Growing up in ‘abject poverty’ one kind face stood out for Carol Vorderman. She remembers her maths teacher as an exciting new initiative from Pride of Britain is revealed
Carol Vorderman at the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.
Reminiscing about influential people in her life, Countdown legend Carol Vorderman reveals it’s not just maths she’s mastered – she’s also ‘Queen of Wenglish.’ Growing up in North Wales, she says her maths teacher Mr Parry – who she’s still in touch with – inspired her knack for numbers and her passion for politics.
Carol, 65, says: “I grew up in the black and white days in the 1960s, and we lived in abject poverty. I’ll never forget the people that were kind to me and my mum. One was my maths teacher, Mr Parry. He was an amazing teacher, no question. But, politically, he was a game changer. He was a Welsh nationalist, and at that time the Welsh language had almost died out. It was only spoken as a first language in a tiny part of North Wales near Caernarfon and Bangor.
“Mr Parry used to go round at night time with Mrs Parry and spray out the English road signs. Then he’d be up in front of the magistrate!”
Carol, also known for appearing on ITV’s Loose Women and This Morning, and BBC’s Have I Got News For You, who received an OBE for broadcasting in 2000, continues: “I was with him last summer and we spoke about it. It’s only thanks to that tiny number of Welsh nationalists, including my Mr Parry, that the Welsh language was rescued. Now it’s growing and growing and we have the Welsh language schools and so on, which are probably the most popular in Wales.”
Mr Parry gave Carol her first taste of activism, something she’s well known for now. But, she says, she’s still working on her Welsh. “We’re only three million in Wales, and the idea is that we have a million Welsh voices,” she says. “But we have a thing there called Wenglish as well. I speak Wenglish, I can pop Welsh words into my conversations. I’m the Queen of Wenglis!”
Carol first appeared on Countdown – which launched Channel 4 – in 1982. She was the quiz show’s numbers expert for 26 years, until she left in 2008. And since its inception in 1999, Carol has presented the Daily Mirror’s Pride of Britain Awards with P&O Cruises.
Founded by the Mirror, the awards honour unsung heroes, including children of courage, tireless fundraisers, and individuals who have acted with outstanding bravery. Now she is talking to The Mirror in her home town of Bristol, for the launch of a brand new Pride of Britain initiative called Hometown Heroes.
The new video series, launching tomorrow, sees famous members of the Pride of Britain family heading back to their hometowns to meet inspirational local people who make the world a better place. Carol explains: “Pride of Britain obviously happens once a year and then we have about 13 to 14 winners across that. But there are so many others who we want to celebrate.
“So, we’ve come up with this idea of Hometown Heroes, where someone famous can say ‘this is where I live, this is what I love and these are the people who ,while are unlikely ever to win a Pride of Britain award, are still heroic. They’re very special to my town and my city.’”
Bristol, she confirms, is brimming with Hometown Heroes. Carol, who has two children – Katie, 33, and Cameron, 28 – says: “I’m one of those people who’s lived in a lot of different places. I grew up in North Wales, I’ve lived in Leeds for many years. They were very happy years because we recorded Countdown at Yorkshire Television in Leeds.
“But for almost 20 years I’ve lived in Bristol with my kids and my mum. And I adore the place, I love it because it’s not judgmental. And when I was asked to choose people or organisations, I thought I particularly wanted to centre on women.”
Carol’s Hometown Heroes include inspirational campaigners at Bristol Women’s Voice, and Katie Sparkes, founder of the Flamingo Chicks, an award-winning local charity that provides inclusive dance and movement classes for disabled children and those with illnesses.
She says: “Katie established Flamingo Chicks 13 years ago. She’s incredible. Her first daughter, Poppy, had cerebral palsy and wanted to dance, but there was nowhere she could take her, so she established dance classes for children with disabilities. Their siblings who don’t necessarily have disabilities can come too.”
Carol, who took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2004, joined a Flamingo Chicks class, saying: “I really did feel as though I was taking part in a bit of magic because it was like, blow into your hand, now rub the magic all over you. Now you’re covered in magic. It was superb.”
More than 60,000 children have danced to date thanks to Katie. Carol says: “She’s now got Flamingo Chicks all around the country, and in other countries too. She’s brought complete joy to tens of thousands of people, which is remarkable, isn’t it?”
Hometown Heroes, alongside Pride of Britain, celebrates real people, notes Carol. She says: “Here’s the thing, having worked in showbiz, telly, anyway, for over 40 years, you do meet incredibly talented people. But through Pride of Britain, which is our 27th year, you meet people living relatively normal lives, if you like. And then they do these extraordinary things.
“I think it reminds you endlessly that to be a great person, you don’t have to be rich. Usually they aren’t, they’re far from it. You certainly don’t have to be famous. It gives me hope. It gives me hope for everyone.”
Since 2021, Carol has been joined on stage for the ITV spectacular by co-host Ashley Banjo, 37, of dance group Diversity. Through the years, Pride of Britain winners have made an indelible impression.
In 2018, British cave rescue divers – John Volanthen, Rick Stanton, Jason Mallinson, Chris Jewell, Josh Bratchley and Connor Roe – won the Pride of Britain Outstanding Bravery Award, following the rescue of 12 boys and their football coach from the flooded Tham Luang cave in Thailand. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when, to the surprise of the team and viewers, all 12 rescued boys walked out on stage to thank the men who had saved their lives.
The same year, 10-year-old Max Johnson received the Child of Courage award, after campaigning for an opt-out organ donation system in England, which became known as Max and Keira’s Law. Max received a new heart from Keira Ball, who died aged nine.
In 2012, TV presenter Katie Piper was honoured with the Special Recognition Award for her bravery and for setting up a foundation to support burns survivors, following a horrific acid attack. That year, Doreen Lawrence received the Lifetime Achievement award for her fight for justice, following the racist murder of her son in 1993 and for her work with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.
Carol says of the event: “Pride of Britain is needed now more than ever. We’re incredibly divided as a nation. And there are plenty of reasons to be miserable: the cost of living crisis, global uncertainty. But through it all, one thing unites us – and that is hope. And the goodness of people.”
*All of the Hometown Heroes featured in the series have been nominated for a Pride of Britain Award. Do you know someone in your hometown or beyond who deserves to be recognised? Nominate them now at prideofbritain.com
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
