Edwina Currie

Edwina Currie was born in Liverpool, UK in 1946 and went to the same school as Beatles George Harrison and Sir Paul McCartney. Much of her education was spent in the Cavern Club listening to their music. She won a scholarship to Oxford University to read Chemistry; surrounded by Nobel prize winners, she switched to Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Also present (1968) was William Jefferson Clinton, hiding behind a beard. She took her Master's degree in economic history at the London School of Economics, an experience which turned her into a life-long Conservative.

Edwina has had three successful careers - so far! Firstly, politics and public service. After a decade as a Birmingham City Councillor, she represented South Derbyshire in Parliament for 14 years. She became one of the nation's best known MPs and served under Margaret Thatcher as Minister in the Department of Health. She became famous for her campaigns on heart disease, women's cancer screening and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. She was involved in the first AIDS campaign in the UK that saved many lives, and later fought discrimination against gay men in the Age of Consent campaign. Awards: "Speaker of the Year 1990" and "Campaigner of the Year 1994" by The Spectator. She resigned over food safety (salmonella) in December 1988, and turned down John Major's request to return to government in 1992. Most recently she has hosted a family of Ukrainian refugees who have stayed with her since Putin's invasion in 2022.

Secondly, as an author. In all she has 11 books to her name. She started with non-fiction, then turned to novels which were instant best-sellers in the UK. Her "Diaries 1987-1992"and "Diaries Volume II 1992-1997" attracted a lot of interest and acclaim. One commentator said, "The two volumes are the best account I know of the experience of being a woman in British politics.. In fifty years' time, students will be reading them and (one hopes) shaking their heads in bewilderment at such a strange world." (Alwyn W Turner).

Career number three, broadcaster and media star, started after Edwina lost her seat in 1997, but started working for the BBC. From 1998 to 2003 she presented her own very successful BBC Radio 5 programme, Late Night Currie. In 2004 Edwina was in Hell's Kitchen with chef Gordon Ramsay, in 2011 on Strictly Come Dancing, in 2014 in the Australian Jungle for I'm a Celebrity where she came 4th. She won Celebrity Mastermind in 2004, and again in Jan 2019. Numerous other shows include Wife Swap (with late husband John Jones), Cash in the Attic, Bargain Hunt, Eggheads, Weakest Link (twice), Come Dine with Me (twice), Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. She and Diane Abbott MP won Celebrity Pointless on BBC1 in June 2013. She's often on Times Radio, BBC Radio 5, GB News and other outlets. On 11 November 2024 you can see her in The Yorkshire Auction House with Angus Ashworth on Discovery +.