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Monday, 28 November 2011
Jilly Johnson is proving the young DON'T have a monopoly on glamour
By Jill Foster
Last updated at 12:44 AM on 26th November 2011
As one of the very first women ever to grace Page 3, model Jilly Johnson has posed in various states of undress more times than she can remember.
Advertising billboards, glossy magazines, newspapers, television — she once even stood in the window of Janet Reger’s Bond Street store and modelled the lingerie queen’s silky scanties to the delight of (mostly male) passers-by.
That was more than three decades ago. Today, she is fast approaching 60 — an age when most women are happier slipping into bedsocks than bustiers.
Fabulous then and fabulous now: Jilly Johnson is as trim today as she was as a young model. Now a grandmother to three and a step-grandmother to seven, she will admit to being a size 10 and weighing 9 st 2lb
Jilly's measurements - which for the record used to be 34B-22-34 - are now off limits
So when, six months ago, Jilly was asked to model again for Janet Reger, she did what most women would do in her position. She panicked.
‘As soon as I’d discussed it with my husband and he’d agreed that I should go for it, I thought: “Oh My God, what am I doing?”?’ she says.
‘I called my personal trainer who normally visits once a week and booked him to come for an hour three times a week instead.
‘I couldn’t sleep a wink the night before. I felt so nervous, so vulnerable. These weren’t emotions I’d ever experienced before when modelling. I did question why, at my age, I was putting myself through this.’
She needn’t have lost any sleep. As these stunning pictures prove, the hard work clearly paid off.
With luminous and line-free skin, she has a body that wouldn’t look out of place in the professionals’ dressing room of Strictly Come Dancing.
Yet twice-married Jilly, who is now an author and actress, says that time has indeed caught up with her.
Now a grandmother to three and a step-grandmother to seven, she will admit to being a size 10 and weighing a trim 9?st 2?lb. But her measurements — which for the record used to be 34B-22-34 — are now off limits.
Six months ago, Jilly was asked to model again for Janet Reger. 'My biggest beauty secret is exfoliation. I do it all the time, but don't bother with expensive scrubs,' she said
‘Oh, I’m not even going there, because it’s far too depressing when I get to my middle bit,’ she says.
‘Ageing is so cruel. Sometimes when I’m crossing the road I spot a reflection of this blonde lady in the shop window and I don’t even recognise her. But it’s me.
‘As we get older there are certain things that leave us lacking in confidence. No longer do we have taut, concave tummies. I’ve got a bit of a jelly-belly, but I don’t know of a woman at my age who doesn’t, so I have to comfort myself with that.
‘Some days I think: “You’re not so bad for an old bird. You scrub up pretty well.” But at other times I’m fretting about my jowls, boobs, and bottom and the fact they’re all heading south.’
Once nicknamed ‘The Body’, Jilly was one of the most recognisable models in Britain during the Seventies and Eighties.
Born in 1953 in Australia, she moved to Hertfordshire (where she still lives) with her parents and brother when she was eight, and was all set to head for drama school when she was persuaded to try out for a modelling assignment. As the final shots were taken, Jilly — as a joke — took off her top.
The resulting pictures were splashed over a downmarket tabloid the next day. She was 16.
‘My parents called me rebel without a clue,’ she laughs. ‘I was so headstrong, I did whatever I liked. But I don’t regret what I did. It was an incredible launch pad for my modelling career and I had so much fun.
‘It was first-class flights, five-star hotels, it was all so crazy that at one point I had to ring down to reception to ask what country I was in.’
'My parents called me rebel without a clue. I was so headstrong,' said Jilly (pictured above in 1978)
At 19, she married businessman Brian Johnson ‘far too young’ and the couple had a daughter Lucy.
But the marriage ended after three years. After that, she admits she was often to be seen on the arm of various rock stars and men in the music industry.
Following a short-lived pop career with fellow model Nina Carter in the band Blonde on Blonde, Jilly met and married textile manufacturer Ashley Brodin, 66, and gave up modelling ten years ago to concentrate on writing, acting and looking after her grandchildren.
It was a chance meeting with Janet Reger’s daughter, Aliza, six months ago that led to this age-defying shoot.
‘I was Janet’s very first signing back in the Seventies but had lost touch with her and in 2005 heard the very sad news that she had died,’ she says.
‘A few months ago, I caught up with Aliza, who now designs for Debenhams, and we got talking about how so much advertising is youth-obsessed.
‘Aliza had a brainwave and said to me: “You were our very first model, why don’t you be our current one?” At first I laughed. I hadn’t modelled for more than a decade and really didn’t think I’d be in shape.
‘Then I learned that the photographer would be Brian Aris — who took my very first professional modelling shots nearly 40 years ago — and I decided to go for it. The location would be my house where, again, I’d feel more comfortable.’
In the weeks leading up to the shoot, Jilly threw herself into the kind of beauty and exercise regime that most of us can only maintain in the 24 hours before we hit a beach.
‘I don’t want anyone who sees these photographs to think that this is me naturally without lots of hard work, fake tan, make-up, lighting and a tiny bit of airbrushing,’ she says.
‘I did ask them to go light on the airbrushing though, because I wanted to keep it as realistic as possible.’
‘A lot of this is down to exercise and I hate exercise. I’m no good at it and each morning when my trainer rang the doorbell I’d screech abuse at him, because I didn’t want to do it.
‘I love my food — French brie, red wine, crusty bread — and I can never diet, so I knew that if I didn’t exercise, it would show. On the day of the shoot, I didn’t throw my clothes off like I used to.
'With every outfit I put on, I was trying to drape the scarf and silk negligee over my wobbly bits and Brian kept saying: “Leave it alone, you look fine!” but I wasn’t sure.
‘I was sucking in my stomach so much that I almost fainted.’
Yet as hard as she works to stay in shape, she has also had a little extra help along the way to maintain her youthful looks.
‘I’ve had Botox for donkey’s years,’ she says.
‘In the past I’ve overdone it and had that awful frozen look so many women get nowadays that means you can’t laugh with your eyes. The rest of your face moves but your eyes remain fixed — it’s not a good look.
‘Now, the only place I have it done is between my eyebrows, because I don’t want it to look too obvious. It’s not a secret and I’m not frightened to admit to it.’
'It was first-class flights, five-star hotels, it was all so crazy that at one point I had to ring down to reception to ask what country I was in,' said Jilly
What about more surgical procedures, though. Has she had a boob job, I wonder? She pauses, bites her lips, then decides she won’t go into specifics.
‘I’m not one to be usually coy about these things, but I don’t want to say anything because it will haunt me,’ she says.
‘I’m not denying it — because I don’t want to be untruthful — but if I say I’ve had something done it will follow me around for ever. All I will say is I don’t know of anyone in the Seventies who didn’t have a boob job.’
I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then.
Be that as it may, she insists that the greatest factor in her long-lasting good looks is not the surgeon’s knife, or even the make-up bag, but the gene pool.
‘I’m lucky I’ve inherited my mother’s olive skin which doesn’t wrinkle very much, incredible when you think of how abused it’s been over the years,’ she says.
‘When I think back to some of the things we did, I shudder. On swimwear shoots, we’d slather on cooking oil and literally fry.
'Now we’re paying the price because me and my modelling friends are always having bits chopped off us which are turning nasty. I’ve had a few naughty looking moles taken off before they turn cancerous.’
Her beauty regime today takes half the time and costs half the fortune that it did in years gone by.
‘I’m so over expensive brands. I used to trawl the make-up hall of Harrods and fall for the marketing and sales spiel, but now know it’s just not worth it.
'My beauty products are all picked up in the aisles of the supermarket. I cleanse my face with cheap wipes or pads. I’ve never used an eye or neck cream in my life, as I think they’re a gimmick.
‘But I do like body moisturiser. I love L’Oreal, Neutrogena, Nivea, E45. I buy those huge tubs of it and slather it on every night. I’m like a cross-Channel swimmer ready to face the waves before I go to bed.
‘I use fake tan occasionally but, again, only supermarket brands and once every six weeks I wash my hair in Fairy liquid. It’s fantastic for stripping off the build-up of conditioner.
‘My biggest beauty secret is exfoliation. I do it all the time, but don’t bother with expensive scrubs. I use sea salt from the kitchen when I’m in the shower. It works perfectly and gives your skin a lovely glow.’
And she’s also never felt better. Two years off the Big Six Zero, she credits HRT with helping her to feel healthy.
‘I was really lucky with the menopause,’ she says.
‘I got through it quickly, as I had a full hysterectomy about ten years ago and it was a blessed relief.
‘I’d had a history of gynaecological problems (she was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition at the age of 24) and so to be rid of the whole lot was brilliant.
‘I was a bit wary of going on to HRT, but I’ve never looked back and would definitely recommend it for those ladies who can take it.’
Yet even despite these gorgeous photographs, Jilly still maintains she’s not a beauty.
‘I know that I can smarten myself up and make the best of myself, but my features are too uneven, I have too many wobbly bits. ‘I suppose I could say I’m attractive but not beautiful.’
Proof that the only part of Jilly Johnson that appears to be deteriorating is her eyesight.
Last updated at 12:44 AM on 26th November 2011
Advertising billboards, glossy magazines, newspapers, television — she once even stood in the window of Janet Reger’s Bond Street store and modelled the lingerie queen’s silky scanties to the delight of (mostly male) passers-by.
That was more than three decades ago. Today, she is fast approaching 60 — an age when most women are happier slipping into bedsocks than bustiers.
