Carol Smillie has been one of the most popular faces on British TV for over 25 years.
The television presenter talks ice skating, her biggest career break and what it’s like to be parodied as ‘smiley, smiley, Carol Smillie…’
I am a big fan of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!, I just don’t want to be on it – and I’ve now been asked five times.
My biggest regret is that I never met Princess Diana. Generally, though, I’m not really given to regrets: I’ve been extremely lucky and have made the most of every opportunity I’ve been given.
The most important values I learned from my parents were: if you really want something then go and get it; if you work hard in life you will reap the benefits; and be yourself.
Don’t believe the hype, I do get grumpy. People throwing litter out of the car window gets me every time and I have been known to put it back in their window at the next traffic lights.
The rudest person I’ve ever met is Philip Green, the owner of Topshop. He asked me to go to London to see him, and then talked on his phone throughout the meal and clicked his fingers at the waiters. He had an ego the size of a planet: I found everything about the man completely abhorrent. Not enough people have ever told him to piss off, so I did.
My biggest break was on the Wheel of Fortune. For once my lack of inches – 5ft 6in is short for a model – went in my favour as the host Nicky Campbell is quite small. Being an oompa loompa in modelling terms paid off that time.
I love the Dire Straits album Telegraph Road. When I was a young model I worked at the ski show in Munich and a bunch of us drove through the night on the autobahn with that playing over and over again. It was terrifying, but at least if I’d died at 18 I’d have died to Dire Straits.
Some of the happiest times in my life were at our holiday home in Ayrshire. We had 13 years of proper old-fashioned family holidays with the kids, with kites, rock pooling and barbeques.
I took up ice skating when my youngest was at nursery school. I thought that discussing the price of pampers at mothers and toddlers in the church hall would make my ears bleed, so I got together with a bunch of mums who felt the same and we’d go ice skating.
Michael McIntyre makes me laugh. So do my kids and so does Glasgow humour.
I’m not obsessed with possessions, but if my house was on fire I’d rescue my photos first because you can never replace those. I’m a big artcollector so I’d save some paintings (I went to art school and do my own but I wouldn’t save any of mine because they’re not worth hee-haw!).
I hope that I’m not remembered as ‘smiley, smiley, Carol Smillie’ – I’d like people to remember me as someone who worked really hard and who wasn’t completely selfish.
It’s good to shift out of your comfort zone. I’m worried that I could become a dull, boring person if I didn’t sometimes scare myself witless by doing new things, whether it’s taking part in Strictly Come Dancing or hosting the Duke of Edinburgh’s 80th birthday at the Royal Albert Hall, when I looked up at a packed hall and thought ‘dear God, what on earth am I doing here?’
The best thing about being in the public eye is that it opens doors – people feel they know you so they are receptive to what you have to say.
- This feature was originally published in 2013.
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