Tara Palmer-Tomkinson

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
File:Tara palmer tomkinson.jpg Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
Born	(1971-12-23) December 23, 1971 Hampshire, England
Occupation(s)	Television personality and magazine columnist.

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson (born December 23, 1971) also known as TPT, is a well-known one-time English "it girl", television personality, presenter, commercial model, columnist and sometime concert pianist.

Her parents are Charles and Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson (née Dawson), an Anglo-Argentine. Palmer-Tomkinson's father has represented his country as a skier at Olympic level. Tara grew up on her parents' estate in Dummer, Hampshire, and was educated at Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset. She is the younger sister of author Santa Montefiore, and was the basis of a main character in Santa's book Last Voyage of the Valentina; she also has an older brother named James. Tara Palmer Tomkinson is a well known London socialite and friend of Prince Charles.

Notoriety

Since 1990, her antics have been well-covered by the British tabloid press, and in the mid to late 1990s, she wrote a weekly column for the Sunday Times and subsequently contributed to The Spectator, The Mail on Sunday, GQ, Eve, Harpers and Queen, Tatler, Instyle and The Observer sporadically. She is regularly, and perhaps derisively, referred to as "posh", as are other British upper-class "It girls".

In 1999, she made an appearance on Frank Skinner's chat show on ITV1, dishevelled and disjointed. It was then that her longstanding cocaine addiction became very public knowledge. Within 48 hours, she checked into an exclusive rehab clinic in Arizona. She claims to have been totally clean since 2002. In 2001, Palmer-Tompkinson launched the annual Fish & Chip Shop of the Year competition organised by the Sea Fish Industry Authority (Seafish).

Television appearances

In 2002, her public profile was revitalised when she made a memorable appearance on the British television series I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here!, finishing runner up. In November 2005, Palmer-Tomkinson presented her third 'behind the scenes' series on ITV2 for the hit show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here! Now.

She has also appeared on the reality shows Spelling Bee and Cold turkey, which followed her attempts to quit smoking with Sophie Anderton, celebrity specials of A Place in the Sun and Blind Date and in episodes of Tabloid tales, With a little help from my friends, Russian Roulette, Celebrities under pressure and Project Catwalk.

Palmer-Tompkinson's presenting credits include Animals do the funniest things with Tony Blackburn, Junior Eurovision, The British comedy awards...Party on, What kids really think, Popworld, Top of the pops, SM:TV Live, Company Magazine Bachelor of the year, Dumb Britain, Extreme, a role as a team captain on Bognor or bust which was hosted by Angus Deayton and work for GMTV, Five, LBC radio and the music channel The Hits.

Palmer-Tompkinson is a regular talking head on a vast array of celebrity based documentaries and in 2005, was named Woman of the year by New Woman magazine. She has played herself in the film Mad Cows and an episode of Footballers Wives and also acted in a film version of An Ideal Husband and was for a period, the face of Walkers Crisps replacing Victoria Beckham.

Palmer-Tomkinson has more recently been seen as a contestant on Comic Relief does Fame Academy for the BBC. She gave away tickets to see her compete in Comic Relief Does Fame Academy to "ordinary people" who had helped her out (the other contestants generally giving their free tickets to other celebrities). She invited the policeman who found her stolen car, the locksmith who helped when she was locked out of her house and her parents' local shopkeepers. On Friday 16th March 2007 (Red Nose Day - Comic Relief) Tara won Comic Relief does Fame Academy, beating Tricia Penrose in the final. She was recently recorded as a guest in the BBC's 'Would I Lie to You', a new comedy quiz which was aired in the Spring of 2007, alongside regulars Lee Mack and David Mitchell.

It has recently been announced that Palmer-Tompkinson and her "eccentric family" are to feature in a Fly on the wall "Osbournes style" documentary series for an unnamed television network.

In 2007 she appeared on the comedy quiz show Would I Lie To You? during which she revealed that she once accidentally swallowed a diamond which had been placed in her food as a surprise.

Palmer-Tomkinson presented the Living TV programme Dirty Cows from August 22, 2007, in which ten posh girls competed to win the heart of a rich farmer.

Other work

Palmer-Tomkinson is an accomplished concert pianist having played at the Royal Festival Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra, entertained audiences at the Royal Albert Hall with Mozart and performed at The Coliseum for a Leonard Bernstein Tribute. She was also the star host of the Classic FM Gramophone Awards 2005. She is also at concert-level at playing the piano and has said she rehearses the piano daily for around 90 minutes.

Has recently written a regular column in Closer magazine and signed a publishing deal for her first book, a fiction piece called Get over it.

Once appeared in a commercial for KFC and was briefly the face of Nicorette in 2003, but her contract was allegedly terminated when she failed to kick her thirty a day habit. She has launched products as diverse as Heinz Baked Beans, Telewest Broadband, Scottish Power and Auto Trader. She owns a television production company with her close friend Duncan James and is director of the events company Three's a crowd Events and the lifestyle portal Three's a crowd Online.

Popular culture

• An interesting footnote is that, during the war in Afghanistan in 2001, British special forces nicknamed the Tora Bora caves, where Osama bin Laden was thought to have been hiding, "Tora Bora Tomkinson"

Personal life

In 1999, she was treated at the Meadows clinic in Arizona for a cocaine addiction, and since her recovery has supported various drugs charities.

In 2006, Palmer-Tomkinson had British tabloids in a frenzy following her rumoured relationship with singers Pete Doherty, James Blunt and Robbie Williams with whom she also claimed to have spent 10 days in bed. More recently she asserted that this incident is untrue. Williams has said that he penned his number one song 'Life through a lens' for her.

Also in 2006, Palmer-Tomkinson received extensive publicity after her septum nasi separating her two nostrils collapsed due to her former £400-a-day addiction to cocaine. Pictures were printed in several British Tabloids and in Now magazine. She underwent cosmetic surgery (lasting three hours) to have it rebuilt, at a cost of £6,000.

External links

• BBC profile
• MyVillage biography
• Three's a crowd Events
• Three's a crowd Online