Linda Barker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linda Barker (born 6 October 1961) is a designer from a village near Halifax, West Yorkshire, England
Barker studied Fine Arts at the West Surrey College of Art and Design. She then did odd jobs in various areas including fashion, before settling into a career as an interior designer. An accomplished painter, she did up her flat in Battersea and was the subject of a House Beautiful magazine spread on interiors.
This led to work in television as a set designer, where she met her husband. She looked into an architecture course, but was approached together with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen by the BBC in 1994 to work on a television show called Changing Rooms as one of the designers. She was known for making plain, simple designs which people did not mind.
After 12 years of Changing Rooms, she accepted an invitation in 2002 to appear in the second series of the reality TV show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!. This helped Barker to reach a new audience. As a result of this, and of being dropped from her BBC contract, Barker adopted a new image, being featured in lads magazine shoots and making a yoga DVD, as well as shooting two of the most hated advert series on British TV - for Currys and dfs.
In 2004, Barker hosted the ITV reality game Building the Dream.
Today Barker writes, publishes design books, writes her column for the weekend Daily Express Magazine and has appeared on "This Is Your Life"
Linda manages to keep her private life private. She is married to TV executive Chris Short, and has a daughter Jessica. She lives in Forest Hill in South London. [1]
