43 Facts About Sue Perkins

1.

Susan Elizabeth Perkins was born on 22 September 1969 and is an English actress, broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer.

2.

Originally coming to prominence through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc in Mel and Sue Perkins, she has since become best known as a radio broadcaster and television presenter, notably of The Great British Bake Off, Insert Name Here and Just a Minute on BBC Radio 4.

3.

Sue Perkins was born on 22 September 1969 in Croydon, London, where she grew up with her two younger siblings, and her parents.

4.

Sue Perkins's father worked for a local car dealership and her mother was employed as a secretary.

5.

Sue Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, a nearby independent school for girls in South Croydon, Greater London, at the same time as television presenter Susanna Reid.

6.

Sue Perkins later studied English at New Hall at the University of Cambridge, graduating in 1991.

7.

In January 2015, Giedroyc and Perkins began hosting their own daytime chat show on ITV called Mel and Sue.

8.

In 2002, Sue Perkins appeared on the second UK series of Celebrity Big Brother in aid of four charities, Centrepoint, National Missing Persons Helpline, Rethink and Samaritans.

9.

Sue Perkins provided the voice for Messenger Bird in Dinotopia, produced for Hallmark Entertainment.

10.

In 2003, Sue Perkins joined Channel 4 morning television programme RI:SE.

11.

Sue Perkins has appeared on several BBC shows including Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week, QI, Room 101, Celebrity Weakest Link, Question Time and Newsnight.

12.

Sue Perkins has made appearances as a field reporter for Armando Iannucci vehicle The Saturday Night Armistice.

13.

Sue Perkins hosted the second series of Good Evening, Rockall, a short-lived, news-oriented panel game shown on BBC Choice.

14.

Sue Perkins was a team captain on ITV's Win, Lose or Draw Late.

15.

Sue Perkins appeared in a second "Supersizers" series called The Supersizers Eat.

16.

Sue Perkins then gave a televised lecture for the Royal Television Society.

17.

In March 2010, Sue Perkins appeared in a three part mini-series on BBC Two, A Band for Britain, in which she attempted to revive the fortunes of the Dinnington Colliery Band.

18.

Later that year, Sue Perkins was joined by Mel Giedroyc to present The Great British Bake Off, a cookery competition with each episode looking at a different aspect of baking.

19.

Sue Perkins narrated the 2011 game show Don't Scare the Hare.

20.

Sue Perkins was joined on the series by Alison Steadman and Stephen Mangan.

21.

In 2011, Sue Perkins featured in the BBC travel adventure show World's Most Dangerous Roads: Alaska.

22.

Sue Perkins then appeared with Liza Tarbuck in Series 2 Episode 2 of World's Most Dangerous Roads: Ho Chi Minh Trail, shown in 2012, driving in Vietnam and Laos.

23.

In November 2014 she returned to South-East Asia, travelling from the Mekong delta up to Tibet in The Mekong River with Sue Perkins, produced by Indus Films for the BBC.

24.

On 26 February 2013, the first episode of Sue Perkins's self-penned sitcom, Heading Out was broadcast.

25.

Sue Perkins co-presented The Big Spell, a weekly game show for Sky1 alongside Joe Lycett and Moira Stuart.

26.

In 2022, Sue Perkins hosted and starred in the TV series Perfectly Legal.

27.

Sue Perkins conducted two pieces, the Simpsons Theme by Danny Elfman, and the William Tell Overture by Rossini, the latter for the first time.

28.

Sue Perkins again conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra at the first Comedy Prom at the Royal Albert Hall during the 2011 Prom season.

29.

Sue Perkins is associate conductor for the Orion Orchestra, a London-based youth orchestra.

30.

Sue Perkins is a panel member on Radio 4's The News Quiz and has made regular appearances on Radio 2's It's Been a Bad Week.

31.

Sue Perkins was a frequent panellist on another popular Radio 4 show, Just a Minute: in the 2012 television version, she appeared in four out of the 10 episodes and won on all four occasions.

32.

Sue Perkins was the chairman of Radio 4's The 99p Challenge until the show finished in 2004.

33.

Sue Perkins appeared every day in the last half-hour of Mark Radcliffe's afternoon radio show on Radio 2, when he sat in for Steve Wright.

34.

Between 2006 and 2007, Sue Perkins was a panellist on a Radio 4 show, The Personality Test, a quiz show about the host, presented by a different host each week.

35.

Sue Perkins provided the voiceovers at the start and end of each programme.

36.

Sue Perkins presented a Radio 4 documentary on the Lake District's competition the "World's Biggest Liar", which she won.

37.

Sue Perkins was chairman of the Radio 4 panel game Dilemma, in which four humorous guests discussed moral conundrums she provided for them.

38.

On 9 July 2017 Sue Perkins was the guest celebrity on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

39.

Sue Perkins has performed two stand-up comedy solo shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Spectacle Wearer of the Year 2006 in 2005, and The Disappointing Second Show in 2006.

40.

Sue Perkins was outed as a lesbian in 2002 by her ex-girlfriend Rhona Cameron during Cameron's appearance on ITV's I'm a Celebrity.

41.

Sue Perkins temporarily quit the social media site, but returned in August 2015.

42.

In September 2015, Sue Perkins revealed that she was diagnosed with prolactinoma, which is a benign growth on her pituitary gland.

43.

Sue Perkins has both English and German ancestry including a great-grandmother who was an ethnic German from what is Lithuania.