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Abi Titmuss
Abi Titmuss at the 2008 World Series of Poker
Born	(1976-02-08) 8 February 1976 (age 48) Newark, Nottinghamshire, England
Height	5 ft 5 in (165 cm)

Abi Titmuss, (born 8 February 1976 in Newark, Nottinghamshire), is an English actress, television personality, former glamour model and nurse.

Early life

Abi Titmuss grew up in Heckington, Lincolnshire where her parents were teachers, and she took her A levels at Kesteven and Sleaford High School where she played the clarinet. She briefly dated cartoonist B.P. Perry before moving to Ruskington. Her parents divorced when she was 17, and her father moved to Argyll, Scotland, where he remarried. Her mother was secretary of Sleaford Museum Trust.

Career

Nursing

Titmuss graduated from City University in St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1998. She did a nursing diploma because her A-levels were not good enough to be a doctor and became a staff nurse at London's University College Hospital.

Television and radio

Titmuss was hired as a roving reporter on the Channel 4 programme Richard & Judy but was sacked in January 2004 when it emerged that she had been filmed having sex and the tape became public. Titmuss appeared on ITV1's Celebrity Love Island where she was called "a big fat slag" by fellow contestant Jayne Middlemiss. Titmuss had become close to ex-footballer Lee Sharpe, whom Middlemiss had designs on. Titmuss managed to lose her bikini in the swimming pool showing off a glimpse of nipple. Her other television work includes training as a chef on the 2004 series of Hell's Kitchen, and in 2005, she appeared on Channel 4's The Friday Night Project as a regular guest feature, and in Abi Titmuss: A Modern Day Morality Tale, a fly-on-the-wall documentary for Channel 4. She has also starred on a celebrity edition of Channel 4's Come Dine With Me with Paul Ross, Lesley Joseph, Linda Lusardi and Rodney Marsh but didn't enjoy the experience. Lusardi won.

Titmuss also appeared on the reality series Deadline with Janet Street Porter on ITV2. The show followed a number of celebrities as they attempted to produce a celebrity-based magazine each week, published as a supplement to Closer. Titmuss was the fourth celebrity to be sacked from the show. She has guest-presented shows on Virgin Radio, MTV and LBC radio.

Titmuss appeared in the second series première of Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, which aired 30 April 2007 on BBC Three and as a character called Gezebelle in an episode of Katy Brand's Big Ass Show, a sketch comedy series for ITV2.

Glamour

When it became impossible for Titmuss to continue as a nurse (following her increased public profile and the sex video becoming public as well as a confession that she had taken cocaine), she became a glamour model. In her own words to Sunday Mirror:

I'm not like those glamour girls who say: 'I'm really dirty, I'm really bad', then just pose around. I really am dirty and bad - I love sex.

She took up presenting on pornographic channel Television X, released a fitness video, put her name to an erotic novel published by Black Lace and made personal appearances in nightclubs in the UK and Ireland. An initial offer of a photo shoot over two pages of FHM morphed into a three-page spread and a cover. In 2004 and 2005, she made 38 front-page appearances on British men's magazines, such as FHM , Nuts, Zoo Weekly, loaded, GQ and Maxim magazines. She also appeared in the Sunday Times Style and in glamour pictures in of several tabloid newspapers including the Sun, News of the World, Daily Mirror, the People and Daily Star. Titmuss was voted by readers as number seven in FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005, and wrote a regular sex advice column for the magazine. In December 2004, Titmuss appeared on the front cover of FHM with Swedish model Victoria Silvstedt. At the height of her fame in 2004/05, Titmuss could command up to £30,000 a day for appearing on the front page of Nuts or Zoo. In 2005, Titmuss appeared in a high fashion shoot in Pop, which commented on her status as the "face of 21st century celebrity".

After taking a break from modelling work, Titmuss relaunched her glamour career as a brunette with an appearance on the cover of Zoo Weekly and the sale of the official Abi Titmuss calendar for 2007. On 25 April that year, it was announced that Titmuss had made an appearance for a third time in FHM's annual 100 Sexiest Women in the World readers' poll, at number 80 (seven in 2005, 95 in 2004).

After announcing in late 2007 that she would take a break from her glamour modelling career to concentrate on acting, Titmuss returned with a new Nuts shoot in April 2009.

Acting

Titmuss first acted during her university studies, and then took part-time acting courses at the Central School of Speech and Drama, paid for from her nursing work. After reducing her glamour model work, Titmuss took a further short course at the same establishment.

Titmuss made her London theatre acting debut in March 2006, playing a prostitute with a multiple personality disorder in Two Way Mirror by Arthur Miller, at the Courtyard Theatre in Kings Cross. In February 2007, Titmuss won a Fringe Report Award for Best West End Début for her role in Two Way Mirror.

In 2006, Titmuss had a small role in the major film Goal! 2. She was also offered a role in a remake of Galaxy of Terror, a 1980 horror film set on an alien planet. She turned it down upon learning that her character would be molested and eaten by a giant moth.

Titmuss was due to have been the subject of a theatre production in a musical satire entitled Being Abi, performed by youngsters in her home county of Lincolnshire. Devised by pupils at Boston College in May 2006, it was scheduled for a three-day run before being cancelled by two of the performers' concerned parents, who objected to some of the production's content.

