Celebrity Puzzling

Jeremy Vine (Host)

Born: May 17, 1965 in Epsom, Surrey

Best Known For: His work at the BBC.

Early-life: Jeremy Guy Vine was born in Epsom, Surrey, on May 17, 1965. His younger brother is comedian Tim Vine. Jeremy was educated at Durham University. After a period working on Metro Radio, he took a journalism training course with the Coventry Evening Telegraph before joining the BBC in 1987.

Career: During a varied career at the BBC, Vine has been a researcher on Heart of the Matter, a reporter on the Today programme, a political and African correspondent, and an anchor on Newsnight. Since 2006, he has analysed the results on BBC's election night coverage. In 2007, he became the presenter of Panorama and a year later started hosting Points of View. Since October 2008, Vine has shared the hosting role of BBC Two quiz Eggheads with Dermot Murnaghan. He has presented the lunchtime show on Radio 2 since 2003. In August 2015, it was announced that he would be a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.

Quote: On playing in a punk band: 'We wore enormous flared trousers and kipper ties and it started to take off and we were on Radio 1. But it was a catastrophic musical enterprise.'

Trivia: In July 2013, Vine's Radio 2 show became the most popular news programme on UK radio with 7.3 million listeners a week. He played in a punk band in the early 1980s with his brother and a friend.

Sally Lindsay (Team captain)

Born: July 08, 1973 in Stockport

Best Known For: Coronation Street and Mount Pleasant.

Early-life: Sally was born in Stockport on July 8, 1973. She has a younger brother, Christopher, with whom she's very close - she was the best man at his wedding. Her first brush with showbusiness came when, as a member of the St Winifred's Choir, she two weeks at number one thanks to the song Grandma. After school, she studied English language and literature at Hull University.

Career: Lindsay performed stand-up before turning to acting. Her TV debut came in an episode of The Royle Family in 2000. A year later she made a brief appearance alongside close friend Peter Kay in his cult sitcom Phoenix Nights. A few months on, Lindsay played Shelley Unwin for the first time in Coronation Street, a role she played until 2006. Since then, she has starred in Reggie Perrin, Scott & Bailey, Mount Pleasant, Still Open All Hours and Ordinary Lies.

Quote: 'Being on a soap is the best training you'll ever have.'

Trivia: Lindsay performed as Dolly Parton on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes.

Carol Vorderman (Team captain)

Born: December 24, 1960 in Bedford

Best Known For: Doing the sums on Countdown.

Early-life: Carol Jean Vorderman was born in Bedford on December 24, 1960, to a Welsh mother and a Dutch father who split up when she was a baby; her mother then took her children (Carol has a brother) back to her hometown of Prestatyn, where they grew up. Carol knew little about her father's early life until she appeared on Who Do You Think You Are? where she learned he had been in the Dutch Resistance during the Second World War - he died while the programme was being made. She studied engineering at Cambridge. It was her mum who put her name forward for Countdown after spotting an advert looking for women with a flair for maths.

Career: Vorderman got the Countdown job, the first show broadcast on Channel 4 in 1982. She was initially one of four female presenters, but the other women were gradually phased out, leaving her as Richard Whiteley's co-host. Vorderman was soon in demand as a presenter on other TV shows, appearing on the likes of Tomorrow's World, How 2, Stars and Their Lives and Better Homes, but throughout continued to appear on Countdown. She announced she was leaving the show in 2008, after bosses reportedly asked her to take a 90 per cent pay cut. She has also been involved in a task force to improve numeracy skills in schools, and until July 2014 co-host of ITV's Loose Women.

Quote: 'All my life, I have been used to dusting myself down and just getting on with it.'

Trivia: Vorderman has hosted the Pride of Britain Awards on ITV since 1999.

Mark Charnock (Contestant)

Born: March 23, 1968 in Bolton

Best Known For: Playing Marlon Dingle in Emmerdale.

Early-life: Born in Bolton, Lancashire, on March 23, 1968, Mark was educated at Canon Slade School. He won a place at Hull University, but gave up his degree to pursue a career in acting, going on to join the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career: Mark's first screen role was in an episode of 2point4 Children, and he had a bit part in Coronation Street before he found fame in Emmerdale. Prior to landing the role of Marlon, he starred alongside Derek Jacobi as the bumbling Brother Oswin in Cadfael. He first appeared in the Yorkshire-based soap in 1996 and has since gone on to become one of its most popular characters. He won a British Soap Award in 2004.

Quote: 'I'm lucky really. I play a character than gets a lot of comedy and I also, every now and then, get some great drama. So my artistic thirst is quenched by the show. But I never plan beyond the next contract. It's presumptuous.'

Trivia: Mark and actor Dale Meeks appeared as the Blues Brothers in Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes and they won.

Lucrezia Millarini (Contestant)

Matt Floyd (Executive producer)

Michael Mannes (Executive producer)

Martin Scott (Executive producer)

Richard van't Riet (Director)

8:00 pm - 8:55 pm, Wednesday, March 18 on 5 +1 (38)

About this Broadcast

Season 2, Episode 18

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