Carol Vorderman: My ‘facelift’ became folklore! Can women have beauty and brains?

It’s an age-old question: can women have both brains and beauty? (Spoiler: obviously yes!) Broadcaster Carol Vorderman says the more people comment on her body... the more thigh high boots and tight skirts she’ll wear! In this chat with Fearne, Carol charts her early life, from her family running away with the circus, to living out of a car, to being one of the first girls to read engineering at Cambridge University. She also reveals who wrote her first application to Countdown back in the day... because it wasn’t her! Carol is very politically active, and explains why everything about our lives is political. Care about the pressure put on kids and parents by schools? Where your taxes go? Women’s bodily autonomy? It’s more important than ever, she says, to both use your vote, and live with hope. What can we learn from Carol about making the best of what we’ve been given? And why do we all have a responsibility to stand up for what we believe in? You can watch Carol on Celebrity Quizzing on Channel 5. If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like: Ashley James Poorna Bell Kate Winslet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Carol Vorderman: My ‘facelift’ became folklore! Can women have beauty and brains? is an episode from Happy Place by Fearne Cotton.

This episode is 1:02:22 long.

This episode was published on Mar 30, 2026.

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