After Dinner Speakers: Rachel de Thame, Ultra Nate, Denise Van Outen

Rachel's path to our screens has been varied and interesting. She studied ballet to a professional standard, but was forced to give up her dream of a dancing career with the Royal Ballet School because of a prolonged bout of glandular fever. Rachel went on to work for an international firm of art dealers in London, but was soon spotted by a modelling agency and moved into a long and successful career as a model. This included appearances in television commercials and acting roles in the mini series Merlin and British film Bodywork. A career in acting was not Rachel's ideal long-term choice, and she enrolled at the English Gardening School, where she earned a certificate practical horticulture and plants and plantsmanship. Rachel is a regular Gardeners' World presenter and has also filmed her own series, Small Town Gardens. In an interview for BBC Gardening Interactive, Rachel was asked how she manages to keep her fingernails so clean and long. She replied: "I get a lot of flack from people who say you can't be a real gardener and try and grow your nails. But I wear gloves when I'm doing serious gardening, to protect my hands from toxoplasmosis, which is an organism born in the soil that comes primarily from cats faeces and it can be very dangerous for pregnant women. Because I wear gloves, my nails don't get damaged." Rachel is married with two children and lives in London.