British television presenter and radio actor Annabel Giles has died aged 64 after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
Annabel, who is best known for co-presenting of ITV’s Posh Frocks and New Trousers, passed away peacefully on Monday (20 November) at Martlets Hospice in Hove, her family announced in a statement.
Giles’s children, Molly and Tedd, paid tribute to their mother, who had been diagnosed with stage four cancer earlier this year.
“In July, Mum was diagnosed with a Stage 4 Glioblastoma, a fast-growing and highly aggressive malignant brain tumour,” her children wrote.
“In the four months that followed, she displayed remarkable resilience and strength, despite undergoing brain surgery and countless radiotherapies.
“In her final weeks, she was passionate about raising awareness for Glioblastoma, embodying her lifelong commitment to helping others.”
The statement continued: “Mum was truly one of a kind, an enigma to those privileged to share her life. True to her nature, she kept spirits high and maintained her quick wit until the very end.”
Giles’s children added that their mother’s “humour and laughter” will leave them inspired to “live life to the fullest, just as she always did”.
The TV presenter was born in Pontypool, Wales, and started her media career in the Nineties for ITV shows including Razzmatazz and Night Network.
It was when she was working as a secretary in the Eighties that she was scouted by Models 1 agency and became an official model for the cosmetics brand Max Factor.
In 1995, Giles wrote and performed a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Festival, called “Looking for Mr Giles.” The following year, she fronted a show called “Anyone Can Be A TV Presenter”.
Giles has one daughter, Molly, 36, with her ex-husband, Ultravox lead singer Midge Ure, with whom she was married between 1985 and 1989. She also has a son called Ted, who is 25 years old.
In 2001, Giles published her debut book, a bestseller titled Birthday Girls, which follows six different women on six different birthdays who are somehow all connected. She published Crossing the Paradise Line, a novel about a group of people staying at the same holiday resort when disaster strikes, in 2003.
In 2006, Giles published her third novel: The Defrosting of Charlotte Small, which follows a woman named Charlotte as she confronts years of suppressed heartbreak and disappointment while spending Christmas alone.
Following her success as a TV presenter and actor, Giles took part in I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2013 with Strictly Come Dancing’s Vincent Simone.
Giles had been doing fewer TV appearances in recent years, turning her focus to her role as a counsellor and psychotherapist at her own practice. But in 2018, she appeared on ITV’s reality show Our Shirley Valentine Summer, where eight women are sent to a Greek villa to rediscover themselves.
