Anthea Turner facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Anthea Turner
Turner at a book signing in 2008
Born	(1960-05-25) 25 May 1960 (age 65) Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
Occupation	Television presenter
Years active	1986-present
Notable credit(s)	Presenting: Blue Peter (1992–94) Top of the Pops (1988–91) GMTV (1994–96) Perfect Housewife (2006–07)
Spouse(s)	Peter Powell ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 1998)​ Grant Bovey ​ ​ (m. 2000; div. 2015)​
Family	Wendy Turner-Webster (sister)

Anthea Turner (born 25 May 1960) is a well-known English television presenter. She became famous for hosting popular shows like Blue Peter from 1992 to 1994. She also presented GMTV from 1994 to 1996.

Early Life and Family

Anthea Turner was born in Stoke-on-Trent, a city in Staffordshire, England. She went to St Dominic's Grammar School, a Roman Catholic girls' school in Stoke. Anthea has two sisters. One of her sisters, Wendy Turner Webster, is also a television presenter.

Starting Her Career

Anthea began her career at BBC Radio Stoke. She started as a runner, helping with tasks behind the scenes. Later, she worked with breakfast show presenter Bruno Brookes.

Moving to Television

Anthea soon moved into television. She started presenting live music shows on channels like Sky Channel and Music Box from 1986 to 1989. Her first appearance on national television was on the BBC show But First This. This led to her hosting two series of the Saturday morning show UP2U. During a stunt on UP2U, Anthea had an accident while riding a motorbike.

She then presented Top of the Pops, a very popular music show, from October 1988 to May 1991. For a long time, she was the only presenter who wasn't a Radio 1 DJ.

Anthea became a presenter on the children's television show Blue Peter. She was on the show from June 1992 to June 1994. Around this time, she also helped promote The Y Plan, an exercise program. After Blue Peter, she moved to Totally Live on the music channel Music Box. Then, she joined GMTV, presenting the show from July 1994 to December 1996.

Anthea was also one of the first hosts of the National Lottery draw on BBC One. Her first show was on 19 November 1994, alongside Noel Edmonds and Gordon Kennedy. She continued to host the National Lottery Live until April 1996. She then joined ITV to present the travel show Wish You Were Here...?.

After leaving GMTV, Anthea worked on other projects. In 2000, she presented Your Kids Are in Charge for BBC One with her sister Wendy. The next year, she took part in Celebrity Big Brother. She was the third person to leave the show.

In 2006, Anthea made a return to television with Anthea Turner: Perfect Housewife on BBC Three. In this show, she taught people how to organize and manage their homes. She also wrote three books related to the series. Later in 2006, she appeared on the music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks on BBC Two.

In April 2009, Anthea and her then-husband Grant Bovey appeared on the ITV reality show Hell's Kitchen with chef Marco Pierre White. Anthea also presented Help Me Anthea, I'm Infested for BBC Three. In this show, she helped people deal with pests in their homes. In 2013, Anthea took part in the first series of the Channel 4 game show The Jump. This show featured celebrities trying out winter sports in Austria.

On 23 August 2015, she became a host for the Health Lottery draws on Channel 5. She also appeared on a special celebrity episode of Channel 4's First Dates on 12 October 2015, to support Stand Up to Cancer.

In November 2017, Anthea was on the BBC show Celebrity Antiques Road Trip. In 2018, she appeared on the Channel 5 show Celebs in Solitary. For this show, she tried to spend five days alone in solitary confinement.

Dancing on Ice

In 2013, Anthea Turner was a contestant on the eighth series of Dancing on Ice. She finished in ninth place out of twelve celebrity skaters. Her professional skating partner was Andrew Buchanan. In the third week, she skated to the song "Puppy Love" by Donny Osmond. She ended up in the skate-off against Keith Chegwin and was eliminated from the series.

• Note: In Week 3, the judges did not give scores. Instead, celebrities were paired up, and the judges chose which performance they liked more. This made the winning pair safe from the public vote.

Personal Life

Anthea Turner's personal life has sometimes been discussed in the news. She married her manager, former DJ Peter Powell, in 1990. They divorced in 1998.

After her divorce, Anthea moved in with Grant Bovey. Anthea and Grant Bovey got married on 23 August 2000. Grant had three daughters from his previous marriage. Anthea and Grant separated in August 2013 and divorced in October 2015.

Books

Anthea Turner has also written several books:

• Underneath the Underground: The Ghost of Knightsbridge (1998) – written with her sister Wendy Turner Webster
• Fools Rush In (2000)
• How to Be the Perfect Housewife: Lessons in the Art of Modern Household Management (2007)
• How to Be the Perfect Housewife: Entertain in Style (2008)
• The Perfect Christmas (2008)

Appearances

Television