Fabulous then and fabulous now: Jilly Johnson is as trim today as she was as a young model. Now a grandmother to three and a step-grandmother to seven, she will admit to being a size 10 and weighing 9 st 2lb
Jilly's measurements - which for the record used to be 34B-22-34 - are now off limits
So when, six months ago, Jilly was asked to model again for Janet Reger, she did what most women would do in her position. She panicked.
‘As soon as I’d discussed it with my husband and he’d agreed that I should go for it, I thought: “Oh My God, what am I doing?”?’ she says.
‘I called my personal trainer who normally visits once a week and booked him to come for an hour three times a week instead.
‘I couldn’t sleep a wink the night before. I felt so nervous, so vulnerable. These weren’t emotions I’d ever experienced before when modelling. I did question why, at my age, I was putting myself through this.’
She needn’t have lost any sleep. As these stunning pictures prove, the hard work clearly paid off.
With luminous and line-free skin, she has a body that wouldn’t look out of place in the professionals’ dressing room of Strictly Come Dancing.
Yet twice-married Jilly, who is now an author and actress, says that time has indeed caught up with her.
Now a grandmother to three and a step-grandmother to seven, she will admit to being a size 10 and weighing a trim 9?st 2?lb. But her measurements — which for the record used to be 34B-22-34 — are now off limits.
Six months ago, Jilly was asked to model again for Janet Reger. 'My biggest beauty secret is exfoliation. I do it all the time, but don't bother with expensive scrubs,' she said
‘Oh, I’m not even going there, because it’s far too depressing when I get to my middle bit,’ she says.
‘Ageing is so cruel. Sometimes when I’m crossing the road I spot a reflection of this blonde lady in the shop window and I don’t even recognise her. But it’s me.
‘As we get older there are certain things that leave us lacking in confidence. No longer do we have taut, concave tummies. I’ve got a bit of a jelly-belly, but I don’t know of a woman at my age who doesn’t, so I have to comfort myself with that.
‘Some days I think: “You’re not so bad for an old bird. You scrub up pretty well.” But at other times I’m fretting about my jowls, boobs, and bottom and the fact they’re all heading south.’
Once nicknamed ‘The Body’, Jilly was one of the most recognisable models in Britain during the Seventies and Eighties.
Born in 1953 in Australia, she moved to Hertfordshire (where she still lives) with her parents and brother when she was eight, and was all set to head for drama school when she was persuaded to try out for a modelling assignment. As the final shots were taken, Jilly — as a joke — took off her top.
The resulting pictures were splashed over a downmarket tabloid the next day. She was 16.
‘My parents called me rebel without a clue,’ she laughs. ‘I was so headstrong, I did whatever I liked. But I don’t regret what I did. It was an incredible launch pad for my modelling career and I had so much fun.
‘It was first-class flights, five-star hotels, it was all so crazy that at one point I had to ring down to reception to ask what country I was in.’
'My parents called me rebel without a clue. I was so headstrong,' said Jilly (pictured above in 1978)
At 19, she married businessman Brian Johnson ‘far too young’ and the couple had a daughter Lucy.
But the marriage ended after three years. After that, she admits she was often to be seen on the arm of various rock stars and men in the music industry.
Following a short-lived pop career with fellow model Nina Carter in the band Blonde on Blonde, Jilly met and married textile manufacturer Ashley Brodin, 66, and gave up modelling ten years ago to concentrate on writing, acting and looking after her grandchildren.
It was a chance meeting with Janet Reger’s daughter, Aliza, six months ago that led to this age-defying shoot.
‘I was Janet’s very first signing back in the Seventies but had lost touch with her and in 2005 heard the very sad news that she had died,’ she says.
‘A few months ago, I caught up with Aliza, who now designs for Debenhams, and we got talking about how so much advertising is youth-obsessed.
‘Aliza had a brainwave and said to me: “You were our very first model, why don’t you be our current one?” At first I laughed. I hadn’t modelled for more than a decade and really didn’t think I’d be in shape.
‘Then I learned that the photographer would be Brian Aris — who took my very first professional modelling shots nearly 40 years ago — and I decided to go for it. The location would be my house where, again, I’d feel more comfortable.’
In the weeks leading up to the shoot, Jilly threw herself into the kind of beauty and exercise regime that most of us can only maintain in the 24 hours before we hit a beach.
‘I don’t want anyone who sees these photographs to think that this is me naturally without lots of hard work, fake tan, make-up, lighting and a tiny bit of airbrushing,’ she says.
‘I did ask them to go light on the airbrushing though, because I wanted to keep it as realistic as possible.’
‘A lot of this is down to exercise and I hate exercise. I’m no good at it and each morning when my trainer rang the doorbell I’d screech abuse at him, because I didn’t want to do it.
‘I love my food — French brie, red wine, crusty bread — and I can never diet, so I knew that if I didn’t exercise, it would show. On the day of the shoot, I didn’t throw my clothes off like I used to.
'With every outfit I put on, I was trying to drape the scarf and silk negligee over my wobbly bits and Brian kept saying: “Leave it alone, you look fine!” but I wasn’t sure.
‘I was sucking in my stomach so much that I almost fainted.’
Yet as hard as she works to stay in shape, she has also had a little extra help along the way to maintain her youthful looks.
‘I’ve had Botox for donkey’s years,’ she says.
‘In the past I’ve overdone it and had that awful frozen look so many women get nowadays that means you can’t laugh with your eyes. The rest of your face moves but your eyes remain fixed — it’s not a good look.
‘Now, the only place I have it done is between my eyebrows, because I don’t want it to look too obvious. It’s not a secret and I’m not frightened to admit to it.’
'It was first-class flights, five-star hotels, it was all so crazy that at one point I had to ring down to reception to ask what country I was in,' said Jilly
What about more surgical procedures, though. Has she had a boob job, I wonder? She pauses, bites her lips, then decides she won’t go into specifics.
‘I’m not one to be usually coy about these things, but I don’t want to say anything because it will haunt me,’ she says.
‘I’m not denying it — because I don’t want to be untruthful — but if I say I’ve had something done it will follow me around for ever. All I will say is I don’t know of anyone in the Seventies who didn’t have a boob job.’
I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then.
Be that as it may, she insists that the greatest factor in her long-lasting good looks is not the surgeon’s knife, or even the make-up bag, but the gene pool.
‘I’m lucky I’ve inherited my mother’s olive skin which doesn’t wrinkle very much, incredible when you think of how abused it’s been over the years,’ she says.
‘When I think back to some of the things we did, I shudder. On swimwear shoots, we’d slather on cooking oil and literally fry.
'Now we’re paying the price because me and my modelling friends are always having bits chopped off us which are turning nasty. I’ve had a few naughty looking moles taken off before they turn cancerous.’
Her beauty regime today takes half the time and costs half the fortune that it did in years gone by.
‘I’m so over expensive brands. I used to trawl the make-up hall of Harrods and fall for the marketing and sales spiel, but now know it’s just not worth it.
'My beauty products are all picked up in the aisles of the supermarket. I cleanse my face with cheap wipes or pads. I’ve never used an eye or neck cream in my life, as I think they’re a gimmick.
‘But I do like body moisturiser. I love L’Oreal, Neutrogena, Nivea, E45. I buy those huge tubs of it and slather it on every night. I’m like a cross-Channel swimmer ready to face the waves before I go to bed.
‘I use fake tan occasionally but, again, only supermarket brands and once every six weeks I wash my hair in Fairy liquid. It’s fantastic for stripping off the build-up of conditioner.
‘My biggest beauty secret is exfoliation. I do it all the time, but don’t bother with expensive scrubs. I use sea salt from the kitchen when I’m in the shower. It works perfectly and gives your skin a lovely glow.’
And she’s also never felt better. Two years off the Big Six Zero, she credits HRT with helping her to feel healthy.
‘I was really lucky with the menopause,’ she says.
‘I got through it quickly, as I had a full hysterectomy about ten years ago and it was a blessed relief.
‘I’d had a history of gynaecological problems (she was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition at the age of 24) and so to be rid of the whole lot was brilliant.
Yet even despite these gorgeous photographs, Jilly still maintains she’s not a beauty.
Proof that the only part of Jilly Johnson that appears to be deteriorating is her eyesight.
Eyes, lips, feet, hands: Can you guess which of our finest features we model?
By Helen Carroll
Last updated at 9:53 AM on 25th November 2011
What woman could resist fantasising about the value of her dishpan hands when it was revealed this week that a model has insured hers for ?5million?
But hands are not the only body parts in demand for advertising work. Here, six women who model their finest features share their stories with Helen Carroll.
The eyes have it: Stacey's height did not get in the way of her eye modelling
1) Stacey Hannat, 20, lives in Doncaster with her parents and brother, William, 15. She has taken a year out of her degree course in Sports Science to concentrate on eye modelling
Body part: Eyes
Earnings: Up to ?1,500 a day for up to four days a month for clients including Nail Roc and WeightWatchers
Stacey says: 'People have commented on my unusual eyes since I was little.
'They seem to change colour with the seasons. They’re officially hazel, but in spring and summer they look green, while in winter they’re brown.
'My eyelashes are very long, too, and I remember a teacher telling me I didn’t need mascara because I had such lovely eyes.
'Then, just over a year ago I met Gemma Howorth at a party and she remarked on my eyes and said she could easily get me work as an eye model.
'I jumped at the chance — I’d always fancied modelling — but thought I was too short at 5ft 3in. Luckily, eye models can be any height.
'My biggest job this year was shooting a TV advert for WeightWatchers which earned me ?1,500 for a day’s work.
