Trivia

Her paternal grandfather, Bill Humble, was a stunt pilot and a test pilot who worked on the testing of World War II aeroplanes. Her maternal grandfather, Stanley Carter, was also a WW II pilot; after being shot down he was imprisoned in Stalag Luft III and played a major part in the preparations for The Great Escape.

After leaving school, she spent time traveling through Africa from Cape Town to Cairo. She paid her way on the journey by working a variety of jobs, including driving safari trucks, working on a crocodile farm, waitressing, and performing as a magician's assistant - she was the girl who got sawed in half.

Her wedding ring, an antique 18-carat gold band, is an old family heirloom that originally belonged to her great-grandmother.

She's a fully qualified Scuba diver.

Lives in the Wye Valley with her husband. They have no children.

She has a pet dog called Badger.

Although she's had a piercing in the upper cartilage of her left ear since her late teens, she didn't have her earlobes pierced until December 2008, the day after her 40th birthday.

She has a younger brother named Charlie.

She's suffered from Malaria twice. When she was 31, she caught Cerebral Malaria during a visit to Zanzibar and had to spend a week recovering in hospital. Two years later, she caught it again on a trip to Ghana.