CHRISTINE HAMILTON

Christine Hamilton appears regularly on TV & radio, from entertainment to news & current affairs programmes. Her repertoire includes everything from Have I Got News For You, Bo Selecta & Harry Hill to Any Questions, Loose Women & Newsnight. She presented a 10-part Granada series Home & has deputised for Gloria Hunniford & Fern Britton on their flagship shows Open House & This Morning. Christine has written a weekly column for the Western Daily Press, a monthly column for gay magazine, Refresh & ad hoc for other newspapers, magazines & periodicals.

She has filled both Oxford & Cambridge Unions ("the best presidential debate for years - you made it for everyone"), wowed the boys at Eton College ("you managed to make most of the audience cry with laughter") & enchanted countless other audiences with her wit, humour & fund of hilarious stories.

Christine is in demand to speak at luncheons, dinners & gatherings of all kinds, equally at home with either male, female or mixed audiences, enlivening many an occasion with her charm & humour. An entertaining & witty speaker, she lifts the veil on the discreet, yet no-so-discreet World of Westminster & enthuses hilariously about her Great British Battleaxes.

Rarely out of the news, she hit the headlines in August 2001 when she & Neil were arrested & accused of a vile sexual crime - they fought back very publicly forcing the police to back down & admit it was all untrue. From her newly gained media interest, Christine decided to appear on the original ITV series I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here in 2002 where she enchanted viewers with her natural charm, sense of humour, common sense & kindness, emerging as the true Queen of the Jungle!

Her critically acclaimed BBC Choice series, The Christine Hamilton Show proved her to be a natural & perceptive interviewer, chatting to household names who have survived stormy waters of all kinds - from James Hewitt, Jonathan Aitken & Lord Bath to Bernard Manning, Ivana Trump & John Fashanu.

Christine acquired media celebrity overnight for the forceful support she gave her husband during his 1997 General Election campaign in the Tatton constituency - the 'Battle of Knutsford Heath' which was one of the high spots of the campaign. Descriptions of her ranged from the insultingly unflattering to the admiringly adulatory. She was called everything from "the wife from hell" to "the battling lioness". Lampooned in countless articles & cartoons as a ferocious battleaxe, she also aroused admiration for her spirit & chutzpah!

Inspired by her own caricature, her first book Christine Hamilton's Book of British Battleaxes was published in October 1997 & was revised & re-printed in 2003. Light-hearted & entertaining, it's a colourful cornucopia of Belligerent British Belles who have enlivened the pages of history & the headlines of the popular press ranging from Queens Boadicea to Victoria, Nancy Astor to Margaret Thatcher, from Fanny Craddock to Bessie Braddock, from Joan Collins to Ena Sharples, from Cynthia Payne to Edwina Currie & from Barbara Cartland to Barbara Woodhouse. Christine's autobiography For Better For Worse was published in March 2005.

Game for anything ('as long as it's legal, honest & faintly decent'), Christine has parachuted & posed as Eve (with Neil as Adam) for charity; dressed as a drag queen on the BBC, had cosmetic infill injections live on C5 & the BBC, launched a death defying funfair ride & is an outrageous flirt - who could forget her disarming Louis Theroux in the documentary, considered to be one of the best television moments of 2001.

Recently Christine has received critical acclaim since delightedly dipping her toe into the world of theatre. In basque & fishnets she was the first woman in England to take the role of Narrator in the Rocky Horror Show during it's 30th anniversary tour; she twinkled as the Bossy Fairy Battleaxe in Jack & the Beanstalk at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford for Christmas 2002, starred in the Vagina Monologues at the Edinburgh Playhouse during the Festival in 2003 & made her West End debut with the Monologues at Wyndhams Theatre in May 2005. She also tours her one-woman show Share An Evening with Christine Hamilton - "All questions welcomed, I have nothing to hide!" Together with Neil, their daily Lunch with the Hamiltons & Saturday night show Midnight Feast with the Hamiltons were sell-outs at the 2006 & 2007 Edinburgh Fringe.

Christine has been involved with various advertising; fronting TV campaigns for the Sunday Express, London Tourist Board & Warner Music; a newspaper campaign for Directory Enquiries 118 118, a magazine campaign for Hush Puppies, a radio advertisement for Toyota & a promotional campaign for Gleeson Homes. She was the 2005 'Face of British Sausage Week' organised by the British Sausage Appreciation Society & the Meat & Livestock Commission.

She spent her childhood in the New Forest area where her father was a GP in Ringwood. After graduating from the University of York she worked at the House of Commons for 26 years as Research Assistant & Secretary to MPs, starting with the flamboyant Sir Gerald Nabarro (MP for South Worcestershire until he died in 1973). She worked for her husband for his election for Tatton in 1983 until he lost his seat in 1997. Christine & Neil currently live in Wiltshire & London where they enjoy music, gardening, cooking & entertaining which encompasses their overriding passion: the company of good friends.

 

 

For more information on Christine Hamilton, Contact Arena.
Tel: 0113-239-2222