The Booby Trap and Other Bits and Boobs (18 page)

As a television personality, renowned photographer and entrepreneur, Amanda de Cadenet has evolved her body of work with an intriguing perspective and uncanny ability to render the truth across the art of storytelling.

Currently, de Cadenet can be seen as the host of
The Conversation
with Amanda de Cadenet, an ambitious series that aims to explore, nurture and empower the modern woman through thought-provoking discussions and candid interviews with notable female personalities. Beyond hosting her interview series, de Cadenet is also a renowned fashion and portrait photographer who garnered critical attention as the youngest woman to shoot a
Vogue
magazine cover. Having photographed many of the most influential figures across pop culture, de Cadenet is best known for her intimate portraits of women which reflect her eye for true beauty from behind the lens. De Cadenet's work can also be seen in the glossy pages of publications like
Harper's Bazaar
, as well as in her published ten-year compendium,
Rare Birds
, which documents and humanises her encounters with a variety of pop culture icons. Originally from the UK, de Cadenet currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.

Gemma Cairney currently presents the weekend breakfast show on BBC Radio 1 and hosted the 2013 BBC Three live Glastonbury coverage alongside Greg James. She presented BBC Radio 1Xtra's Breakfast Show with Trevor Nelson, for which they picked up a Silver Sony award in 2010 for Best National Breakfast Show, and her BBC Radio 1 documentary,
Bruising Silence
, won a Sony Gold Award at the Sony Radio Academy Awards 2013 for Best Documentary or Feature.

Gemma presented her first BBC Three documentary,
The Riots: The Aftermath.
Her second documentary for the channel,
Dying for Clear Skin,
highlighted the damaging effect of skin conditions and the risk of depression caused by treatment medication. Gemma was also seen on the channel's debate show,
Free Speech
, discussing issues such as benefits, body image and road safety for cyclists.

Gemma has recently finished a series on the History of Feminism for BBC Learning, which aired on BBC Two in May 2013.

Despite her self-confessed ‘knock knees', Bolton lass Sara left school with four A-levels for a career in modelling and was soon scouted for television. Since her first TV job in 1994, she's been all over the telly – from show-jumping reality show
Only Fools And Horses
and
Top Of The Pops
to MTV and Channel 4 shows like
The Big Breakfast
. Sara joined Radio 1 in 1999 where she co-hosted the Saturday lunchtime show, followed by the Breakfast Show.

As well as raising her three children she can now be found hosting radio shows across both Radio 1 and Radio 2 as well as popping up on various shows including
Have I Got News For You.
She also has a weekly column in the Sunday Mirror magazine,
Notebook.

James Dawson is the award-nominated author of dark teen thrillers
Hollow Pike, Cruel Summer
and
Say Her Name
(Hot Key Books – May 2014). He grew up in West Yorkshire, writing imaginary episodes of Doctor Who. He later turned his talent to journalism, interviewing luminaries such as Steps and Atomic Kitten before writing a weekly serial in a Brighton newspaper.

Until recently, James worked as a teacher, specialising in PSHCE and behaviour. He is most proud of his work surrounding bullying and family diversity. His first non-fiction book,
Being a Boy
(Red Lemon Press) tackles puberty, sex and relationships in a frank and funny fashion.

James writes full time and lives in south London. In his spare time, he STILL loves Doctor Who and is a keen follower of horror films and connoisseur of pop music.

Not only author and illustrator of the
Darcy Burdock
series (Random House),
Mistakes In The Background
,
Ugly Shy Girl
and
Echoes
(Harper Collins), Laura also resurrects her words on the stage, performing poetry and short stories spanning festivals to bookshops; from the E4 Udderbelly, Latitude Festival and Glastonbury to the London Literary Festival, 5x15 and the BBC Proms. Named one of the top ten literary talents by
The Times
and one of the top twenty hot faces to watch by
ELLE
magazine, Laura continues to stir up the literary universe with her passionate, contemporary and imaginative way with words. She has performed her work on CBeebies, Newsnight, BBC Breakfast, Woman's Hour and each of the BBC's respective radio channels 1–6, and has been commissioned by Radio 1, 2 and 4. Laura is on the advisory panel at The Ministry Of Stories, has judged the John Betjeman Poetry Prize, is embarking on her fourth year of mentoring with the charity First Story and has been a BAFTA judge. She is currently working on her second book in the
Darcy Burdock
series, working on a film script and song writing (for others, of course!).

