| Tara Palmer-Tomkinson | |
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Tara Palmer-Tomkinson |
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| Born | 23 December 1971 Hampshire, England |
| Occupation | Various |
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson (born 23 December 1971) also known as T P-T,[1] is an English socialite, "it girl", television presenter, columnist and model. Her activities have been well-covered by the British tabloid press, and in the mid to late 1990s, she wrote a weekly column for the Sunday Times and subsequently contributed to The Spectator, The Mail on Sunday, GQ, Eve, Harpers and Queen, Tatler, Instyle and The Observer sporadically.
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Her parents are Charles and Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson (née Dawson). Palmer-Tomkinson's father has represented his country as a skier at Olympic level. Tara grew up on her parents' estate in Dummer, Hampshire, and was educated first at Hanford School[2], then at Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset. After she left school she worked briefly in the City of London for Rothschilds bank.
In 2002, her public profile was revitalised when she made an appearance on the British television series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, finishing runner up. This included being gunged in the "Jungle Shower", one of the first 'bush tucker' trials. In November 2005, Palmer-Tomkinson presented her third 'behind the scenes' series on ITV2 for the hit show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! Now.
She has also appeared on the reality shows Spelling Bee and Cold Turkey, which followed her attempts to quit smoking with Sophie Anderton, celebrity specials of A Place in the Sun and Blind Date and in episodes of Tabloid Tales, With a Little Help from my Friends, Russian Roulette, Celebrities Under Pressure and Project Catwalk. Palmer-Tomkinson also appeared on Top Gear in 2002 as their "star in a reasonably-priced car".
Palmer-Tomkinson's presenting credits include Animals Do the Funniest things with Tony Blackburn, Junior Eurovision, The British Comedy Awards...Party On, What Kids Really Think, Popworld, Top of the Pops, SM:TV Live, Company Magazine Bachelor of the Year, Dumb Britain, Extreme, a role as a team captain on Bognor or Bust which was hosted by Angus Deayton and work for GMTV, Five, LBC radio, the music channel The Hits and the Living TV programme Dirty Cows.[3]
Palmer-Tomkinson is a regular talking head on celebrity based documentaries and in 2005, was named Woman of the Year by New Woman magazine. She played herself in the film Mad Cows[4] and an episode of Footballers Wives, has acted in a film version of An Ideal Husband and was for a period the face of Walkers Crisps replacing Victoria Beckham. She appeared on an episode of Airline as a member of EasyJet Cabin Crew for a day.
Palmer-Tomkinson has been a contestant on Comic Relief Does Fame Academy for the BBC. She gave away tickets to see her compete in the show to "ordinary people" who had helped her out (the other contestants generally giving their free tickets to other celebrities). She invited the policeman who found her stolen car, the locksmith who helped when she was locked out of her house and her parents' local shopkeepers.[5] On Friday 16 March 2007 (Red Nose Day – Comic Relief) Tara won Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, beating Tricia Penrose in the final. She was a guest on the BBC's Would I Lie to You?, a comedy quiz which was aired in the spring of 2007 and August 2008, alongside regulars Lee Mack and David Mitchell. In episode 7 of series 2, she revealed that she had been shopping in Sainsbury's "wearing nothing but a trenchcoat".[6]
Palmer-Tomkinson plays the piano, as was demonstrated at events at the Royal Festival Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra, at the Royal Albert Hall with Mozart, and at The Coliseum during a Leonard Bernstein Tribute. She was also the star host of the Classic FM Gramophone Awards 2005. She once said she practises the piano daily for around 90 minutes.[7]
She will be releasing an album of self-written music (originally planned for January 2008), which will be preceded by a single, I Don't Need You Anymore which she revealed is "about a narcotic, but I guess if you were listening to it, you could relate it to anything you liked."[8]
In September 2007 her book The Naughty Girl's Guide to Life, co-authored with Sharon Marshall, was published by Sphere.[9] It was serialised in The Sunday Times Style magazine and reviewed widely.[10]
In October 2010 her first novel, Inheritance, was published by Pan Books.[11]
In 1999, she was treated at the Meadows clinic in Arizona for a cocaine addiction, and since her recovery has supported various drugs charities.[12]
In 2006, Palmer-Tomkinson received extensive publicity after her septum nasi collapsed due to her former £400-a-day addiction to cocaine. Pictures were printed in several British tabloids. She underwent cosmetic surgery to have it rebuilt, at a cost of £6,000.[13] Some sources claim the surgery was carried out by the late cranio-facial surgeon Martin Kelly, former husband of actress Natascha McElhone.[14]
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