'I can earn up to ?6,000 a month. I make sure I get a good eight hours sleep every night so that my eyes always look bright and shiny.'
Top tip: I rub Vaseline on my lashes to make them look thicker and rub cocoa butter underneath my eyes to tighten the skin.
Limber: Natalie's torso was immortalised in the Bond film Casino Royale
2) Natalie Charles, 35, is divorced and lives in a four-bedroom house in Bromley, South London, with her son Oliver, seven. She has been a modelling for 11 years.
Body Part: Torso
Earnings: Up to ?1,000 a day working up to eight times a month for clients including M&S and Next
Natalie says: 'My most high-profile role to date was for the Bond film, Casino Royale.
My headless body was covered in gold paint and photographed and displayed on posters.
'My body has also featured in an ad campaign for LK Bennett, as well as jewellery and handbag advertising posters for High Street stores.
'These pay around ?600 a day. My torso regularly turns up in glossy magazines in various designer campaigns.
'I am occasionally asked to show my face while modelling, but my body is my greatest asset.
'I never set out to be a model. I’m a classically trained pianist and singer/songwriter who was ‘spotted’ by a photographer who took some promotional shots of me and said I would be perfect for it.
'I’m lucky enough to be 5ft 10in tall, a size 8 and have a naturally muscular torso. I walk and ride my horse, but that’s all.
'Friends are sickened by how easy I find it to maintain my figure. One friend of a friend saw a picture of me in a bikini and said: ‘I would NEVER go on holiday with someone with a body like THAT!’
'I’m not careful about what I eat — I love chocolate — I just have a fast metabolism.
'While there are lots of pretty girls, long, toned bodies seem harder to find — which is great news for me.'
Top tip: I avoid aerobic exercise like gym workouts because they make my shoulders look big and my body too muscular.
Hand me down: Gemma's hands appear in 250 television adverts for a range of products
3) Gemma Howarth, 27, lives with husband Marcus in West London. She’s modelled for ten years and owns her own agency, bodylondon.com
Body part: Hands
Earnings: Up to ?3,000 a day working 16 days a month for clients including Yves Saint Laurent and Tesco
Gemma says: 'I was forever being told off at my school for filing and painting my nails. But I never dreamed my manicured hands would one day earn me a fortune.
'I’ve got long, slender fingers and deep nail beds and my hands were first noticed at 17 when a friend’s mum, a photographer, suggested I try hand modelling.
'I joined an agency’s books and have worked solidly ever since.
After seeing how much demand there was for different body parts, I set up my own agency.
'My hands appear in 250 TV ads for a wide range of products, including Fairy Liquid and Nokia. Few people go to the lengths I do to keep their fingers looking tip-top.
'I never wash up or do any housework, I moisturise my hands after every wash and always wear gloves if sunbathing.
'I don’t expect my hands to start wrinkling before my 40s and see no reason why I can’t keep working well into old age.
'My fingers are my fortune, which is why I’ve insured them with Lloyds of London for ?5?million.'
Top tip: 'I rub almond oil into my hands countless times a day. It’s the best moisturiser there is, and great for cuticles.'
Li service: Jemma's top tip is to use nipple cream on her lips to keep them in the best condition
4) Jemma Jade Saare, 24, lives in Staffordshire with her boyfriend, Neil Wharton, 25, an executive sales manager. She is studying literature at Birmingham City University and has been modelling for a year
Body part: Lips
Earnings: Up to ?2,000 a day for up to six days a month for clients including Tatler and M&S
Jemma Jade says: 'Last week I — or should I say my lips — spent a day filming a TV advert for WeightWatchers and earned ?3,000 for two days — that’s not bad for a student.
'All I had to do was be filmed with bits of pineapple and vitamin tablets perched between my lips.
'I’ve been modelling since I was nine, but then I met Gemma Howorth last year, and she suggested I try lip modelling.
'I’ve since done make-up and necklace shots focused solely on my lips, chin, neck and chest. I’m told it’s important that the models have very full lips.
'I’m half-Chinese, and half- Estonian, so if the clients want an ethnic look I’m also a good bet.
'People have always commented on my lips, telling me how luscious they are, but I hadn’t realised before there was a market for individual body parts.
'I avoid greasy food as I can’t turn up at a shoot with a spotty chin and am careful to keep my lips well moisturised. I also make sure I wax and bleach my top lip, as hairs can be magnified on camera.
'I never drink coffee and very rarely have red wine because I worry about staining my teeth, which I brush several times a day with a whitening toothpaste.
'My boyfriend tells me I have lovely lips — but thankfully he’s pretty keen on the rest of me, too.'
Top tip: 'I use Lansinoh nipple cream, designed to prevent cracked nipples in breastfeeding mothers, on my lips. It’s so much more effective at moisturising than any balms I’ve ever tried.'
Best foot forward: Izzy walks 'everywhere' and is cautious not to bruise easily
5) Kayko Andrieux, 33, is single and lives in Fulham, West London. She has modelled for 12 years.
Body part: Feet
Earnings: Up to ?1,000 a day working up to 16 days a month for clients including Mercedes Benz and London Overground.
Kayko says: 'I was doing a fashion photoshoot in New York when the pedicurist remarked on my lovely feet and asked if I’d thought about foot modelling.
'At 5ft 7in tall I was too petite for lots of fashion work and, after pulling in about ?1,500 for my first foot modelling job in New York, I soon realised my tootsies were my greatest asset, especially as there aren’t too many black foot models around.
'I moved to London five years ago, to be with a boyfriend and my size five feet continue to help pay the bills.
'Fortunately for me, most catwalk models have ugly feet — with bunions and corns from years of squeezing them into ill-fitting shoes, not good when Prada or Louboutin are unveiling that season’s new range.
'I rub Vaseline into my feet before putting on socks at bedtime and have hot wax pedicures three times a week.
'I’ve steered clear of nightclubs since the time a couple of years back when someone stood on my big toe so hard my nail turned black and fell off, leaving me out of work for ten weeks and thousands of pounds down.
'I insured my feet for ?300,000 in the U.S. but I have yet to do it here.
'When people stand too close I feel like saying: ‘Have you any idea that you’re messing with my livelihood?’'
Top tip: 'I wear high heels only when I’m modelling or on special occasions - Victoria Beckham’s bunion is proof of how bad they are for you.'
Hot foot it: Kayko's clients include Bionda Castana Christian Louboutin
6) Izzy Schimek, 27, a Spanish literature graduate from West London, has been modelling for four years.
Body part: Legs
Earnings: Up to ?1,500 a day, working up to ten times a month for clients including Christian Louboutin
Izzy says: 'I’m blessed with being long-limbed and having tiny, size three feet — the perfect combination for a leg model.
'Small feet make legs look longer and shoe designers tend to create sample pairs in sizes three and four, which is too small for most catwalk models.
'I’m 5ft 8in tall and my legs are proportionately longer than my body. I’m often asked how I manage to stay upright!
'My mother has the same proportions, and was a leg model for Bally and Bata shoes in the Sixties and Seventies.
'After finishing my studies at University College London four years ago, I decided to exploit what nature had bestowed on me and contacted some agencies. Leg modelling is comfortingly anonymous.
'The best part of my job is that I get to wear lovely shoes. I’ve modelled for Kurt Geiger, Christian Louboutin and Office. The money is great, too — I can earn ?1,500 a day for an ad campaign.
'When advertisers are promoting shoes, hosiery or handbags, they don’t want their audience getting distracted by a model’s face.
'I walk everywhere and go to the gym three times a week to keep my legs in shape. I also shave them regularly and always wear tights for an extra layer of protection.
'I don’t do contact sports and try not to bash into things — bruises are not good for a leg model.
'I’ll now have to think about getting my legs insured!'
Top tip: Rub cocoa butter into your legs twice a day to keep skin moisturised and supple.
Last updated at 9:53 AM on 25th November 2011
What woman could resist fantasising about the value of her dishpan hands when it was revealed this week that a model has insured hers for ?5million?
The eyes have it: Stacey's height did not get in the way of her eye modelling
1) Stacey Hannat, 20, lives in Doncaster with her parents and brother, William, 15. She has taken a year out of her degree course in Sports Science to concentrate on eye modelling
Body part: Eyes
Earnings: Up to ?1,500 a day for up to four days a month for clients including Nail Roc and WeightWatchers
Stacey says: 'People have commented on my unusual eyes since I was little.
'My eyelashes are very long, too, and I remember a teacher telling me I didn’t need mascara because I had such lovely eyes.
'Then, just over a year ago I met Gemma Howorth at a party and she remarked on my eyes and said she could easily get me work as an eye model.
'I jumped at the chance — I’d always fancied modelling — but thought I was too short at 5ft 3in. Luckily, eye models can be any height.
'My biggest job this year was shooting a TV advert for WeightWatchers which earned me ?1,500 for a day’s work.
'I can earn up to ?6,000 a month. I make sure I get a good eight hours sleep every night so that my eyes always look bright and shiny.'
Top tip: I rub Vaseline on my lashes to make them look thicker and rub cocoa butter underneath my eyes to tighten the skin.
Limber: Natalie's torso was immortalised in the Bond film Casino Royale
Body Part: Torso
Earnings: Up to ?1,000 a day working up to eight times a month for clients including M&S and Next
Natalie says: 'My most high-profile role to date was for the Bond film, Casino Royale.
My headless body was covered in gold paint and photographed and displayed on posters.
'My body has also featured in an ad campaign for LK Bennett, as well as jewellery and handbag advertising posters for High Street stores.
