Annabel Giles

Annabel Giles
Born 20 May 1959
Pontypool, Wales
Residence Brighton, England
Occupation Presenter, actress, panellist, comedienne, novelist, former model
Spouse(s) Midge Ure (?-1989; divorced)
Children Molly Ure (b. March 1987)[1]
Ted Giles (b. February 1998)
Website
Official website

Annabel Claire Giles (born 20 May 1959)[2] is a Welsh television and radio presenter, actress, comedian, panelist, novelist and former model.

Early life and career

Giles was born in Griffithstown, near Pontypool, Torfaen, the eldest of three sisters. She was expelled from boarding school aged 16 for going to see Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel play in Bristol, wearing mufti.[3] Between 1977 and 1982,Giles trained and worked as a secretary, mostly for advertising agencies. Royal make-up artist Barbara Daly suggested trying makeup on her, to which she agreed. The ad agency used the shot for their Boots No7 make-up campaign. Giles was then signed up by top agency Models One, and became the only British model to be contracted to a major make-up house Max Factor.

Giles has had a varied career in television and radio. Having started her career in the 1990s on 'Razzmatazz' and 'Night Network', she was best known as co-presenter of ITV's Posh Frocks and New Trousers with Sarah Greene.[3] She has been a panelist on many game shows ranging from Have I Got News for You to Shooting Stars, was a regular on Through the Keyhole and has appeared twice on BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute. On Noel Edmonds' House Party she guessed a Gotcha! before it had even started.

Giles' one-woman show at the Edinburgh Festival, called Looking for Mr.Giles, was in 1995. She followed this up the following year with "Anyone Can Be A TV Presenter" in which she foolishly proved that yes, anyone can.

Giles is also a Penguin author; her first novel, Birthday Girls reached No 6 in The Sunday Times Best Seller List of October 2001.[4] She later released Crossing the Paradise Line in 2003 and followed this up with, The Defrosting of Charlotte Small, in Spring 2006.

On 21 November 2013, Giles and Vincent Simone were confirmed to enter the Australian jungle as late arrivals.[5] Giles was the first celebrity to leave the jungle on 1 December. She was the first to suggest that 'Amy Willerton was "playing a game".[6]

Since early 2014, Giles has regularly guested on the Channel 5 chat show, The Wright Stuff hosted by Matthew Wright.

Personal life

Giles married the lead singer of Ultravox, Midge Ure, a founder of Band Aid and Live Aid. Their daughter, Molly McQueen, was born in March 1987. Molly became the lead singer of pop punk group The Faders. Giles and Ure split up in 1989 but remain good friends. Giles had a second child, a son named Ted Giles, who was born with XYY syndrome.[7]

Giles is a patron of the charity Amaze Brighton.

References

  1. ↑ Midge Ure and his daughter Molly The Sunday Times. 16 April 2006
  2. ↑ "Birthdays", The Guardian, 20 May 2014: 39
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 I knew I had one last thing to do Daily Telegraph. 2 July 2003
  4. ↑ Didn't you used to be Annabel Giles? Now a single mother on benefits, the former model reveals what went wrong Daily Mail. 19 December 2010
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ The XYY Factor: How a rare chromosome disorder brought my son a world of pain Daily Mail. 1 November 2008

External links