Between 26 February and 23 March 2008, Titmuss appeared in the black comedy Fat Christ at the King's Head Theatre in Islington, London and is due to appear in the touring play Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners.

She has been cast in small roles in British independent films Do Elephants Pray? and Mixed Up. In 2008 she played the role of the 'Mysterious Girl' in Beat 24 Films UK independent feature film Frontman

In 2009 she was cast in John Godber's play Up 'n' Under to celebrate its 25th anniversary at the newly refurbished Hull Truck Theatre, Hull. Titmuss played the role of Hazel the fitness instructor, starring alongside James Crossley (formerly the Gladiator Hunter) and soap actor Lewis Linford (Lee Naylor in Emmerdale). She also had a part in the BBC TV series Hotel Babylon, playing a nun.

From November until 4 December 2009, Titmuss appeared in Shakespeare's Macbeth, playing the character of Lady Macbeth with the Seagull Rep. This production opened at the Seagull Theatre, Pakefield, Lowestoft, Suffolk before transferring to other East Anglian venues including the Cut at Halesworth, Bungay's Fisher Theatre and Quay's Arts Centre.

On 18 February 2012, she played the role of Tara Edmonds in an episode of BBC TV's Casualty. She said that landing the part gave her a sense of self-esteem that she had lost doing the glamour work.

Publications

Titmuss produced a book co-written with Jayne Lockwood, published by Virgin Bookson 7 July 2005 called Ten Fantasies (ISBN 978-0-7535-1037-7), in which she reveals her ten most secret (sexual) fantasies. She said that she did not want her mother to read it. Her memoir, The Secret Diaries of Abigail Titmuss, was released by Headline Review on 24 July 2008 on which she collaborated with Heat journalist Lucie Cave.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).</ref>

Personal life

Titmuss first came to public attention as the girlfriend of TV presenter John Leslie whom she met in a Fulham bar on 10 April 1999. She stood by him when he was accused of sexual wrongdoing and was at his side when the charges were dropped in July 2003. Titmuss dated former footballer Lee Sharpe after meeting when they both appeared on Celebrity Love Island. Eventual female winner Jayne Middlemiss called Titmuss "a big, fat slag" because of her flirting with Sharpe, whom Middlemiss had an eye on. Titmuss and Sharpe split after he dated other women. In mid-2008 on the Richard & Judy talk show, Titmuss revealed that she had been dating the actor Marc Warren for about a year. The couple split in mid-2009.

References

1. "Abi Titmuss". AskMen.com. 29 January 2008. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
2. http://www.heightceleb.info/2011/12/how-tall-is-abi-titmuss.html
3. http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/england-and-wales/results?event=B&recordType=GRO&route=&recordCount=-1&forenames=abigail+evelyn&_includeForenamesVariants=on&surname=titmuss&_includeSurnameVariants=on&fromYear=&toYear=&county=&_county=1&district=&_district=1&mothersMaidenName=&_useMothersMaidenNameAsSurname=on&sortOrder=RK%3Atrue&_performExactSearch=on&x=20&y=9
4. http://sleafordmuseum.org.uk/site/Contact-us.htm
5. The Secret Diaries of Abigail Titmuss {p9}
6. ^ The Secret Diaries of Abigail Titmuss
7. "Come Dine With Me, episode 14". Channel4. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
8. ^ "Abi Titmuss: I built a property portfolio as a glamour model but now I want to be a serious actress". London: Daily Mail. 15 April 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
9. "Abi Titmuss is gagging for a man". Play-2-Win Ltd. 2008. Retrieved 1 August 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
10. "Abi Titmuss". Maxim. 29 January 2008. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
11. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article6921535.ece?print=yes
12. "The full list of FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2007". Daily Mail. 26 April 2007. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
13. "Abu Titmuss". Nuts. April 2009. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
14. Fringe Report Awards 2007
15. "England | Lincolnshire | Anger as Abi Titmuss musical axed". BBC News. 16 May 2006. Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
16. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1307920/ Frontman IMDB Page
17. http://www.beat24.co.uk/photos-frontman.html Official Site of the film showing photos of Abi on set.
18. Kendall, Paul (8 November 2009). "Abi Titmuss: Glamour girl to Lady Macbeth". London: Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 November 2009. Retrieved 7 December 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
19. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2103098/Abi-Titmuss-battle-self-respect-I-making-30-000-day-I-feel-lack-talent-I-wearing-it.html
20. The Secret Diaries of Abigail Titmuss {p8}
21. JO'S LOVER- LEE - Sunday Mirror
22. The Times Online - Marc Warren talks about his career and latest role in the new BBC comedy drama Mutual Friends

External links

• The Official Abi Titmuss Website and Blog
• Abi Titmuss feature at Maxim magazine
• Article about her in The Independent newspaper
• Abi Titmuss at IMDb

Template:Persondata

• Use dmy dates from August 2010
• 1976 births
• Living people
• People from Ruskington
• Alumni of City University London
• Alumni of the Central School of Speech and Drama
• English nurses
• English television presenters
• English stage actors
• English musical theatre actors
• English television actors
• English film actors
• Footballers' wives and girlfriends
• Glamour models
• Participants in British reality television series
• People educated at Kesteven and Sleaford High School