Jill Priscilla Goolden (born 28 September 1949) is an English

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

critic, journalist and television personality.

Early life

Goolden is the only daughter (there being also two sons) of Douglas Cyril Aubrey Goolden (1914-2001), of Forge Cottage,

Withyham Withyham is a village and large civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The village is situated 7 miles south west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from Crowborough; the parish covers approxi ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, a lieutenant in the

Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...

, and Rosemary (1922-2021), daughter of Conservative politician Major Hon.

Christopher William Lowther Major the Hon. Christopher William Lowther (18 January 1887 – 7 January 1935) was a Great Britain, British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician, the elder son of James Lowther, 1st Viscount Ullswater. Biography Lowther was e ...

, of the Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry (son of Conservative politician and

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

James William Lowther, 1st Viscount Ullswater, of the Earls of Lonsdale).

Career

For 18 years Goolden co-presented the popular

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

Food and Drink ''Food and Drink'' is a British television series on BBC Two. First broadcast between 1982 and 2002, it was the first national television programme in the UK to cover the subject of food and drink without cookery and recipe demonstrations. Hi ...

'' television series in Britain, with Chris Kelly, Michael Barry and her friend Oz Clarke (another oenophile). She is known for her descriptions of wine tasting appreciation often referring to certain wines as reminiscent of pear drops, liquorice and even rubber. In 1995, she was a guest on The Mrs Merton Show S.1 E.3 Goolden also presented two television series on antiques for

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

, ''The Great Antiques Hunt'' and '' Going, Going, Gone'', and she has travelled extensively as a regular presenter on BBC1's ''

Holiday A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

'' programme. During 2003, she was presenter on BBC1's ''Holiday – You Call the Shots''. In 2004, the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' included Goolden in a list of the top 40 most eccentric TV presenters of all time. In 2005, she appeared in a new

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

series '' Extreme Celebrity Detox''. She has also starred in a mini-drama written and directed by

Pauline Quirke Pauline Perpetua Sheen (née Quirke; born 8 July 1959) is a retired English actress. She began her career with roles on various television series, before fronting her own comedy sketch show, ''Pauline's Quirkes'', in 1976. She later starred as ...

and has performed in '' The Vagina Monologues'' at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. In November, 2005, Goolden appeared in

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

's fifth series of '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!''. During her time in the jungle Goolden, along with fellow celebrity Carol Thatcher, was voted to do a bushtucker trial. This involved eating various

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

and some local

delicacies A delicacy is a rare food item that is considered highly desirable, sophisticated, or peculiarly distinctive within a given culture or region. A delicacy may have an unusual flavor or be expensive compared to everyday foods. Delicacies va ...

. During the trial, Goolden tried to eat a kangaroo's penis as part of the task but failed to do so. In 2006 she appeared on the television series '' Celebrity MasterChef''. Goolden has written books on wine and food and palmistry. Her books have appeared in the ''Sunday Times'' best-seller list. She has co-written books which include five volumes of ''Food and Drink'', ''Entertaining with Food and Drink'' and ''The Big Food and Drink Book''. She co-authored ''Your Hand – An Illustrated Guide To Palmistry'' () in the early 1980s. In 2008, Goolden took part in a special of '' Wife Swap'' in the UK, swapping with Cynthia O'Neal, the wife of Alexander O'Neal. She was a judge on the ITV programme '' Britain's Best Dish'' for both series since 2007.

Personal life

Goolden married, on 19 May 1984, Paul Marshall, a former

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...

civil servant. He died in March 2021. They have three children. Goolden lives in

Ashdown Forest Ashdown Forest is an ancient area of open heathland occupying the highest sandy ridge-top of the High Weald National Landscape. It is situated south of London in the county East Sussex, England. Rising to an elevation of above sea level, its ...

where she has hosted wine tasting evenings.

References

External links

*
Unofficial biographyUnreality TV - News of Jilly Goolden on ''I'm a Celebrity''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goolden, Jilly 1949 births English television presenters Living people Palmists People from Royal Tunbridge Wells British wine critics