1. Deborah Sonia Meaden FRSA was born on 11 February 1959 and is a British businessperson and TV personality who ran a multimillion-pound family holiday business, before completing a management buyout.
24 Facts About Deborah Meaden
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Deborah Meaden is best known for her appearances as a 'Dragon' on the BBC business programme Dragons' Den.
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Deborah Meaden's parents divorced when she was young, and her mother moved Deborah and her older sister Gail to Brightlingsea in Essex.
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When Meaden was 7 years old, her mother married Brian Meaden who became "a true father" to Meaden.
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Deborah Meaden went to the Godolphin School, Salisbury, for a brief period and then to Trowbridge High School for Girls which she left at the age of 16.
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On leaving school, Deborah Meaden studied business at Brighton Technical College, after which she worked as a sales-room model in a fashion house.
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Deborah Meaden then had several successful leisure and retail businesses, including a spell operating a Prize Bingo at Butlins in Minehead.
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In 1988, Deborah Meaden joined her family's business to run its amusement arcade operations and in 1992, joined Weststar Holidays, a family holiday park operator based in Exeter, Devon, with its major sites in South West England.
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In 2009, Deborah Meaden acquired Fox Brothers along with fellow shareholder, Douglas Cordeaux, former design director at Pepe Jeans London.
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In 2009, a planning inspector criticised Deborah Meaden's evidence to his enquiry as "implausible" in a dispute over the granting of village green status to a field on which Mudstone LLP, a firm in which she is a partner, wished to build 48 homes.
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Deborah Meaden is known for her appearances as an investor on the BBC Two series Dragons' Den, where she took over from Rachel Elnaugh in the third series in August 2006.
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Deborah Meaden took part in the eleventh series of the BBC One dancing show Strictly Come Dancing, which began on 7 September 2013 and was partnered with professional dancer Robin Windsor.
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Deborah Meaden used a ghostwriting service, Professional Ghost, to complete the project.
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In November 2009, Deborah Meaden featured in a short film to promote Somerset to businesses, commissioned by Into Somerset, having previously recorded two other short films for the inward investment agency in February of that year.
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Deborah Meaden is a member of the Council of Ambassadors of the World Wildlife Fund.
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Deborah Meaden works with the Dogs Trust charity and is an ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society.
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Deborah Meaden is an ambassador for the National Foundation for Retired Service Animals, a charity launched in 2022 that supports dogs and horses after they are retired from work with the police, fire, prison and border force services.
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Deborah Meaden became an ambassador for the Tusk Trust in 2010, and joined that organisation's board of trustees in 2016.
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Deborah Meaden met her husband, Paul Farmer, in the summer of 1985, while he worked at Weststar during his university break.
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Deborah Meaden has listed her favourite film as The Shawshank Redemption, her favourite holiday destination as Central and South America and her favourite sport as rugby union.
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In July 2010, Deborah Meaden was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Exeter Business School.
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Deborah Meaden received an honorary degree from Staffordshire University in the same month.
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Deborah Meaden was given an honorary degree at Keele University in July 2013.
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In July 2014, Deborah Meaden was awarded an honorary degree from Bath Spa University.