The scientists I know who are involved in rocket technology do not like being called rocket scientists - they prefer more specific descriptions of what they do such as aerospace engineer, aeronautics engineer, or astronautics engineer. My friends in similar lines of work would quite likely punch you on the nose if you called them "rocket scientists" which they say just shows how little anyone using that phrase knows about the subject. And of course your niece writes her own work if she does work in that world because it's very specialised and incomprehensible to people without at least a first degree in engineering, physics or some other science related subject.

None of us know anything about Tess's education, but we do know she has travelled the world modelling, appeared in a couple of videos with Duran Duran, hosted a few Tv shows and interviewed some well known people for TV.

But your prejudice will assume that she's just a bimbo incapable of doing anything other than hanging off the arm supporting a doddery octogenarian.

The producers are probably telling Tess to point out the standing ovations. They will be constantly talking to her through her ear piece while she is talking on the show. Tess is presenting a live show which needs particular skills and lots of presenters would baulk at presenting live TV. No doubt Tess is regarded as a safe pair hands and that's an admirable thing.

I think your assumption she uses a ghost writer is a bit off. You don't have to be a rocket scientist. Plenty of people write books without ghost writers, especially when they write about what they know and that's what Tess did. Being a household name probably helped her get published though.

She's got 9 O levels, so is not a dumb as some people think and is reckoned to be the boss in her household and quite business savvy. Just because she was a (successful) model, doesn't make her less intelligent.

Mind you, people from here who've been to the live show rarely have a good word to say about Tess, saying she's standoffish and just ignores people in the audience. It sounded like she came off as unfriendly.

PS This is her Goodread page

She is just too false, all the grimacing and overplaying. arghhhh drives me nuts

and all the hard vocal noises, like a 'qwarking' noise, lol you hear above everything else, You hear her hard vocals 10 seconds before the couple make their way off the dancefloor!

and the poses. The lad poses and sucking in of cheeks. God help us.

You need that spark of initiative and fun and the other two women have it in bucketloads.



She's very pretty and all that, but taht's not enough. You need the spark

I respect your view but, like many others, beg to differ. Tess is not a lead presenter, I don't even think she would make No. 2 anymore now that times have changed. When she was recruited to support Bruce Forsyth, they were looking for arm candy that could read an autocue. Forsyth has gone as has his old style presenting format. Tess should have gone too. She does not cut it at all.

I have never thought Tess is a Bimbo, although I hardly think 'travelling the world modelling and appearing in a video with a pop group' are particularly taxing jobs. As I've said before, she was an okay (and never much more) old style presenter who was never lead material and who now looks increasingly out of place. Everything about her is faux, there's no sincerity in anything she does.

Fascinated by your post because you seem to be describing all the things a lead presenter should do, few of which have any relation to what Tess actually does do. Pointing out who is good is not her role and as she does it with everybody it is simply an irritant. Where I agree with you is how superior Zoe is to Claudia. I like Claude but, as you say, she suits intimate shows where it is all about one-to-one and thinking on your feet. The combination of Tess/Claudia is awful and completely inappropriate for the BBC's lead light entertainment show.

Assistant Professor, Astro mechanical engineering is what is in her LinkedIn. Does that narrow it down?

So has Tess written her own work or had somebody else to do it for her? The evidence in that she gets somebody else to write her stuff on autocue suggests she can't string a sentence together on her own never mind write a paragraph or a chapter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tess_Daly#Early_life


That's not bad. Anybody know when O Levels / CSEs were replaced by GCSEs?

ahem! In your humble opinion of course. There are other who would not agree.

Each to their own ofcourse but Iv never understood the antipathy towards Tess.

Fair enough pointing out your opinion, but its seemingly easy to forget that Tess has fronted 12 series over 10 years of a pretty much non-stop success story. Presumably she is doing something right otherwise her employers would have replaced her years ago. She is likeable, easy on the eye and doesn't clog the show up. In many ways that's a blessing.

Yes, but still stupid.

The role of a presenter is not to be 'low key and good at heart' in a prime time entertainment show. You need a bit of wit, brains and dazzle.

She has none of that. She's just boring and a bit inept most of the time. Bless her.

Sorry,can't answer unless it's multiple choice.

Snorts!

Just spluttered all over my autocue ...

Very unusual for someone who gained as many as 9 O Levels not to have gone on to do A Levels or some other form of higher education.such as HNC / HND / or BTEC.

What a waste of talent. She could have become a rocket scientist.

Oh come on henry, she still cannot pronounce Ola, couples or judges. She needs two hands to hold a card and still looks like an air hostess on a bumpy flight

I think tackling science might have been a stretch and the language would have been a killer. I expect the claimed O levels were in jolly things like woodwork, domestic science (making buns) and frocks.

Well, her role was really just supporting Bruce until this year.
But now it's a different story, although I'm not sure the BBC take poll opinions on the skill of their presenters or the various content of the show.
The silly VTs would be gone for a start if they did and I'm sure Bruce would have been gone too. (although I do quite like him)

I'm sorry I would just love someone with a bit of wit and spontaneity and is smart, don't you?

She is capable on a perfunctory level, maybe some people like that.
I'm greedy, I want more

SCC is so very popular in spite of Tess, not because of her.

