Janet Ellis, was born on 16 September 1955 and is an English television presenter, actress and writer, who is best known for presenting the children's television programmes Blue Peter and Jigsaw between 1979 and 1987.
24 Facts About Janet Ellis
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Janet Ellis has published two novels, The Butcher's Hook and How It Was.
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Janet Ellis's father Michael "Mike" Ellis was a soldier who was stationed during her childhood at various places in Britain and West Germany, and her mother was Judith Newton.
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Janet Ellis spent the year gaining experience of the acting world by working backstage at the Comedy Theatre in central London.
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Janet Ellis has a sister, Sharon, who is two years younger than her.
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Janet Ellis's first television appearance in 1978 was a small role in the BBC's children's programme Jackanory Playhouse, followed by a bit part credited as Marge's Friend in The Sweeney episode Hard Men.
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Janet Ellis presented the Daz Challenge in the television advertisements for three years and occasionally appeared as a co-presenter on Danny Baker's BBC Radio 1 show.
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Janet Ellis played a TV reporter in an episode of the first full series of Waking the Dead in 2001.
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Janet Ellis has been appearing on the Channel 5 show The Wright Stuff since 2002 as a regular panellist, and on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House.
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Janet Ellis presented Housebusters between 2003 and 2005 on Five.
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In January 2007, Janet Ellis appeared on the BBC reality singing show Just the Two of Us partnered with Alexander O'Neal.
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Janet Ellis managed to show good humour in the face of the defeat, stating that she had had "fun, a lot of fun".
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In December 2009, Janet Ellis narrated The Man Behind the Masquerade, a BBC documentary about Kit Williams.
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Janet Ellis was the voice of numerous Mexican gerbils in El Nombre, and has appeared on BBC's Antiques Road Trip with daughter Sophie; Bargain Hunt and Cash in the Attic.
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Also shown on Channel 4 on 22 December 2010, Janet Ellis competed in the Come Dine with Me celebrity Christmas special.
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Janet Ellis won, beating singer Tony Christie and actress Susie Amy into joint second place, with musician and actor Goldie bringing up the rear.
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In January 2012 Janet Ellis returned to her first love of acting by starring in a production of Alan Bennett's comedy play Green Forms for a week at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick in order to raise money for Maggie's Centres.
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Janet Ellis was included in The Observer's pick of the New Faces of Fiction 2016.
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Janet Ellis appeared in a play "Once Seen on Blue Peter" at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival.
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Janet Ellis met her first husband, TV director Robin Bextor, at the age of 16 and married him in 1977 when she was 21.
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Janet Ellis met TV producer John Leach in 1986 and their son was born in 1987.
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Janet Ellis was managing director of TV production company Sunset+Vine, and they had a daughter.
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Janet Ellis is a member of the board of Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, a patron of Maggie's Centres, a patron of Humanists UK, and a Council and Honorary Member of the National Youth Theatre.
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Janet Ellis was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to charity and theatre.