Jenny Eclair is a stand-up comic and writer. She is the author of three novels:
Camberwell Beauty
,
Having a Lovely Time
and
Life, Death and Vanilla Slices
. She has also had a number of comedy books published including
Chin Up, Britain
and
Wendy: The Bumper Book of Fun for Women of a Certain Age
.

She pops up on the telly now and then and can sometimes be heard losing
Just a Minute
on Radio 4. Other radio writing credits include
On Baby St
and
Twilight Baby
.

She was an intrepid contestant on ITV's
I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here
, coming third in 2010.

Having appeared on the BBC's Grumpy Old Women series, she co-wrote two Grumpy Old Women Live shows, both of which went into the West End. A third live show is in production.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is a singer, songwriter and model, widely known to the British public for the past fifteen years, and has earned a place amongst pop royalty as a legendary and quintessentially British siren and starlet. Having performed throughout her childhood and teenage years, Sophie's break came with the indie rock band Theaudience in the late 90s. A couple of years later, returning to music as a solo artist, she shot straight to number one in the UK charts with her debut solo single ‘Groovejet'.

Sophie has since achieved international success, releasing four top-selling albums. 2013 sees the release of her fifth album, produced by singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt. The album sees Sophie take a decidedly different musical direction.

Sophie is married to The Feeling bassist Richard Jones. The couple have three children.

Caroline Flack is best known for hosting the hugely popular
Xtra Factor
alongside Olly Murs. She anchored two series of
I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here Now
and
Gladiators
for Sky One alongside Ian Wright.

A huge music fan, Caroline presented her own seven-part series for ITV2,
Indigo2,
where she interviewed some of the biggest names in the music industry. She co-hosted the Capital FM Breakfast Show and provided amusing banter as Johnny Vaughan's morning sidekick. Her love for music translated perfectly into presenting E4's Music Zones. Caroline spends her free time DJing and attending festivals. Originally from Norfolk, Caroline trained as an actress and dancer before focusing her energies on TV presenting.

Kristin Hallenga started CoppaFeel! with her twin sister Maren one month after her breast cancer diagnosis at 23. Discovering a lump in her boob in June 2008, Kris went to her GP, only to be sent away. Within weeks Kris was appearing on TV and in national press sharing her story and raising money for a campaign that would prove to save lives and keep other young people from the same fate as hers. She won the Pride of Britain award with a Downing Street reception. After a secondary breast cancer diagnosis, Kris is not cancer free – and perhaps never will be. Whenever she's not in the presence of doctors, she's pouring her heart and soul into making a success of CoppaFeel!, not only refusing to let cancer wreck her party, but refusing to let it ruin yours too. To find out more go to
www.coppafeel.org
.

Best known for her hugely successful BBC Three documentaries, Cherry is insightful, witty, challenging and compassionate about the subjects she covers, with a genuine desire to give voice to the true character of the contributors she encounters. Cherry's documentaries for BBC Three include
Cherry Has a Baby, Cherry Goes Dating
and
Cherry Gets Married
(2010),
Is Breast Best?
(2011), a six-part series in 2012,
Cherry Healey: How to Get a Life
, and a second six-part series in 2013,
The Year of Making Love
.

With a Degree in Drama Education/Drama for Social Change from Central School of Speech and Drama, Cherry has a particular interest in women's ever-changing roles in society – giving light to new cultural trends in a (sometimes painfully!) honest and entertaining way. Whilst studying, she set up a company teaching dance to kids at risk of exclusion in community centres. She is a drama, hip-hop and break-dance teacher, having herself competed in several national competitions (and has also been a backing dancer for the infamous Ice T!). Cherry has also written for several publications including
Grazia
,
You Me Baby
magazine, and Cellardoor online, and has a unique and funny style that appeals to a wide audience.

