Welcome to NRICH.

 
Who is Carol Vorderman?
By Anonymous on Thursday, July 20, 2000 - 02:50 pm:

Help me please! Who is Carol Vorderman?
Thank you, Kati

By Dan Goodman (Dfmg2) on Friday, July 28, 2000 - 03:56 am:

Carol Vorderman is a TV presenter with a pretence at having mathematical credentials. She made her first break with "Countdown" which she still does, being paid about one million pounds per series for putting cardboard letters and numbers into spaces and writing down basic arithmetic. Now she does lots of other popular science programmes as well. There are two interesting things to note about Carol. Firstly, she has apparently said that she thinks more men find her attractive than Pamela Anderson. Secondly, she is a member of the prestigious "Nines" club at Cambridge, this is the club for people who got a 3rd in each year of their degree (a 3rd is the lowest mark you can get without failing).

By Anonymous on Sunday, July 30, 2000 - 09:41 am:

Dan:

I have to say you're a more kindhearted and generous spirit than some of us might be.

By Anonymous on Monday, August 14, 2000 - 02:57 am:

£1000000!! And some people cannot get clean water to drink!

By Marcus Hill (T3280) on Tuesday, September 26, 2000 - 11:01 pm:

Not only that, but her degree was in engineering, so she's not even a real mathematician.

By Katie Heskins (P2956) on Friday, September 29, 2000 - 08:19 pm:

Carol's a really nice person - don't diss her - I'm sure she's a lot cleverer than she makes out to be. Although I do agree 1million is going OTT. At least she participated in the Who wants to be a millionaire for charity...

By Marcus Hill (T3280) on Friday, September 29, 2000 - 09:47 pm:

Oh, sure. She has used her celebrity to promote the public understanding of maths, which is a good thing. She also provided us with a great example of the poor status maths has in this country - when she said on the charity Millionnaire that she thought Shakespeare was boring, there was a huge outcry in the press. Any number of famous people, luvvie actors included, say they hate maths and can't do it, and people nod in agreement. It seems that it's fine to hate maths, but awful to hate English Lit.