About the Author
Fern Britton, an English television presenter, was born on 17 July 1957 in Ealing, London. She was educated at Dr Challoner's High School in Little Chalfont and underwent training in stage management at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She is the daughter of the English actor, Tony Britton and Ruth Britton. Fern Britton spent the early days of her life at Buckinghamshire. Her older sister, Cherry Britton, is a script writer and her younger half brother, Jasper Britton, is an actor. She is married to the celebrity chef, Phil Vickery and lives with her family at Holmer Green in Buckinghamshire.Fern Britton worked with a touring theatre company and in 1979, she started her career with Westward Television in Plymouth. She worked as a newsreader and continuity announcer on Westward Diary, the nightly local bulletin. Later, she switched to present BBC’s Southwest news programme, Spotlight. She became a known as the youngest national news presenter to present News After Noon on BBC1. Fern Britton then moved to work for TVS in Southampton, where she hosted the South edition of the news programme, Coast to Coast, together with Fred Dinenage. She has also presented other programmes, like Coast to Coast People, The Television Show and Magic Moments.Since then, Fern Britton has hosted several programmes, which include Carlton Television's After Five, BBC's Breakfast Time, London News Network's London Tonight and BBC 1’s Holiday. She also featured in the first two series of The Brian Conley Show and in 1994, Fern Britton went onto present the famous television cookery game show, Ready Steady Cook. She hosted the show for a long span of six years until she was succeeded by chef, Ainsley Harriott. She joined hands with the British television presenter, Phillip Schofield to host the famous television magazine show This Morning. Since 1999, Fern Britton has been hosting the show and the couple was known for their hilarious presentation. The show was a big hit and won the 2003 & 2004 TV Quick Award for the ‘Best Daytime Viewing’. It also clinched the 2004 National Television Award for the ‘Most Popular Daytime Show’.Fern Britton anchored the Pride of Britain Awards in 2002 and was one among the panellists on the satirical panel show, Have I Got News for You.In 2006, the song, “The Fern Britton Experience”, which featured in the album, Hang The DJ was named after her by the UK DJ Shitmat. She hosted the reality television show, Soapstar Superstar, and the British Soap Awards 2006. At the Royal Albert Hall, on 31 May 2007, Fern Britton presented the Classical BRIT Awards and also co-presented the British Soap Awards that year.Fern Britton anchored her own ITV1 Saturday night series, That's What I Call Television in 2007. In December 2007, she went on a secret trip to Basra to broadcast behind-the-scenes footage of the troops. She appeared as a guest presenter for the show, Have I Got News for You on 27 April 2007 and again on 17 October 2008. On 12 January 2008, she was the winner in the first episode of Thank God You're Here, a television comedy series hosted by Paul Merton. In April 2008, Fern Britton together with her colleague, Phillip Schofield was the presenter of the revived 'all star' version of the super hit ITV show, Mr and Mrs. The show was broadcast on Saturday nights as a six-part series.Apart from television presentations, Fern Britton has also featured in advertisements for Ryvita Minis. She performed the title role in a Cinderella pantomime in 1988. In March 1998, her first book, Fern’s Family Favourites, was released and in October the following year, she launched her second book Winter Treats and Summer Delights. Fern, My Story was published in November 2008 by Michael Joseph and it ranked among the Top Ten Bestseller list by The Sunday Times.