Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Encyclopedia
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (born 11 March 1965) is a successful homestyle consultant best known for his appearances on the BBC television program
me Changing Rooms. He is noted for his flamboyant personality and dandy
ish appearance.
orthopaedic surgeon, died of leukaemia in 1974, aged 42, when Laurence was just nine years of age. His mother, a teacher
, died in 2002. He has a brother called Edward and a sister called Frances. He is of Welsh
descent.
in Dulwich before graduating from the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (now a constituent college of the University of the Arts London
) in 1986 with a Fine Art
degree
.
, in which he comes to decorate the garden of one of the characters. He acts as a depressed, smoking, and comically bald version of himself, and is killed by a collapsing wall.
In 2004 Llewelyn-Bowen designed the interior of the Inc Bar in Greenwich, England in a former 1830s music hall. The design features Larry's Bar, named after Llewelyn-Bowen and "the Divan", a dimly lit nook, a sort of make-out room.
He has also presented a three-part BBC special Taste (2002), about the history of interior design, and in autumn 2005 he began presenting the weekly BBC1 travel show Holiday 2006. His books include Fantasy Rooms: Inspirational Designs from the BBC Series (1999), Display (2001), "Home Front": Inside Out (2002), Design Rules (2003) and A Pinch of Posh (2006) co-written with his wife, Jackie. He has also made a guest appearance on Changing Rooms American counterpart, Trading Spaces
.
In March 2005 he starred in a one-off mockumentary
as a prospective candidate for Parliament. His party, the Purple Party, "lobbied
" for a restoration of Britain's heritage
, and several extreme architectural
measures such as tearing down all buildings that did not conform to their surroundings.
In January 2006, Laurence and his wife Jackie were offered a place on the Valentine's Day
celebrity couples edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
. They appeared on the show managing to reach the £1 million question, before answering wrongly and dropping down to just £32,000 (a loss of £468,000). For the first time ever, Celador
let Laurence and his wife retry the show after the company claimed that the last question "didn't meet their standards". After returning and being shown a different £1 million question, the couple decided not to risk losing £468,000 for the second time, and won £500,000 for their chosen charity, The Shooting Star Children's Hospice
, of which Laurence and his wife are both patrons. This amount is the highest that any celebrity couple has won on any British edition of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?. The £468,000 they originally lost was also the greatest loss ever seen on the show, and until August 23, 2009, no other contestant has answered the final question incorrectly in the United Kingdom version. The allegedly misleading question was "Translated from the Latin, what is the United States
motto?". The answer given was "In God We trust
" which is originally English and has in fact been the US motto since 1956. The intended answer had been "Out of Many, One" which is a translation of the Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum
, which is not actually the current United States
motto. "E Pluribus Unum" was the defacto motto of the U.S. but never legally declared as such.
In 2007 he designed Decodance for Blackpool Illuminations
, featuring six illuminated burlesque beauties.
In November 2007 he and his family were featured in the Living TV series To The Manor Bowen. The designer created a line of wallpaper in collaboration with the British Home Decor Company Graham & Brown. In December of that year he and his family took part in the ITV1
game show All Star Family Fortunes.
In 2008 he began hosting a show "The Sunday Spa" on Classic FM
.
Again in 2008, he returned to Blackpool Illuminations
to design Venus Reborn, a theatric tableau featuring a 15 minute show of sound, light and water effects.
A study of Laurence's family tree featured in the BBCs 'Who Do You Think You Are?' programme first aired on 29 September 2008. It showed that Llewelyn-Bowen's mother's family had a seafaring history.
On 13 April 2009 he presented a documentary on BBC One in the West region in which he went "In Search of England's Green & Pleasant Land". http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/newsid_7992000/7992524.stm The programme explored the threats to the rural way of life from urban creep and the loss of local services.
In 2009, Laurence also released two ranges of papercrafting products in conjunction with Trimcraft. The ranges were called Retro Rose and Venaissence. http://rubberstamping.about.com/od/supplies/p/LaurenceLlewelynBowen.htm
Laurence appeared on the 2010 series of the ITV1 reality show 'Popstar to Operastar
' as a critic along side Meat Loaf
, and classically trained mentors Katherine Jenkins
and Rolando Villazon
.
For the 2010 Blackpool Illuminations
Laurence has become the Creative Director and has designed lots of new features trying to make the illuminations more modern. Including Dinosaurs, Vampires and Gouls.http://www.visitblackpool.com/site/illuminations/whats-new
Since 2010, Laurence has presented the daytime ITV1 show Auction Party.
, South East London. With his wife Jackie and their two daughters, Cecile (born 1995) and Hermione (born 1998), he moved to a 17th century, grade-II listed manor house in Gloucestershire in April 2007.
He and his wife are ambassadors to the aid agency CARE International UK and in February 2008 visited the cyclone-hit areas of Bangladesh. They are also active patrons for children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent
and Shooting Star Children's Hospice
Laurence is also a patron of the children's charity MERU, co-founded by his father Trefor Llewlyn-Bowen with Bill Bond in 1970.
He has recently acquired a home in Port Isaac
, Cornwall
, which is well-known as the filming location of the TV series Doc Martin
.
He is related to Emanuel Bowen
, map maker to King George II.
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
me Changing Rooms. He is noted for his flamboyant personality and dandy
Dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self...
ish appearance.