'These pay around ?600 a day. My torso regularly turns up in glossy magazines in various designer campaigns.
'I am occasionally asked to show my face while modelling, but my body is my greatest asset.
'I never set out to be a model. I’m a classically trained pianist and singer/songwriter who was ‘spotted’ by a photographer who took some promotional shots of me and said I would be perfect for it.
'I’m lucky enough to be 5ft 10in tall, a size 8 and have a naturally muscular torso. I walk and ride my horse, but that’s all.
'Friends are sickened by how easy I find it to maintain my figure. One friend of a friend saw a picture of me in a bikini and said: ‘I would NEVER go on holiday with someone with a body like THAT!’
'I’m not careful about what I eat — I love chocolate — I just have a fast metabolism.
'While there are lots of pretty girls, long, toned bodies seem harder to find — which is great news for me.'
Top tip: I avoid aerobic exercise like gym workouts because they make my shoulders look big and my body too muscular.
Hand me down: Gemma's hands appear in 250 television adverts for a range of products
3) Gemma Howarth, 27, lives with husband Marcus in West London. She’s modelled for ten years and owns her own agency, bodylondon.com
Body part: Hands
Earnings: Up to ?3,000 a day working 16 days a month for clients including Yves Saint Laurent and Tesco
Gemma says: 'I was forever being told off at my school for filing and painting my nails. But I never dreamed my manicured hands would one day earn me a fortune.
'I’ve got long, slender fingers and deep nail beds and my hands were first noticed at 17 when a friend’s mum, a photographer, suggested I try hand modelling.
'I joined an agency’s books and have worked solidly ever since.
After seeing how much demand there was for different body parts, I set up my own agency.
'My hands appear in 250 TV ads for a wide range of products, including Fairy Liquid and Nokia. Few people go to the lengths I do to keep their fingers looking tip-top.
'I never wash up or do any housework, I moisturise my hands after every wash and always wear gloves if sunbathing.
'I don’t expect my hands to start wrinkling before my 40s and see no reason why I can’t keep working well into old age.
'My fingers are my fortune, which is why I’ve insured them with Lloyds of London for ?5?million.'
Top tip: 'I rub almond oil into my hands countless times a day. It’s the best moisturiser there is, and great for cuticles.'
Li service: Jemma's top tip is to use nipple cream on her lips to keep them in the best condition
4) Jemma Jade Saare, 24, lives in Staffordshire with her boyfriend, Neil Wharton, 25, an executive sales manager. She is studying literature at Birmingham City University and has been modelling for a year
Body part: Lips
Earnings: Up to ?2,000 a day for up to six days a month for clients including Tatler and M&S
Jemma Jade says: 'Last week I — or should I say my lips — spent a day filming a TV advert for WeightWatchers and earned ?3,000 for two days — that’s not bad for a student.
'All I had to do was be filmed with bits of pineapple and vitamin tablets perched between my lips.
'I’ve been modelling since I was nine, but then I met Gemma Howorth last year, and she suggested I try lip modelling.
'I’ve since done make-up and necklace shots focused solely on my lips, chin, neck and chest. I’m told it’s important that the models have very full lips.
'I’m half-Chinese, and half- Estonian, so if the clients want an ethnic look I’m also a good bet.
'People have always commented on my lips, telling me how luscious they are, but I hadn’t realised before there was a market for individual body parts.
'I avoid greasy food as I can’t turn up at a shoot with a spotty chin and am careful to keep my lips well moisturised. I also make sure I wax and bleach my top lip, as hairs can be magnified on camera.
'I never drink coffee and very rarely have red wine because I worry about staining my teeth, which I brush several times a day with a whitening toothpaste.
'My boyfriend tells me I have lovely lips — but thankfully he’s pretty keen on the rest of me, too.'
Top tip: 'I use Lansinoh nipple cream, designed to prevent cracked nipples in breastfeeding mothers, on my lips. It’s so much more effective at moisturising than any balms I’ve ever tried.'
Best foot forward: Izzy walks 'everywhere' and is cautious not to bruise easily
5) Kayko Andrieux, 33, is single and lives in Fulham, West London. She has modelled for 12 years.
Body part: Feet
Earnings: Up to ?1,000 a day working up to 16 days a month for clients including Mercedes Benz and London Overground.
Kayko says: 'I was doing a fashion photoshoot in New York when the pedicurist remarked on my lovely feet and asked if I’d thought about foot modelling.
'At 5ft 7in tall I was too petite for lots of fashion work and, after pulling in about ?1,500 for my first foot modelling job in New York, I soon realised my tootsies were my greatest asset, especially as there aren’t too many black foot models around.
'I moved to London five years ago, to be with a boyfriend and my size five feet continue to help pay the bills.
'Fortunately for me, most catwalk models have ugly feet — with bunions and corns from years of squeezing them into ill-fitting shoes, not good when Prada or Louboutin are unveiling that season’s new range.
'I rub Vaseline into my feet before putting on socks at bedtime and have hot wax pedicures three times a week.
'I’ve steered clear of nightclubs since the time a couple of years back when someone stood on my big toe so hard my nail turned black and fell off, leaving me out of work for ten weeks and thousands of pounds down.
'I insured my feet for ?300,000 in the U.S. but I have yet to do it here.
'When people stand too close I feel like saying: ‘Have you any idea that you’re messing with my livelihood?’'
Top tip: 'I wear high heels only when I’m modelling or on special occasions - Victoria Beckham’s bunion is proof of how bad they are for you.'
Hot foot it: Kayko's clients include Bionda Castana Christian Louboutin
6) Izzy Schimek, 27, a Spanish literature graduate from West London, has been modelling for four years.
Body part: Legs
Earnings: Up to ?1,500 a day, working up to ten times a month for clients including Christian Louboutin
Izzy says: 'I’m blessed with being long-limbed and having tiny, size three feet — the perfect combination for a leg model.
'Small feet make legs look longer and shoe designers tend to create sample pairs in sizes three and four, which is too small for most catwalk models.
'I’m 5ft 8in tall and my legs are proportionately longer than my body. I’m often asked how I manage to stay upright!
'My mother has the same proportions, and was a leg model for Bally and Bata shoes in the Sixties and Seventies.
'After finishing my studies at University College London four years ago, I decided to exploit what nature had bestowed on me and contacted some agencies. Leg modelling is comfortingly anonymous.
'The best part of my job is that I get to wear lovely shoes. I’ve modelled for Kurt Geiger, Christian Louboutin and Office. The money is great, too — I can earn ?1,500 a day for an ad campaign.
'When advertisers are promoting shoes, hosiery or handbags, they don’t want their audience getting distracted by a model’s face.
'I walk everywhere and go to the gym three times a week to keep my legs in shape. I also shave them regularly and always wear tights for an extra layer of protection.
'I don’t do contact sports and try not to bash into things — bruises are not good for a leg model.
'I’ll now have to think about getting my legs insured!'
Top tip: Rub cocoa butter into your legs twice a day to keep skin moisturised and supple.
Why it pays to blow your own trumpet: Forget modesty - new research reveals the only way to get on in life is shameless self-promotion
By Linda Kelsey
Last updated at 8:15 PM on 27th November 2011
Before the publication of her debut novel, Natasha Solomons would wander in and out of bookshops despairing over how her publication would ever get noticed in a sea of other titles.
‘As a new writer,’ she says, ‘I understood that self-promotion was essential. There are so many books out there — why on earth would a reader pick up mine if they’d never heard of me?’
So the 31-year-old hatched a plot as crafty as that in any novel to get noticed, by trying to beat the world record for the largest number of publicity events — interviews, book readings, signings and such like — for a single book.
Stand out from the crowd: Don't be afraid to promote yourself if you want to be successful
It was enough to get a buzz going. She was invited to speak on Radio 4’s flagship arts programme Front Row before the book had even come out.
And the publicity worked. Since it came out last year, her novel Mr Rosenblum’s List or Friendly Guidance for the Aspiring Englishman has been translated into ten languages and reached the number one spot in Australia.
Natasha understood that self-promotion was the key to success. But why do many women shy away from this? Could it be our traditional British reserve, or the sense that’s it’s inherently unfeminine to champion yourself that is holding us back?
Not only are women bad at self-promotion, sometimes we even do the opposite.
Peninah Thomson, chief executive of the Mentoring Foundation which aims to get more women round the boardroom table, says: ‘Women are more likely to tell you three good reasons why they’re not ready for promotion, whereas a man will give you ten good reasons why you should promote him, even if they are of equal ability.
Publicity machine: Author Natasha Solomons went into overdrive to promote her novel
‘Some women thrive when they are reminded how good they are, due to the fact women are more self-critical. But they should understand that self-promotion is not about puffing yourself up, but stating the truth about your achievements with poise and confidence.
‘Women also need to assume authority rather than waiting to be given it.’
Findings by the international research group Catalyst has found that self-promotion is the single most effective key to women’s success, not just in business but romance and friendship, too.
Those who did the most to make their achievements known advanced further, were more satisfied with their careers and got better pay rises than those who didn’t.
As word-of-mouth about Natasha’s book spread, sales increased — proof that in today’s world, whether you like it or not, smart self-marketing is critical to success.
Kate Grussing, managing director of Sapphire Partners which helps companies hire and promote senior women, says: ‘There are times when modesty is appropriate — giving credit to your team for example — and times when it isn’t.
‘There are very few examples of senior executives who are soft-spoken introverts.’
So what can women do to boost their self-confidence — and consequently their willingness to self-promote — in the workplace?