Will Hill is the author of the bestselling
Department 19
series, and has contributed short stories and novellas to a number of award-nominated anthologies. He was a juror for the inaugural Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize and the 2013 Kitschies Awards.

He grew up in the north-east of England and worked as a bartender, a bookseller, and a door-to-door charity worker in California before quitting a job in publishing to write full time. He lives in east London with his girlfriend.

Rufus Hound is a comedian, presenter and actor. You may have seen him in
The Wedding Video
, winning
Let's Dance for Sport Relief
dressed up as Cheryl Cole or as the eponymous hero of CBBC's
Hounded
. He hosts Radio 4's Sony Award-winning
My Teenage Diary
and most recently took over as Francis Henshall in The National Theatre's
One Man, Two Guvnors
. Of course, it may be equally true that you have no idea who he is, and no one would blame you for that.

Amy Huberman was born in Dublin, and is a graduate of UCD and the Dublin Institute of Technology. She is an actress and a novelist.

She made her first appearance on Irish television in the RTE drama
On Home Ground
and went on to star in
The Clinic
(RTE) for which she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress at the IFTA Awards in 2009. Amy has also appeared in several films including
A Film With Me In It
opposite Dylan Moran and Mark Doherty,
Redux
directed by P.J. Dillon, and
Stella Days
starring Martin Sheen. She has also appeared in the TV comedy sketch show
Your Bad Self
for RTE, and most recently took the female lead in two series of Comedy Central's popular sitcom
Threesome.

Amy has also written two bestselling novels,
Hello Heartbreak
(Penguin, 2009) and
I Wished For You
(Penguin, 2012).

Jameela Jamil recently took on Radio 1's The Official Chart Show, making her the first female presenter to host the show solo since its inception. Jameela began her presenting career in 2008 on the E4 Music Zone. In 2012 she featured in E4's cult series,
Playing It Straight
. Jameela launched her first clothing range, JAM by Jameela Jamil, in 2012 with very.co.uk, and she was nominated for columnist of the year at both the prestigious PPA Awards and the BSME Awards for her monthly column in
Company
magazine. Jameela has also fronted a TV advertising campaign for international make-up brand Maybelline and has done fashion shoots with magazines including American and UK
Vogue
,
InStyle
and
Esquire
.

Maureen Johnson was recently crowned the 2012 Queen of Teen in the UK – but, as it turns out, she is American. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during a massive snowstorm. After a little dalliance with astronomy (she had a glow in the dark star chart) and archaeology (she had a little shovel), Maureen declared her intention to become a writer at the age of eight or nine or so. She is the
New York Times
bestselling author of ten YA novels (including
Suite Scarlett, Scarlett Fever, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, The Name of the Star
, and
The Madness Underneath)
. She has also done many collaborative works, such as
Let It Snow
(with John Green and Lauren Myracle), and
The Bane Chronicles
(with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan). She writes frequently on the subject of Young Adult literature for many publications, and is well known for her online presence on Twitter (
@maureenjohnson
). Maureen lives in New York, and online on Twitter (or at
www.maureenjohnbooks.com
). She's not giving that crown back.

Alex is the co-host of the BBC's flagship magazine programme The One Show alongside Matt Baker and Chris Evans. Alex has also appeared as a panellist on 8 Out of 10 Cats and co-presented Let's Dance for Comic Relief for the third year running. In 2011 she was a semi-finalist on Strictly Come Dancing, and 2012 saw Alex dance at Buckingham Palace on The One Show.

A fluent Welsh speaker, Alex's television career began working for Welsh Channel S4C, and she went on to present a variety of shows for the channel. In 2009 Alex took part in The Magnificent Seven, a BAFTA-winning series which saw seven celebrities travel to a ranch in Arizona to learn how to become cowboys. Whilst in the Wild West she recorded a spin-off children's series called Alex and the Cowboys, also for S4C. Alex went on to present BBC Wales' contribution to the Children in Need network programme from the Millennium Stadium.

In Summer 2010, Alex landed
The One Show
role and she hasn't looked back since. She presents the daily magazine show from London and has become a mainstay on the channel, presenting Eurovision results and
Let's Dance for Comic Relief
for BBC One.