I like Tess. When I went to the Christmas special a few years ago, she never stopped smiling even though we could see her offstage waiting as the re-takes went on.

IIRC those were CSEs in old money. Nothing wrong with that - except for suggesting (if that is indeed the case) they were GCE O Levels.

OK it gets curious. There's this article

Tess Daly: the interview

It says, inter alia, that:


And Wikipedia says


The norm for Maths O Levels was in the 5th form (aged 16) and science specialists did them a year early in the 4th form (aged 15) and Additional Maths O Level in the 5th form aged 16.

So what did she do between aged 15 having done her Maths O Level a year early and her first modelling job aged 18 and 6 weeks? Why didn't she do Additional Maths O Level or Maths A Level?

Am I on your blocked list because I posted the fact she has 9 O Levels in my reply to one of your posts? I also have 9 O Levels and didn't go on to higher education.

We don't know what Tess did after her O Levels, although perhaps like me she failed her A Levels. Maybe her parents needed her to start earning a living and contribute to the household? Who knows? She appears to have worked all her adult life and has a successful career in TV, yet people are denigrating her success to the point of rubbishing her O Levels! Unbelievable.

And O Levels were replaced by GCSEs in 1988.

Failing A' Levels is a good explanation. Have you come across many people with 9 O' Levels and no A' Levels? Very rare I would imagine.

Personally I am not denigrating her. She has done very well for herself as an Anthea Redfern.

Someone in this thread said she had written two novels. I simply doubt that she wrote the two novels without the use of a ghost-writer as she has hitherto shown no literary bent. Without that claim, I have nothing to say about her. Googling I found some surprising data and gaps in her reported history which always gets me curious.

No. I have never heard her say anything about writing books.

You wrote "she's written and had published two novels since 2011."

So you must have seen some evidence to suggest that. What is your source to suggest that she wrote them herself and not used a ghost-writer like many celebs ?

I took 9 academic 'O' levels in 1959 when content was more difficult than today's exams. For instance I did differentiation in maths 'O' level; it's now in 'A' level. Went to work because my parents couldn't afford to keep me at school - very common until about the mid 60s. Did 'A' level Biology and Chemistry in 1970. Went to university in 1971 doing a BSc in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, PGCE in 1975. Taught sciences, business studies and computing for 25 years, and did a doctorate related to fibres during that time. Now retired with my main hobby bobbin lacemaking (totally logical and mathematical in its construction) and still married to the person I married in 1962, who was also what you call a "rocket scientist".

Wrote and had published (without a ghost writer) three instructional books on horses starting in 1983. Still getting royalties on two of them now.

Presumably, based on what you've said, you did your 'O' levels, then 'A' levels and went straight to university. That isn't the only way people do things - fortunately our education system is flexible and it isn't unusual to have gaps between levels.

As for your niece, if she is Assistant Professor, Astro mechanical engineering she'd be highly insulted being called a "rocket scientist". Believe me that people in any academic field want what they do specified. Dumbing down to "rocket scientist" won't do her reputation or future any good whatsoever. As assistant professor her position isn't guaranteed unless she keeps herself known by publishing papers in appropriate journals regularly, so of course she writes her own material. She'd be a fraud if she didn't.

You know nothing about Tess, just as you know nothing about anyone else on this board except what they choose to disclose. You have absolutely no right to know about the "gaps in her reported history"; you don't own her. Labelling her a bimbo on the little you do know is appalling. In fact labelling anyone when you don't know them personally is appalling. Would you look at a picture of a blond woman and say "She's obviously thick?" I could label you as someone who thinks women should only be an appendage to a male presenter, but I could be wrong. It's the 21st century and the only criterion should be whether or not someone, whichever gender, can do the job. IMO, and that of many others, Tess can and is.

She does what she was employed to do and gets constant instruction through her earpiece - very difficult to speak and listen to something different at the same time. I know I couldn't do it because I've tried it. Have you? That was something the previous presenter couldn't do and was why she had to keep steering him back on course.

We keep reading that she reads everything off an 'autocue' but no one has explained where it is. We often see a distant view of her as the dancers move over across at the end of the dance and there is no visible 'autocue'. Perhaps the camera on the dolly has one but it is not always near to her.

She uses both autocue and notes. Have you not noticed she is always carrying cards to read from and only performs without when she has one line to say.

In media we use whatever works best for the performer. It's not just about cameras.

Brilliant post - thank you. People don't realise how recent it is for so many teenagers to stay on in education after age 16. When I was at school I was one of only 12 girls in a 6th form of 28 and that was at a school of over 1000 pupils. Some went to university, some like me started work. Good results at O level did not automatically mean you did A levels, A levels did not automatically mean university. Many parents could not afford to keep young adults in higher education.

My perception is Tess is a successful woman and has worked hard to get where she is now. It is shameful that people are judging her so harshly when they know so little about her.


The producers speak to her through her ear piece, carries small cue cards and her scripted lines are on her camera. Hope that's what you are asking about.

Just wanted to show that we don't all go down a continuous educational path and that that we can all do things that wasn't part of our educational or professional career.

There's absolutely no proof that Tess's novels were ghost written, in spite of some deciding they know how intelligent she is, what she does outside of Strictly based on their own biased ideas of her education, career and personal life.