After Dinner Speakers: Linda Barker, John Malkovich, Robert Swan

Born and brought up in Yorkshire, Linda Barker originally trained as a fine artist at West Surrey College of Art and Design before becoming an interior designer. In 1988, Linda began working with the media, writing features for leading interior design and women's magazines. During this time, she continued to design interiors for private clients as well as working on product launches and parties for PR companies. Linda's television career began in 1994 with an appearance on BBC's Home Front. The following year, she teamed up with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and made the pilot for a new programme called Changing Rooms. The rest, as they say, is history! Changing Rooms has been a phenomenal success, moving from BBC TWO to BBC ONE, and is currently filming its twelfth series. Since the launch of Changing Rooms, Linda has branched out into further interior design programming for the BBC. In 1999, Linda began working on House Invaders for daytime BBC ONE and also co-presented Planet Christmas, a three-part special for BBC TWO, broadcast during December 2001. A contestant on the recent ITV show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Linda gained a huge viwers following and a raft of new fans, eventually being removed from the jungle in third place behind Phil Tufnell and John Fashanu. Throughout the two week ordeal, Linda remained mostly cheerful and was one of the most enthusiastic competitors in all tasks and Bush Tucker Trials. Alongside her broadcasting commitments, Linda writes a regular interiors column for the Daily Telegraph and is also a contributor to BBC Good Homes magazine. She has written all three of the Changing Rooms books and her latest work, Trade Secrets (David and Charles), is a compilation of her Saturday Daily Telegraph features. To date, Linda's books have sold over a million copies around the world. Through her books and television series, Linda's designs have become well known for their effortless chic style. So much so, readers of House Beautiful magazine recently voted Linda, Designer of the Year.