HIGH STEAKS
Lady Gaga once wore a dress made entirely out of meat in a PR stunt that made world news
First and foremost, says Kate, is taking the time and having the patience to ‘get sufficient road under your tyres’. In other words, the route up the ladder demands resilience and hard work, not just telling yourself you’re a star.
Along the way you need to invest in yourself, Kate believes, by getting further qualifications. And then there are things such as public speaking, essential today whether you are fundraising for a local charity or presenting to your team. Another tool is networking.
Adds Kate: ‘Seek out roles in which you might fail. Go for jobs without waiting to be tapped on the shoulder. Take risks.’
One woman who epitomises what self-promotion combined with what pure graft can achieve is Michelle Mone, the entrepreneur who has built her Ultimo lingerie brand into an international success and was recently voted Britain’s most powerful woman by Glamour Magazine.
Last year, after losing 6st in just three years, and in a brilliant piece of self-promotion that boosted her brand, the mother-of-three stripped off, aged 39, to become Ultimo’s own underwear model.
Glamorous as she is, following in the footsteps of Ultimo models Kelly Brook and Penny Lancaster, might have been a risk too far for the average businesswoman.
‘I’d worked hard at getting fit,’ says Michelle, ‘and it was the first time in years I felt confident about my body, so in part I was doing it for me.
‘But I also saw this as a way of connecting with real women and making them feel part of the brand.’
As Ultimo sales continue to rise it’s clear Michelle’s stunt paid off.
But it’s not just your career that can benefit from self-promotion. Being proactive and putting yourself out there can give your social and love life a boost, too.
Ultimate success: Founder of Ultimo lingerie, Michelle Mone, has been awarded an OBE and boosted her company further when she posed in the underwear
Just as many women struggle to shout about their achievements at work for fear of looking arrogant, similarly it can be hard to make new friendships as women don’t like to be seen to talk about how warm and supportive they are. After all, no one likes a show-off.
Adele McLay, 47, left behind her high-powered career as a financial consultant in New Zealand when she moved to London with her husband and daughter five years ago.
‘It was difficult leaving my job, friends and family to come to a place where I didn’t know anyone, with a young child to look after,’ she explains.
‘I knew I had to re-establish myself, so I made an effort to meet people and get involved with the local community.
‘First I volunteered as a guided reading helper at my daughter Gemma’s school and helped with its fundraising activities so that I got to know some of the other parents.
‘Then I became a “friend” of the local concert halls, supporting their events and helping to organise charity evenings.
When our neighbours set up a supper club, we hosted events at our flat and met all sorts of people from all over the area.’
Five years on, her enthusiasm has paid off. ‘Now I have a good network of friends and business acquaintances,’ she says.
Volunteer rather than waiting to be asked.Take a risk — such as working abroad for six months.Strike a balance between confidence and over-confidence.Be visible rather than reticent.Request a pay increase rather than assume one.Focus on your successes rather than your failures.Network, network, network.Seek out a mentor, someone who will champion you. People love to give advice.Dress for the job you want. Buy a new suit if you are going for a more senior role.
In fact, Adele became so good at making friends, she now makes a living out of it — as the director of a networking organisation for businesses in the South-east of England for Business Network International.
‘If I hadn’t been forced to promote myself and have the self-belief to go out and make a new group of friends, I probably would never have got this job,’ she says.
The rewards of self-promotion don’t stop there, either. Stella Biggins, 35, from Wales, has used it to find romance after years of being stuck in a relationship rut.
‘I was finding it hard to meet anybody new,’ she confides. ‘I started by joining a rowing club and an art class, which was a great way to meet people and helped me to feel confident chatting to new people. But there weren’t many men there.’
‘Then I started my own Facebook page to get myself noticed and asked every one of my friends to suggest one male friend who they thought would be suitable for me and to set up a date.’
It worked. Not only did Stella meet her current partner, Aled, through an old school mate, but she also made new friends.
‘Even though it was scary at first, the experience boosted my self-esteem and forced me to believe in myself. ’
The message is salutary but clear. Be proactive, put yourself forward and self-promote.
A go-getting attitude will get you a long way — a new career, promotion or perhaps new friends. And, who knows, you might even find love.
Last updated at 8:15 PM on 27th November 2011
‘As a new writer,’ she says, ‘I understood that self-promotion was essential. There are so many books out there — why on earth would a reader pick up mine if they’d never heard of me?’
So the 31-year-old hatched a plot as crafty as that in any novel to get noticed, by trying to beat the world record for the largest number of publicity events — interviews, book readings, signings and such like — for a single book.
Stand out from the crowd: Don't be afraid to promote yourself if you want to be successful
It was enough to get a buzz going. She was invited to speak on Radio 4’s flagship arts programme Front Row before the book had even come out.
Natasha understood that self-promotion was the key to success. But why do many women shy away from this? Could it be our traditional British reserve, or the sense that’s it’s inherently unfeminine to champion yourself that is holding us back?
Not only are women bad at self-promotion, sometimes we even do the opposite.
Peninah Thomson, chief executive of the Mentoring Foundation which aims to get more women round the boardroom table, says: ‘Women are more likely to tell you three good reasons why they’re not ready for promotion, whereas a man will give you ten good reasons why you should promote him, even if they are of equal ability.
Publicity machine: Author Natasha Solomons went into overdrive to promote her novel
‘Some women thrive when they are reminded how good they are, due to the fact women are more self-critical. But they should understand that self-promotion is not about puffing yourself up, but stating the truth about your achievements with poise and confidence.
‘Women also need to assume authority rather than waiting to be given it.’
Findings by the international research group Catalyst has found that self-promotion is the single most effective key to women’s success, not just in business but romance and friendship, too.
Those who did the most to make their achievements known advanced further, were more satisfied with their careers and got better pay rises than those who didn’t.
As word-of-mouth about Natasha’s book spread, sales increased — proof that in today’s world, whether you like it or not, smart self-marketing is critical to success.
Kate Grussing, managing director of Sapphire Partners which helps companies hire and promote senior women, says: ‘There are times when modesty is appropriate — giving credit to your team for example — and times when it isn’t.
‘There are very few examples of senior executives who are soft-spoken introverts.’
So what can women do to boost their self-confidence — and consequently their willingness to self-promote — in the workplace?
HIGH STEAKS
Lady Gaga once wore a dress made entirely out of meat in a PR stunt that made world news
First and foremost, says Kate, is taking the time and having the patience to ‘get sufficient road under your tyres’. In other words, the route up the ladder demands resilience and hard work, not just telling yourself you’re a star.
Along the way you need to invest in yourself, Kate believes, by getting further qualifications. And then there are things such as public speaking, essential today whether you are fundraising for a local charity or presenting to your team. Another tool is networking.
Adds Kate: ‘Seek out roles in which you might fail. Go for jobs without waiting to be tapped on the shoulder. Take risks.’
One woman who epitomises what self-promotion combined with what pure graft can achieve is Michelle Mone, the entrepreneur who has built her Ultimo lingerie brand into an international success and was recently voted Britain’s most powerful woman by Glamour Magazine.
Last year, after losing 6st in just three years, and in a brilliant piece of self-promotion that boosted her brand, the mother-of-three stripped off, aged 39, to become Ultimo’s own underwear model.
Glamorous as she is, following in the footsteps of Ultimo models Kelly Brook and Penny Lancaster, might have been a risk too far for the average businesswoman.
‘I’d worked hard at getting fit,’ says Michelle, ‘and it was the first time in years I felt confident about my body, so in part I was doing it for me.
‘But I also saw this as a way of connecting with real women and making them feel part of the brand.’
As Ultimo sales continue to rise it’s clear Michelle’s stunt paid off.
But it’s not just your career that can benefit from self-promotion. Being proactive and putting yourself out there can give your social and love life a boost, too.
Ultimate success: Founder of Ultimo lingerie, Michelle Mone, has been awarded an OBE and boosted her company further when she posed in the underwear
Just as many women struggle to shout about their achievements at work for fear of looking arrogant, similarly it can be hard to make new friendships as women don’t like to be seen to talk about how warm and supportive they are. After all, no one likes a show-off.
Adele McLay, 47, left behind her high-powered career as a financial consultant in New Zealand when she moved to London with her husband and daughter five years ago.
‘It was difficult leaving my job, friends and family to come to a place where I didn’t know anyone, with a young child to look after,’ she explains.
‘I knew I had to re-establish myself, so I made an effort to meet people and get involved with the local community.
‘First I volunteered as a guided reading helper at my daughter Gemma’s school and helped with its fundraising activities so that I got to know some of the other parents.
‘Then I became a “friend” of the local concert halls, supporting their events and helping to organise charity evenings.
When our neighbours set up a supper club, we hosted events at our flat and met all sorts of people from all over the area.’
Five years on, her enthusiasm has paid off. ‘Now I have a good network of friends and business acquaintances,’ she says.
Volunteer rather than waiting to be asked.Take a risk — such as working abroad for six months.Strike a balance between confidence and over-confidence.Be visible rather than reticent.Request a pay increase rather than assume one.Focus on your successes rather than your failures.Network, network, network.Seek out a mentor, someone who will champion you. People love to give advice.Dress for the job you want. Buy a new suit if you are going for a more senior role.
In fact, Adele became so good at making friends, she now makes a living out of it — as the director of a networking organisation for businesses in the South-east of England for Business Network International.
‘If I hadn’t been forced to promote myself and have the self-belief to go out and make a new group of friends, I probably would never have got this job,’ she says.
