Anna Ryder Richardson
Anna Caroline Ryder Richardson (born 29 January 1964), is a British interior designer and television presenter. She is known for being a designer on the BBC shows Changing Rooms, House Invaders and Staying Put.
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[edit] Biography
Anna Ryder Richardson was born in Swansea in 1964. Her father was a Malaysian student, and her mother Welsh. At six weeks of age, she was adopted by Colin and Jill Ryder Richardson, and raised in Surrey with her adopted sister Sarah.[1] Her adoptive father, Colin, was a wartime Evacuee who survived the sinking of the SS City of Benares by a German U-Boat.
After an early career in modeling, she became a fitness instructor. She then managed children's interior shop Squidy Things, where she started designing and decorating children's bedrooms, which launched a career as an interior designer.[2]
She has purchased Manor House Wildlife Park, St. Florence, near Tenby, and made the video diary turned TV programme Trouble at the Zoo, which followed the progress of the redevelopment of the zoo.
[edit] Personal life
Richardson married her longtime partner, Glasgow restaurateur Colin MacDougall, on 22 March 2005 in a small private ceremony in Glasgow attended by close family and friends. Prior to the wedding, she had her ears pierced for the very first time especially to be able to wear a pair of antique diamond earrings that originally belonged to her adoptive grandmother, and that her adoptive mother had worn on her wedding day.[3]
| “ | When it came to the 'something borrowed', Mum said that, if I had pierced ears, she'd be only too happy to lend me the antique earrings she'd worn on her wedding day. Some of my friends had been on at me for a while to get them done, and so when Mum said about lending me her earrings for the wedding, I thought 'OK, why not?' and had them done that weekend. | ” |
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—Anna Ryder Richardson, News of the World Sunday, 17 April 2005 |
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Richardson, her husband and their two daughters, Bibi-Belle (born 2002) and Dixie-Dot (born 2003), currently live in St. Florence, Pembrokeshire, having relocated from Glasgow. In January 2001, following a number of miscarriages, she gave birth prematurely to a son, nicknamed 'Bean', who only lived for 74 minutes. Her second daughter, Dixie-Dot, was born several weeks prematurely, weighing just 3 lbs 3ozs. She has stated she wants to adopt a Chinese baby and that people should do this rather than get pets or buy Ferraris.
She is sometimes mistakenly linked with a lawsuit involving Arnold Schwarzenegger. The presenter involved was in fact Anna Richardson of movie review show Big Screen.
Anna now runs and owns a wildlife park deep in rural Pembrokeshire called Manor House Wildlife Park which was featured in an ITV Wales documentary called Anna's Welsh Zoo. In 1992 Richardson came under fire for alleged cruelty to a disabled puppy (source: BBC Look North).
[edit] Style
Richardson has sometimes been criticised for her interior design style, which often features the use of bold colors, especially blues, strong geometric shapes, and other unusual items. On one notable episode of Changing Rooms, she designed a room featuring framed erotic French underwear in place of pictures. When the couple who owned the house saw the completed room, the woman objected strongly to the framed underwear on the grounds that it was completely inappropriate decor for a house containing children, and then burst into tears.
Her personal style usually features a strong emphasis on dark shades, especially black, and includes such garments as very tight leather trousers. When she heard that Anna had finally pierced her ears, fellow Changing Rooms designer Linda Barker gave her a pair of large silver hoop earrings. This style has now become her favorite, and she's rarely seen without them.[3]
[edit] Filmography
- Apart from Changing Rooms, Richardson has also appeared in several other home-design shows for the BBC including House Invaders and Staying Put.
- In summer 2006, she was a celebrity showjumper in the BBC's Sport Relief event Only Fools on Horses.
- She was a hidden celebrity on the CBBC show Hider in the House.
- She was the sixth person to leave the jungle in ITV's 2007 I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.
- She appeared alongside fellow I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! contestant and eventual winner, Christopher Biggins, on a Celebrity Version of the ITV show Who wants to be a Millionaire?, which aired on 1 January 2008, in which Anna and Christopher shared a £50,000 prize for their chosen charities.
[edit] References
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20050206/ai_n9500343/
- ^ http://www.girlguidingscotland.org.uk/information/info_interview_richardson.htm
- ^ a b Anna's Happiness, News of the World Sunday magazine, 17 April 2005.
[edit] External links
- Anna Ryder Richardson at the Internet Movie Database
- Ryder Richardson bio at UKTV
- Manor House Wildlife Park Tenby
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