Talk:Carol Vorderman

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Nationality

Carol Vorderman had a Welsh mother (and a Dutch father) and grew up and was educated at the high school level in Wales. Yet, she is classified as English. Obviously, a more accurate description is that she is British. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.71.65.247 (talk) 10:29, 9 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Uhm...no...how would that be so? Her father is Dutch and her mother is Welsh. Why should she be called British and her mother be Welsh? And being British isn't more accurate than England as Britain consists of 3 countries (Northern Ireland is UK but not Great Britain) while England itself is just England. 94.168.37.41 (talk) 17:39, 23 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What does she self-identify as? Seeing as she was brought up in Wales by her Welsh mother, it's likely she doesn't classify herself as English. Jim Michael (talk) 22:12, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Vorderman self-identifies as Welsh: see here and here. This should be reflected in the article. Please note WP:SELFSOURCE, which allows self-published sources to be used as sources of information about themselves (including Twitter). Daicaregos (talk) 17:41, 17 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hollow. She doesn't speak with a Welsh accent, doesn't speak Welsh, doesn't live in Wales, has had nothing to do with the development of Welsh culture or national identity...where is the Welsh equivalent of "plastic paddy"? Anybody? --85.210.108.106 (talk) 16:33, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Categories showing as English

Categories mistakenly show Vorderman as English. She is no more English than Joanna Lumley is Indian. Although English-born, neither of her parents were English, or have any English decent. She lived only the first few weeks (12?) of her life in England, before moving to live with her family in Wales, where she was brought up and went to school ... for the next 17 years. She self-identifies as Welsh - who are we to say she is not? Daicaregos (talk) 10:56, 3 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Source?

I would support the broader "British" as much more appropriate than Welsh. Andy Dingley (talk) 14:41, 16 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Here are some reliable sources describing her as Welsh: Western Mail “She's the Welsh maths genius ...”, Manchester Evening News “Welsh TV presenter Carol Vorderman also has a great eye for fashion.”, Daily Post (North Wales) “Welsh TV celebrity Carol Vorderman ..”. The bio on her agent's website says she “is from Prestatyn and Denbigh, Clwyd, North Wales.” And she self-identifies as Welsh here (“We meaning WALES x #yesiamwelsh.... Grew up there and by blood before I get any queries!!”) and here (Q. “Are you Welsh Carol?” A. “Yep ...”). Daicaregos (talk) 15:09, 16 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

OK - surprising, but if you can source it, then go with it. Andy Dingley (talk) 12:05, 17 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Surprising, indeed. This is one of those "I didn't know s/he was Irish/Scottish/Welsh" cases that a decent encyclopaedia should note. Daicaregos (talk) 15:13, 19 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

These aren't great sources, though. The three local news sources are brief mentions that may only have been verified by glancing at Wikipedia, and the two tweets are both in the context of her tweeting enthusiastic support for the Welsh team in a major England vs Wales Six Nations rugby match. We should be careful about drawing an academic "as we can see, Vorderman considers herself Welsh" conclusion from what someone says about the rugby half an hour before a big match.

If Vorderman thinks of herself as being Welsh, there will surely be interviews, particularly with Welsh or Welsh-language publications, where she has said this without any ambiguity. She's also written an autobiography, does that not mention it? Belbury (talk) 07:15, 20 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

An interesting one, obviously she grew up in Wales to a Welsh parent and has consistantly stated she is Welsh (or agreed with others stating that) on SM platforms. Importantly, Daicaregos' link shows she has argued against people stating that she is not Welsh on SM.

In 2020, on S4C's Iiath ar Daith programme she describes Wales as "my country" and expresses a desire "to be part of the language" (first 20 seconds of the link) and, not that this is relevant to nationality but she is clearly conversant in the language:

Carol Vorderman's Welsh Language Journey - YouTube

This is also this News article linking published SM posts where Vorderman is refered to as Welsh by a journalist/editor and she replies by confirming she is Welsh.

Carol Vorderman hits back at journalist who called her 'Welsh windbag' - Wales Online

Finally, after living most of her adult life in England for reasons explained here...

Carol Vorderman shares heartbreaking reason she could 'never return' to home in Wales - Mirror Online

She now lives in Wales:

Carol Vorderman says she bought a house in Wales after I'm A Celebrity changed her - Wales Online

So we have someone who lives in Wales, was raised in Wales, and has a Welsh parent, who has a consistant history of stating they are Welsh, is described as Welsh by their agent, corrects those who assert she is not Welsh and has defended her Welshness when used as an insult against her. She also speaks Welsh with some ability and has expressed a desire to be a part of the Welsh speaking community. The article really should say she is Welsh. Cymrogogoch (talk) 09:02, 23 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It's possible for all this to be describing a person who is English and thinks of themselves as such, yet lives in Wales, has a Welsh parent, speaks the language, loves the country, defends its name and supports its rugby team.

We really just need one, simple unambiguous quote where Vorderman says that yes, she is Welsh.

This transcript of a BBC Radio Wales appearance might be it: I often get accused of this when I’m tweeting about the Welsh rugby team. And they say, ‘What have you got to do with Wales?’ I am Welsh! I grew up in Wales. Belbury (talk) 09:35, 24 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

So we're fine to change it then? Using your source? Cymrogogoch (talk) 11:51, 25 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, that seems fine. WP:DAILYEXPRESS is regarded as "generally unreliable" by Wikipedia, but the story embeds an audio clip of her actually saying it on the radio, which seems clear enough. I'll update the article. Belbury (talk) 14:33, 21 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe we could add one or two of the other sources? I would call that oversourcing but if there are issues with the single source it may be aposite. Anyway great to get a consensus, Good work Belbury.Cymrogogoch (talk) 21:01, 22 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Why Welsh?

Why does the article have their nationality down as Welsh when it says she was born in Bedford in England? Vorbee (talk) 19:27, 30 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Because her mother was Welsh, and Vorderman was raised in Wales. Dimadick (talk) 18:34, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Presenter

Carol Vorderman was the presenter for the final of Endemol TV programme Trouble in Paradise in 2004 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.10.136.38 (talk) 23:55, 26 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Holds a pilot's license

in the introduction of the BBC TV comedy panel show Have I got news for you broadcast 2023/10/06 her introduction, as a guest panellist alongside regular Paul Merton, included "... a writer and broadcaster who has a pilot's licence and is aiming to, one day, to fly solo around the World, it sounds tough, but it is easier than getting from Birmingham to Manchester by train!" (this being the time of the Conservative Party (UK) Conference where that party, in Government at the time, announced that, (whilst actually in Manchester) would not be going ahead with the later phases of the High Speed 2 Rail link including parts between those two locations).

This seems to be confirmed https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/carol-vorderman-who-pilots-licence-27011432 and this article includes a mention of the desire to fly around the World although that subsequently has not happened: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-25224700. Does this, the possession of a flight qualification, not sound like something that is worth mentioning here? SlySven (talk) 23:33, 10 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]