CAROL VORDERMAN

There are machines that can get rid of your cellulite, so I want to do that. And my friend has just had a machine that has worked on her neck and tightened the elasticity of the skin. You just need a day off work afterwards, so I'm thinking, why not?

My first marriage was totally unsuitable and shouldn't have happened. It was a whirlwind, rebound thing. I was 23 or 24 - a baby.

One day Mum saved up for this exciting new thing - a frozen chicken. She cooked it on the Sunday and we all sat around waiting for it, but there was a terrible smell from the kitchen. She didn't realise that the giblets were in a plastic bag inside it. We just ate vegetables and she cried and cried.

When I get tired, I start eating things that I wouldn't normally crave, like biscuits, because they'll give me a bit of energy to keep going.

I was away a lot on 'Countdown' when the children were young and I couldn't have done it without Mum's help. Because she was at home running all of that, I never had to worry about them.

There was a great strain in our family because my father didn't want anything to do with me. He was happy to see my brother and sister, but not me. I don't know why. Maybe it was shame. I don't know. But he never wanted anything to do with me. That rejection was terribly hurtful and it went on for years.

After 30 years of television, I want to play more than I used to.

Most people have the wrong idea about me because I've been very private.

I drive a tiny Toyota iQ. I'm quite frugal and often cut my own hair.

The divorce is a regret of mine and my mum thinks that we should have stayed together. He's now remarried so there's no chance of us getting back together.

We all have, in my family, what we call the 'Vorderman bottom' - a sticky out, bigger-than-normal, signature, of the rear variety. It's been a family joke all our lives - even my lovely brother has one. I know the lines to all the good singalong big bum songs.

Change is one of my favourite words.

Everything has to be organised for kids in London - you can't just walk three roads to see a friend.

I do need my independence. I have to have that.

The photoshoot glitz and TV studio make-up isn't the real me. I spend most days at home in Bristol in jeans and a T-shirt running around after the kids or shopping in the Co-op.

I'd be happy to stay single now because I've always been in relationships. For the first time ever I can do what I want, when I want, with who I want, without answering to anyone.

Once you have children it's love without bounds. You would die for them in an instant, without question. How can you better that?

More than 55,000 men from Bomber Command lost their lives, of whom 38,000 were British. That's one in 10 of all the British servicemen lost in the Second World War. It beggars belief that there has not been some recognition for what they gave until now.

Next year, I hope there will be even more parties, lots of holidays and just having a good time, really. Plus wing-walking, air shows and learning to fly, as they are all things I want to do. I won't be restricted by age.

The first couple of days on the detox diet aren't pleasant.

I've never once heard my mum shout and she's 83 now. She's incredible. She's very, very happy, slightly eccentric but loves laughing, which I do too.

Turning 50 changed me and I'm far more accepting of myself. I'm not thin, but I am a size 10. I go in at the middle and very much out at the bottom and top. And now I think, 'Well, that's how I am.'

My father was having an affair with a 16-year-old when Mum was pregnant with me. She found out when I was three weeks old and left, not surprisingly.

I cannot do the piece-of-talking-meat thing, the 'Here's your money, wear a pretty dress and take the cheque.' I'm not made that way. I have to be as good as I can be at whatever I do.

How you look has become ridiculously disproportionate to what you do. Critics are more harsh on female presenters.