The rewards of self-promotion don’t stop there, either. Stella Biggins, 35, from Wales, has used it to find romance after years of being stuck in a relationship rut.
‘I was finding it hard to meet anybody new,’ she confides. ‘I started by joining a rowing club and an art class, which was a great way to meet people and helped me to feel confident chatting to new people. But there weren’t many men there.’
‘Then I started my own Facebook page to get myself noticed and asked every one of my friends to suggest one male friend who they thought would be suitable for me and to set up a date.’
It worked. Not only did Stella meet her current partner, Aled, through an old school mate, but she also made new friends.
‘Even though it was scary at first, the experience boosted my self-esteem and forced me to believe in myself. ’
The message is salutary but clear. Be proactive, put yourself forward and self-promote.
A go-getting attitude will get you a long way — a new career, promotion or perhaps new friends. And, who knows, you might even find love.
Olympic medallist Liz McColgan reveals the bitter truth about her marriage
By Patricia Kane
Last updated at 3:50 PM on 27th November 2011
Fresh start: Liz McColgan talks about the heartache behind her public image
Standing facing her husband of 23 years across the courtroom, Olympic medal winner Liz McColgan felt as if she was staring into the eyes of a stranger.
The mother of five listened angrily as Peter McColgan claimed she had assaulted him in front of their children in the family home, and then publicly accused her of being unfaithful in their marriage.
But in just two hours last week, a court would dismiss his allegations after he was branded ‘shifty and conniving’, making up the allegations to ‘ruin’ the retired track star’s coaching career.
For Liz, 47, the outcome was a welcome relief in more ways than one. Not only was her humiliation at standing in the dock over but finally their sham of a marriage was out in the open and there would be no further need to cover up the heartache behind her public image.
Today, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, the retired athlete speaks candidly for the first time about the break-up of her marriage and her determination to rebuild her life away from a husband she claims ‘never loved me, only my name and my wealth’.
She also reveals her anger at being treated like a criminal after being arrested over the ‘assault’ on her husband, and of how she hopes now to be given a second chance in love after finding a new partner.
Sitting in the family’s ?750,000 Victorian home close to Carnoustie, near Dundee, she said: ‘Peter is not the person I knew. I thought he was a person who was in love with me, that we had this fantastic life together, but now I know he was with me for the great lifestyle and who I was. I don’t think he ever loved me at all.’
Last year, the couple revealed that their marriage was over and announced their intention to divorce. However, they said they would still live together for the sake of their children Eilish, 21, Martin, 12, Eamonn, 11, Kieran, nine, and Orla, six. The pair would also continue to run their gym business in the grounds of their home.
But the civilised facade was smashed irretrievably in July, when the couple clashed after she received a letter suddenly from Mr McColgan’s lawyer, suggesting they should sell their luxury home.
In court last week, Mr McColgan, a former Northern Ireland steeplechase runner, claimed that in a heated exchange with his wife, he was ‘prodded’ and punched twice on the face by her before she threw his clothes out of a window, in front of their children.
Recalling the events of that night, which would finally end any appearance of a marriage and see Liz arrested the following day, she said: ‘I can never forgive him for putting me and our children through this ordeal.
United: Liz and Peter McColgan with their children in 2008
‘When the lawyer’s letter arrived, I felt sick to my stomach and I jumped into the car from Loughborough, where I was staying with a friend, and drove for six-and-a-half hours home to confront Peter.
‘I remember when I finally got there, he was standing at the cooker and started sniggering when I asked him why he’d had the letter sent. I shoved him to get him to turn round. He says I punched him in front of the kids, which is not true and the court didn’t believe him either.
‘Yes, our kids were upset that night but not because they saw me hitting him. It was because they heard the argument about him wanting the house sold.’ She admits she then asked him to leave the house, and when he refused she threw his clothes out of the window three times – and each time, stubbornly, he retrieved them – before finally departing.
The following afternoon, Liz said, she was playing rounders in the garden with her children when two police officers arrived to arrest her and take her away. She said: ‘At first, I thought someone was going to step in and say they were joking. When I realised they were absolutely serious, all I could think of were the kids and trying to get someone to look after them while I sorted out the mess.
‘But at the station, two officers held me firmly by each hand – they said it was the alternative to handcuffing me – and frogmarched me to a cell.
Relief: Liz was cleared of assaulting Peter but the case was dismissed and he was described him as 'shifty and conniving'
‘I broke down at that point. It was all too much. I was being treated like a criminal for something I hadn’t done. They took off my rings, fingerprinted me and took my photograph. It was unbelievable. After about two hours in the cell, they took me to an interview room where they put all the allegations to me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was like fantasy land. Yes, I shoved him and I shouldn’t have but I certainly didn’t punch him. I said “No comment” to everything they said and I was taken back to the cell.
‘I should have been kept in overnight for a court appearance the next morning but they told me that because of who I was, I was unlikely to flee the country, so they would release me.
‘Looking back, I still find it hard to believe I was arrested on such a trumped-up allegation. I think the police dealt with it really poorly.’
At the end of her trial in Arbroath Sheriff Court, Liz was found not guilty of assault after the sheriff rejected her husband’s evidence.
In court, Mr McColgan admitted using ‘spyware’ to check up on his wife on the social networking site Facebook, and to sending anonymous text messages to her and a man he suspected she was having an affair with.
Prime: Liz during the Grand Prix final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin
In her statement outside court afterwards, she said: ‘There’s a lot more to this story. It’s been a difficult life with Peter McColgan.’
The truth is darker than many could imagine, as she paints a picture of a man who became obsessive about her success after his own career began to wane and who, she claims, eventually controlled every aspect of her life.
It was only three years ago, Liz says, that she tasted freedom for the first time in her life – when he insisted she return to work after years of concentrating on raising their family.
The pair first met as teenagers in the US, where they were on college athletics scholarships in Alabama. Then, in 1986, their world changed when Dundee-born Elizabeth Lynch became a household name by winning gold in the 10,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. She married Peter, her first and only boyfriend, in 1987 in her home city.
She said: ‘We got thrown together because of the environment we found ourselves in. I thought we were in love but I’m not sure now after everything I’ve discovered since. I’m not sure if I ever really knew him at all.’ She went on to win a silver medal for Great Britain at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland in 1990 she retained her 10,000m title.
In 1991, she became the first British woman to hold a world distance title when she won the 10,000m at the World Championships in Tokyo. She also won the New York Marathon that year and was named BBC Sports Personality Of The Year. In 1992 she won the Tokyo Marathon and was awarded an MBE.
Peter retired as a competitor and became her manager. In 1996 she won the London Marathon.
Liz said: ‘All I had to do was concentrate on my training and he did the rest, which is why I never questioned the control he had over my life, until 2008.’
Describing their situation that year as ‘asset rich, cash poor’, Liz said the couple had successfully managed to accumulate more than 40 homes as part of a property company they jointly owned, as well as the health club.
But she said: ‘By 2008, I had retired and was happily bringing up the children. Peter suddenly said we could do with some extra cash going through the business and I needed to get back into sport. I managed to get back on the fringes of coaching and on to GB management teams.
‘Through that, while Peter stayed at home to look after the main business, I was getting involved in a more social scene that he wasn’t part of. I’d be away for about three or four days at competitions and mixing with athletics coaches, some female but mainly male because that’s the reality of the sport.
‘But increasingly it caused friction between us. I’d go away to competitions and didn’t want to come back – to him. It was only the children who made it bearable.’
She added: ‘Throughout my life, I had always been someone who got up to start training at 5am and went to bed at 9pm. But suddenly I had freedom in my life to develop as my own person and I was enjoying it. I came to the realisation I had missed out on a lot. When I was a teenager, I didn’t go to discos or parties. I was always out training. I didn’t even take the time to enjoy my success.
‘I think I am the only person to win BBC Sports Personality Of The Year and not go to the party afterwards because I was training the next day. Even the day I got married I did a 10k run before the ceremony.’
As the McColgans’ marriage continued to deteriorate, the couple began to live separately within the spacious family home. They were rarely in the same room together, never shared family meals, slept in separate rooms and communicated by text message.
She claims her husband began to get suspicious when she started staying up late to chat to her new-found friends on social networking sites. She said: ‘There would be banter between me and them. It was just nonsense as far as I was concerned, a bit tongue-in-cheek. But perhaps some of it did come across as a bit flirty. Unknown to me, Peter had started becoming suspicious and had fitted spyware on the computer to track my conversations.
‘I have to confess I did tell one coach that I was not happy in my marriage. Soon afterwards, Peter began to accuse me of having an affair. It was an absolute lie but nothing I said made him believe me. The arguments got worse.’
It was then she discovered she was being ‘stalked’ – receiving threatening text messages from an anonymous source. In court, Mr McColgan was exposed as the phantom texter who had bought a mobile phone for this purpose. Each time Liz confronted her husband, he denied he was behind the harassment, yet the texts were from someone who clearly knew her movements. In the bar with the other coaches, she would suddenly get a text, accusing her of being with other men and asking if her husband knew.
Success: After victory in the World Championships in 1991
One message said: ‘What would your hubby think of what you’re doing?’ The other male coach, facing marriage problems of his own, would receive a similar text.
As the McColgans’ marriage continued to deteriorate, the couple began to live separately within the spacious family home. They were rarely in the same room together, never shared family meals, slept in separate rooms and communicated by text message.
Increasingly suspicious that Peter was her ‘stalker’, she confided in a male friend, who also coached on the athletics circuit. She denies having an affair, saying the relationship became serious only after her marriage was over.
