Annabel Giles

Annabel Claire Giles (born 20 May 1959)[2] is a British counsellor and psychotherapist. She is best known as a television and radio presenter, who has also worked as a model, actress and novelist.

Annabel Giles
Born (1959-05-20) 20 May 1959
Pontypool, Wales
OccupationPresenter, actress, panellist, comedian, novelist, former model
Spouse(s)Midge Ure (divorced 1989)
ChildrenMolly Ure (b. March 1987)[1]
Ted Giles (b. February 1998)
WebsiteOfficial website

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, where she was seen smoking in the street.[3]

Career

Between 1977 and 1982, she trained and worked as a secretary, mostly employed in advertising agencies. Whilst attending a shoot for Boots No. 7 cosmetics, royal make-up artist Barbara Daly suggested taking a shot of her. Giles agreed, and the agency subsequently used the shot for their campaign. Giles was then signed up by top agency Models 1, and became the official model for Max Factor.[3]

She started her media career in the 1990s on Razzmatazz and Night Network, and appeared in the 1993 film Riders. She came to prominence as co-presenter of ITV's Posh Frocks and New Trousers with Sarah Greene.[3] She was in numerous entertainment shows, and a panelist on game shows ranging from Have I Got News for You to Shooting Stars; she was a regular panelist on Through the Keyhole and BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends and has also appeared on BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute. On Noel Edmonds' House Party she guessed a Gotcha! before it had even started.

In 1995, Giles wrote and performed a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Festival, called Looking for Mr.Giles, and a second show the following year, 'Anyone Can be A TV Presenter'.[4]

Giles is also a Penguin author; her first novel, Birthday Girls, reached number 6 in the top 10 in the best-seller lists in 2001.[3] She published Crossing the Paradise Line in 2003 and The Defrosting of Charlotte Small in 2006.

In November 2013, Giles and Vincent Simone entered the Australian jungle as late arrivals in the 13th season of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.[5] Giles was the first celebrity to leave the jungle, on 1 December.[6][7][8]

Since early 2014, Giles has regularly guested on the Channel 5 chat show The Wright Stuff hosted by Matthew Wright. In summer 2018 she appeared on ITV2's "my Shirley Valentine Summer' and is currently the resident agony aunt on the Eleri Sion show for BBC Radio Wales.

Since retraining, she now works as a counsellor/psychotherapist in Brighton and London.[9] Giles is a patron of the charity for parents of children with special needs, Amaze Brighton.

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 separated in 1989.[10] Giles has a second child, a son named Ted Giles, who was born with XYY syndrome and Asperger syndrome; in 2011, having written a blog outlining the difficulties in educating a child with these issues, she received help from an anonymous benefactor towards his education.[11][12]

References
  1. Midge Ure and his daughter Molly The Sunday Times. 16 April 2006
  2. "Birthdays", The Guardian, p. 39, 20 May 2014
  3. Olivia Lichtenstein, I knew I had one last thing to do The Daily Telegraph, 2 July 2003.
  4. "Biography", Penguin Books, retrieved 26 February 2017.
  5. Jess Denham, "I'm A Celebrity 2013: Strictly's Vincent Simone and model Annabel Giles join the jungle", The Independent, 21 November 2013.
  6. "'I'm A Celebrity': Annabel Giles Slams Amy Willerton After Becoming First Celeb Voted Out Of The Jungle", Huffington Post, 2 December 2013.
  7. Alice Wright, "I'm a Celebrity 2013, Sunday night's show – tension mounts in the camp and Annabel Giles is the first celeb evicted", Metro, 1 December 2013.
  8. Busk-Cowley, Mark (2014). I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!: The Inside Story. Bantam Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0593073483.
  9. http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellors/annabel-giles
  10. "Ure separates". The Glasgow Herald. 6 July 1989. p. 6. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  11. Raf Sanchez, "TV presenter Annabel Giles selling home to pay school fees", The Daily Telegraph, 12 July 2011.
  12. James Orr, "TV presenter Annabel Giles reveals mystery benefactor has paid her son's school fees", The Daily Telegraph, 6 September 2011.
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