent production company Carnival Films for BBC One, the show follows the lives of workers at a glamorous five-star hotel.-Ratings:The show...
. This was followed in April 2007 by her participation in an episode of Channel 4's
Celebrity Wife SwapWife Swap is a reality television programme, produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert...
, in which she moved in with magician
Paul DanielsPaul Daniels is a British magician and television performer. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.-Early life:...
for one week, while his wife
Debbie McGeeDebbie McGee is a British television, radio and stage performer who is best known as the wife and assistant of magician Paul Daniels. McGee is a former ballet dancer and, for three years, she was artistic director of her own ballet company...
moved in with Feltz's musician fiance
Ben OfoeduBen Ofoedu , is a Nigerian/British singer-songwriter, most famous for being the former lead singer of the band Phats and Small.-Music career:...
.
On 22 September 2007 Feltz and 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 BekeAnton du Beke is a professional ballroom dancer and television presenter. His dance partner since 1997 has been Erin Boag. With Boag, he won the IDTA Classic in England in November 2003.- Family and early life :...
's team on
BBC One
gameshow
Hole in the WallHole in the Wall is a game show that airs on BBC One in the United Kingdom. This game is an adaptation of the Japanese game Brain Wall in which players must contort themselves to fit through cutout holes of varying shapes in a large polystyrene wall moving towards them as they stand in front of a...
.
On 11 May 2009 Feltz was named Speech Radio Personality of the Year at the Sony Radio Academy Awards.
External links