Realising the marriage was at an end, the couple agreed to take a year to try amicably to sort out their personal situation and their businesses. She says: ‘I thought we were managing to do that until seven months down the line I got the letter seeking the sale of our home.’
She says by that point they were each seeing other people. But she adds: ‘I didn’t leave Peter to be with someone else. I left him to get out of the poisonous situation we were in.’
She declines to reveal her new partner’s identity but says his marriage is ‘now over too’ and that they are ‘taking things slowly’.
Divorce is now looming, but she says the future holds no fears. Suddenly laughing, she says: ‘I’m in a happier place already. I just want to be with my kids. We are going to have a better environment at home and a happier mum. They can see the difference already.
‘I never in a million years envisaged going through what I have done but I was very, very unhappy and I’ve come to the realisation it’s never too late to start over again.’
Last night, Mr McColgan declined to comment.
Last updated at 3:50 PM on 27th November 2011
Fresh start: Liz McColgan talks about the heartache behind her public image
The mother of five listened angrily as Peter McColgan claimed she had assaulted him in front of their children in the family home, and then publicly accused her of being unfaithful in their marriage.
But in just two hours last week, a court would dismiss his allegations after he was branded ‘shifty and conniving’, making up the allegations to ‘ruin’ the retired track star’s coaching career.
For Liz, 47, the outcome was a welcome relief in more ways than one. Not only was her humiliation at standing in the dock over but finally their sham of a marriage was out in the open and there would be no further need to cover up the heartache behind her public image.
She also reveals her anger at being treated like a criminal after being arrested over the ‘assault’ on her husband, and of how she hopes now to be given a second chance in love after finding a new partner.
Sitting in the family’s ?750,000 Victorian home close to Carnoustie, near Dundee, she said: ‘Peter is not the person I knew. I thought he was a person who was in love with me, that we had this fantastic life together, but now I know he was with me for the great lifestyle and who I was. I don’t think he ever loved me at all.’
But the civilised facade was smashed irretrievably in July, when the couple clashed after she received a letter suddenly from Mr McColgan’s lawyer, suggesting they should sell their luxury home.
In court last week, Mr McColgan, a former Northern Ireland steeplechase runner, claimed that in a heated exchange with his wife, he was ‘prodded’ and punched twice on the face by her before she threw his clothes out of a window, in front of their children.
Recalling the events of that night, which would finally end any appearance of a marriage and see Liz arrested the following day, she said: ‘I can never forgive him for putting me and our children through this ordeal.
United: Liz and Peter McColgan with their children in 2008
‘When the lawyer’s letter arrived, I felt sick to my stomach and I jumped into the car from Loughborough, where I was staying with a friend, and drove for six-and-a-half hours home to confront Peter.
‘I remember when I finally got there, he was standing at the cooker and started sniggering when I asked him why he’d had the letter sent. I shoved him to get him to turn round. He says I punched him in front of the kids, which is not true and the court didn’t believe him either.
‘Yes, our kids were upset that night but not because they saw me hitting him. It was because they heard the argument about him wanting the house sold.’ She admits she then asked him to leave the house, and when he refused she threw his clothes out of the window three times – and each time, stubbornly, he retrieved them – before finally departing.
The following afternoon, Liz said, she was playing rounders in the garden with her children when two police officers arrived to arrest her and take her away. She said: ‘At first, I thought someone was going to step in and say they were joking. When I realised they were absolutely serious, all I could think of were the kids and trying to get someone to look after them while I sorted out the mess.
‘But at the station, two officers held me firmly by each hand – they said it was the alternative to handcuffing me – and frogmarched me to a cell.
Relief: Liz was cleared of assaulting Peter but the case was dismissed and he was described him as 'shifty and conniving'
‘I broke down at that point. It was all too much. I was being treated like a criminal for something I hadn’t done. They took off my rings, fingerprinted me and took my photograph. It was unbelievable. After about two hours in the cell, they took me to an interview room where they put all the allegations to me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was like fantasy land. Yes, I shoved him and I shouldn’t have but I certainly didn’t punch him. I said “No comment” to everything they said and I was taken back to the cell.
‘I should have been kept in overnight for a court appearance the next morning but they told me that because of who I was, I was unlikely to flee the country, so they would release me.
‘Looking back, I still find it hard to believe I was arrested on such a trumped-up allegation. I think the police dealt with it really poorly.’
At the end of her trial in Arbroath Sheriff Court, Liz was found not guilty of assault after the sheriff rejected her husband’s evidence.
In court, Mr McColgan admitted using ‘spyware’ to check up on his wife on the social networking site Facebook, and to sending anonymous text messages to her and a man he suspected she was having an affair with.
Prime: Liz during the Grand Prix final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin
In her statement outside court afterwards, she said: ‘There’s a lot more to this story. It’s been a difficult life with Peter McColgan.’
The truth is darker than many could imagine, as she paints a picture of a man who became obsessive about her success after his own career began to wane and who, she claims, eventually controlled every aspect of her life.
It was only three years ago, Liz says, that she tasted freedom for the first time in her life – when he insisted she return to work after years of concentrating on raising their family.
The pair first met as teenagers in the US, where they were on college athletics scholarships in Alabama. Then, in 1986, their world changed when Dundee-born Elizabeth Lynch became a household name by winning gold in the 10,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. She married Peter, her first and only boyfriend, in 1987 in her home city.
She said: ‘We got thrown together because of the environment we found ourselves in. I thought we were in love but I’m not sure now after everything I’ve discovered since. I’m not sure if I ever really knew him at all.’ She went on to win a silver medal for Great Britain at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland in 1990 she retained her 10,000m title.
In 1991, she became the first British woman to hold a world distance title when she won the 10,000m at the World Championships in Tokyo. She also won the New York Marathon that year and was named BBC Sports Personality Of The Year. In 1992 she won the Tokyo Marathon and was awarded an MBE.
Peter retired as a competitor and became her manager. In 1996 she won the London Marathon.
Liz said: ‘All I had to do was concentrate on my training and he did the rest, which is why I never questioned the control he had over my life, until 2008.’
Describing their situation that year as ‘asset rich, cash poor’, Liz said the couple had successfully managed to accumulate more than 40 homes as part of a property company they jointly owned, as well as the health club.
But she said: ‘By 2008, I had retired and was happily bringing up the children. Peter suddenly said we could do with some extra cash going through the business and I needed to get back into sport. I managed to get back on the fringes of coaching and on to GB management teams.
‘Through that, while Peter stayed at home to look after the main business, I was getting involved in a more social scene that he wasn’t part of. I’d be away for about three or four days at competitions and mixing with athletics coaches, some female but mainly male because that’s the reality of the sport.
‘But increasingly it caused friction between us. I’d go away to competitions and didn’t want to come back – to him. It was only the children who made it bearable.’
She added: ‘Throughout my life, I had always been someone who got up to start training at 5am and went to bed at 9pm. But suddenly I had freedom in my life to develop as my own person and I was enjoying it. I came to the realisation I had missed out on a lot. When I was a teenager, I didn’t go to discos or parties. I was always out training. I didn’t even take the time to enjoy my success.
‘I think I am the only person to win BBC Sports Personality Of The Year and not go to the party afterwards because I was training the next day. Even the day I got married I did a 10k run before the ceremony.’
As the McColgans’ marriage continued to deteriorate, the couple began to live separately within the spacious family home. They were rarely in the same room together, never shared family meals, slept in separate rooms and communicated by text message.
She claims her husband began to get suspicious when she started staying up late to chat to her new-found friends on social networking sites. She said: ‘There would be banter between me and them. It was just nonsense as far as I was concerned, a bit tongue-in-cheek. But perhaps some of it did come across as a bit flirty. Unknown to me, Peter had started becoming suspicious and had fitted spyware on the computer to track my conversations.
‘I have to confess I did tell one coach that I was not happy in my marriage. Soon afterwards, Peter began to accuse me of having an affair. It was an absolute lie but nothing I said made him believe me. The arguments got worse.’
It was then she discovered she was being ‘stalked’ – receiving threatening text messages from an anonymous source. In court, Mr McColgan was exposed as the phantom texter who had bought a mobile phone for this purpose. Each time Liz confronted her husband, he denied he was behind the harassment, yet the texts were from someone who clearly knew her movements. In the bar with the other coaches, she would suddenly get a text, accusing her of being with other men and asking if her husband knew.
Success: After victory in the World Championships in 1991
One message said: ‘What would your hubby think of what you’re doing?’ The other male coach, facing marriage problems of his own, would receive a similar text.
As the McColgans’ marriage continued to deteriorate, the couple began to live separately within the spacious family home. They were rarely in the same room together, never shared family meals, slept in separate rooms and communicated by text message.
Increasingly suspicious that Peter was her ‘stalker’, she confided in a male friend, who also coached on the athletics circuit. She denies having an affair, saying the relationship became serious only after her marriage was over.
Realising the marriage was at an end, the couple agreed to take a year to try amicably to sort out their personal situation and their businesses. She says: ‘I thought we were managing to do that until seven months down the line I got the letter seeking the sale of our home.’
She says by that point they were each seeing other people. But she adds: ‘I didn’t leave Peter to be with someone else. I left him to get out of the poisonous situation we were in.’
She declines to reveal her new partner’s identity but says his marriage is ‘now over too’ and that they are ‘taking things slowly’.
Divorce is now looming, but she says the future holds no fears. Suddenly laughing, she says: ‘I’m in a happier place already. I just want to be with my kids. We are going to have a better environment at home and a happier mum. They can see the difference already.
‘I never in a million years envisaged going through what I have done but I was very, very unhappy and I’ve come to the realisation it’s never too late to start over again.’
Last night, Mr McColgan declined to comment.
Charlie's Angels TV series: Bouncy leading ladies, flicked hair, skimpy outfits
By Lina Das
Last updated at 12:44 AM on 26th November 2011
Once upon a time there were three little girls who went to the police academy… and were each assigned very hazardous duties. They had to run after criminals wearing unsupported halterneck tops and respond to orders given by a disembodied voice.
Charlie’s Angels was the show that gave us Farrah Fawcett, the flick hairdo and the highly un-PC concept of ‘Jiggle TV’. It may have aired for only five seasons in the 70s and 80s but it spawned video games, comics and two hit movies starring Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz.
And now, 30 years on, it returns to the small screen in an all-new series that blends crime- solving and hair-tossing like no other show.
Poster girl: Farrah Fawcett was by far the most popular of the Angels. The risqu? photograph of her wearing a red swimsuit became the biggest selling poster of all time ? more than 12 million were sold
Launched in 1976, the show starred Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith as three young cops, Jill, Sabrina and Kelly, who quit the force to become private detectives working for their unseen boss Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe, who went on to star as Dynasty’s Blake Carrington).
Charlie’s Angels became a worldwide phenomenon thanks to its combination of sleuthing, stars who resembled swimsuit models, and fabulous outfits.
For years there were attempts to resurrect the franchise, including doomed 80s version Angels ’89, featuring Tea Leoni. But it wasn’t until original executive producer Leonard Goldberg got involved that the new series came about.
Kate Prince
(Annie Ilonzeh)
After a tough childhood she became one of the police’s youngest detectives, but took bribes and became a drug addict. Saved by Charlie, she’s valued for her vast knowledge of Miami’s criminals.
Abby Sampson
(Rachael Taylor)
Her privileged upbringing destroyed when her financier father was exposed as a swindler, Abby became a safe-cracker – but joined the Angels after a spell in jail.
Eve French
(Minka Kelly)
Raised by her uncle after the death of her parents when she was only five, Eve joined a gang of car thieves in her teens until a crash left her facing jail for manslaughter. The Angels’ newest recruit.
‘We did the original series and thought that was it,’ he says. ‘But after the movies with Drew Barrymore were so successful, Sony called and said, “How about doing a new Charlie’s Angels TV show?”’
Both Barrymore and 77-year-old Goldberg act as executive producers on the new version, which shifts the action from Los Angeles to Miami and features three new stars who have been transformed from criminals to crime-busters. The Brunette, formerly played by Jaclyn Smith, is now called Eve French (played by Minka Kelly).
Kate Jackson (Sabrina Duncan)
Left the line-up after three seasons and went on to star in the popular 80s spy series Scarecrow And Mrs King. Now 63, she does a lot of work for breast cancer awareness, having beaten the disease twice.
Jaclyn Smith (Kelly Garrett)
The only Angel to last for five series, Jaclyn, 66, later won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Jackie Kennedy in a TV miniseries and has her own clothes, perfume and home furnishings ranges.
Farrah Fawcett (Jill Munroe)
Her success on the show destroyed her marriage to Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors and led to a ?4.5m lawsuit against her when she left the show after one series. She died of cancer in 2009, aged 62.
Cheryl Ladd (Kris Munroe)
When Fawcett left the show, Ladd, 60, took over as her bikiniwearing sister and lasted for four seasons. She has recently appeared on TV
series CSI Miami, NCIS and Las Vegas.
Tanya Roberts (Julie Rogers)
She played a Bond Girl in A View To A Kill in 1985 and, now 56, stars in women’s soccer film Queens Of The World.
The Blonde, played by Farrah Fawcett, has been replaced by Abby Sampson (Grey’s Anatomy’s Rachael Taylor), while The Smart One, formerly Kate Jackson’s character, is now Kate Prince (Annie Ilonzeh).
They’re gathered together by Charlie (voiced by Victor Garber) and are overseen by John Bosley – now a muscular computer hacker played by The Wire’s Ramon Rodriguez.
Rachael Taylor says the new show is best described as ‘a cross between 24 and Sex And The City’. Says writer Al Gough,
‘We wanted to make these women feel real and give them back stories. The show’s really about Charlie giving them a second chance; it’s about a kind of redemption.’
The original series was memorably labelled ‘Jiggle TV’ due to the bralessness of its three beautiful leads.
Even Farrah Fawcett remarked, ‘When the show was number three in the ratings, I figured it was our acting. When it got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wore a bra.’
This being the 21st century, the new Angels have brains and biceps as well as beauty.
‘They also have to be warm, real, smart and powerful,’ says Gough. Despite that, the new series was cancelled in the US after just one eight-episode season.
When the original Charlie’s Angels was on its last legs, the show’s makers came up with a spin-off idea featuring a widow who ran a detective agency with three male hunks – the exact reverse of the Angels concept. Maybe the producers should give this idea another go.
Charlie’s Angels, E4, Wednesday, 8pm.
Last updated at 12:44 AM on 26th November 2011
Charlie’s Angels was the show that gave us Farrah Fawcett, the flick hairdo and the highly un-PC concept of ‘Jiggle TV’. It may have aired for only five seasons in the 70s and 80s but it spawned video games, comics and two hit movies starring Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz.
And now, 30 years on, it returns to the small screen in an all-new series that blends crime- solving and hair-tossing like no other show.
Poster girl: Farrah Fawcett was by far the most popular of the Angels. The risqu? photograph of her wearing a red swimsuit became the biggest selling poster of all time ? more than 12 million were sold
Launched in 1976, the show starred Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith as three young cops, Jill, Sabrina and Kelly, who quit the force to become private detectives working for their unseen boss Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe, who went on to star as Dynasty’s Blake Carrington).
Charlie’s Angels became a worldwide phenomenon thanks to its combination of sleuthing, stars who resembled swimsuit models, and fabulous outfits.
For years there were attempts to resurrect the franchise, including doomed 80s version Angels ’89, featuring Tea Leoni. But it wasn’t until original executive producer Leonard Goldberg got involved that the new series came about.
Kate Prince
(Annie Ilonzeh)
After a tough childhood she became one of the police’s youngest detectives, but took bribes and became a drug addict. Saved by Charlie, she’s valued for her vast knowledge of Miami’s criminals.
Abby Sampson
(Rachael Taylor)
Her privileged upbringing destroyed when her financier father was exposed as a swindler, Abby became a safe-cracker – but joined the Angels after a spell in jail.
Eve French
(Minka Kelly)
Raised by her uncle after the death of her parents when she was only five, Eve joined a gang of car thieves in her teens until a crash left her facing jail for manslaughter. The Angels’ newest recruit.
‘We did the original series and thought that was it,’ he says. ‘But after the movies with Drew Barrymore were so successful, Sony called and said, “How about doing a new Charlie’s Angels TV show?”’
Both Barrymore and 77-year-old Goldberg act as executive producers on the new version, which shifts the action from Los Angeles to Miami and features three new stars who have been transformed from criminals to crime-busters. The Brunette, formerly played by Jaclyn Smith, is now called Eve French (played by Minka Kelly).
Kate Jackson (Sabrina Duncan)
Left the line-up after three seasons and went on to star in the popular 80s spy series Scarecrow And Mrs King. Now 63, she does a lot of work for breast cancer awareness, having beaten the disease twice.
Jaclyn Smith (Kelly Garrett)
The only Angel to last for five series, Jaclyn, 66, later won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Jackie Kennedy in a TV miniseries and has her own clothes, perfume and home furnishings ranges.
Farrah Fawcett (Jill Munroe)
Her success on the show destroyed her marriage to Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors and led to a ?4.5m lawsuit against her when she left the show after one series. She died of cancer in 2009, aged 62.
Cheryl Ladd (Kris Munroe)
When Fawcett left the show, Ladd, 60, took over as her bikiniwearing sister and lasted for four seasons. She has recently appeared on TV
series CSI Miami, NCIS and Las Vegas.
Tanya Roberts (Julie Rogers)
She played a Bond Girl in A View To A Kill in 1985 and, now 56, stars in women’s soccer film Queens Of The World.
The Blonde, played by Farrah Fawcett, has been replaced by Abby Sampson (Grey’s Anatomy’s Rachael Taylor), while The Smart One, formerly Kate Jackson’s character, is now Kate Prince (Annie Ilonzeh).
They’re gathered together by Charlie (voiced by Victor Garber) and are overseen by John Bosley – now a muscular computer hacker played by The Wire’s Ramon Rodriguez.
Rachael Taylor says the new show is best described as ‘a cross between 24 and Sex And The City’. Says writer Al Gough,
‘We wanted to make these women feel real and give them back stories. The show’s really about Charlie giving them a second chance; it’s about a kind of redemption.’
The original series was memorably labelled ‘Jiggle TV’ due to the bralessness of its three beautiful leads.
Even Farrah Fawcett remarked, ‘When the show was number three in the ratings, I figured it was our acting. When it got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wore a bra.’
This being the 21st century, the new Angels have brains and biceps as well as beauty.
‘They also have to be warm, real, smart and powerful,’ says Gough. Despite that, the new series was cancelled in the US after just one eight-episode season.
When the original Charlie’s Angels was on its last legs, the show’s makers came up with a spin-off idea featuring a widow who ran a detective agency with three male hunks – the exact reverse of the Angels concept. Maybe the producers should give this idea another go.
Charlie’s Angels, E4, Wednesday, 8pm.
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