Name
He is sometimes credited as "Laurence Llewelyn Bowen", and the components of his name are frequently misspelled "Llewellyn" and/or "Lawrence".Early life
Laurence R. Bowen was born in 1965 in Kensington, London, to parents Trefor and Patricia Bowen (née Wilks). His father, a Harley StreetHarley Street
Harley Street is a street in the City of Westminster in London, England which has been noted since the 19th century for its large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery.- Overview :...
orthopaedic surgeon, died of leukaemia in 1974, aged 42, when Laurence was just nine years of age. His mother, a teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, died in 2002. He has a brother called Edward and a sister called Frances. He is of Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
descent.
Education
Bowen was educated at Alleyn's SchoolAlleyn's School
Alleyn's School is an independent, fee-paying co-educational day school situated in Dulwich, south London, England. It is a registered charity and was originally part of the historic Alleyn's College of God's Gift charitable foundation, which also included James Allen's Girls' School , Dulwich...
in Dulwich before graduating from the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (now a constituent college of the University of the Arts London
University of the Arts London
The University of the Arts London, formerly known as the London Institute, is a collegiate university comprising six internationally recognised art, design, fashion and media colleges in London, England...
) in 1986 with a Fine Art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
.
Early career
After graduating, Llewelyn-Bowen worked for the Harefield Group of Companies and the interior design firm Peter Leonard Associates. In 1989 he started his own design consultancy.Television break
His wife Jackie (born in 1964), an author, had heard through her agent that a production company was searching for a designer and in 1996 he appeared on the first episode of Changing Rooms.Early 2000s
In 2002 Llewelyn-Bowen made a cameo appearance in the comedy series The League of GentlemenThe League of Gentlemen
The League of Gentlemen are a group of British comedians formed in 1995, best known for their radio and television series.The League of Gentlemen may also refer to:* The League of Gentlemen ,...
, in which he comes to decorate the garden of one of the characters. He acts as a depressed, smoking, and comically bald version of himself, and is killed by a collapsing wall.
In 2004 Llewelyn-Bowen designed the interior of the Inc Bar in Greenwich, England in a former 1830s music hall. The design features Larry's Bar, named after Llewelyn-Bowen and "the Divan", a dimly lit nook, a sort of make-out room.
He has also presented a three-part BBC special Taste (2002), about the history of interior design, and in autumn 2005 he began presenting the weekly BBC1 travel show Holiday 2006. His books include Fantasy Rooms: Inspirational Designs from the BBC Series (1999), Display (2001), "Home Front": Inside Out (2002), Design Rules (2003) and A Pinch of Posh (2006) co-written with his wife, Jackie. He has also made a guest appearance on Changing Rooms American counterpart, Trading Spaces
Trading Spaces
Trading Spaces is an hour-long American television reality program that aired from 2000 to 2008 on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home. The format of the show was based on the BBC TV series Changing Rooms. The show ran for eight seasons....
.
In March 2005 he starred in a one-off mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
as a prospective candidate for Parliament. His party, the Purple Party, "lobbied
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
" for a restoration of Britain's heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
, and several extreme architectural
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
measures such as tearing down all buildings that did not conform to their surroundings.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? controversy
| £1 Million (15 of 15) - No Time Limit | |
| Translated from the Latin, what is the motto of the United States? | |
| • A: In God We Trust | • B: One Out of Many |
| • C: All as One | • D: Striving Together |
| The Bowens' £1,000,000 question | |
In January 2006, Laurence and his wife Jackie were offered a place on the Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
celebrity couples edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million pounds for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty...
. They appeared on the show managing to reach the £1 million question, before answering wrongly and dropping down to just £32,000 (a loss of £468,000). For the first time ever, Celador
Celador
Celador is a global light entertainment company originally formed as an independent production company in 1983. It has produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is probably best known for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and co-producing the film Slumdog Millionaire which collected...
let Laurence and his wife retry the show after the company claimed that the last question "didn't meet their standards". After returning and being shown a different £1 million question, the couple decided not to risk losing £468,000 for the second time, and won £500,000 for their chosen charity, The Shooting Star Children's Hospice
Shooting Star Children's Hospice
The Shooting Star Children's Hospice is a UK-based children's charity.The charity provides care, support and advice for children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families...
, of which Laurence and his wife are both patrons. This amount is the highest that any celebrity couple has won on any British edition of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?. The £468,000 they originally lost was also the greatest loss ever seen on the show, and until August 23, 2009, no other contestant has answered the final question incorrectly in the United Kingdom version. The allegedly misleading question was "Translated from the Latin, what is the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
motto?". The answer given was "In God We trust
In God We Trust
"In God We Trust" was adopted as the official motto of the United States in 1956. It is also the motto of the U.S. state of Florida. The Legality of this motto has been questioned because of the United States Constitution forbidding the government to make any law respecting the establishment of a...
" which is originally English and has in fact been the US motto since 1956. The intended answer had been "Out of Many, One" which is a translation of the Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum
E pluribus unum
E pluribus unum , Latin for "Out of many, one", is a phrase on the Seal of the United States, along with Annuit cœptis and Novus ordo seclorum, and adopted by an Act of Congress in 1782...
, which is not actually the current United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
motto. "E Pluribus Unum" was the defacto motto of the U.S. but never legally declared as such.
Recent work
Blackpool Illuminations
Blackpool Illuminations is an annual Lights Festival, founded in 1879 and first switched on 18 September that year, held each autumn in the English seaside resort of Blackpool on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire....
, featuring six illuminated burlesque beauties.
In November 2007 he and his family were featured in the Living TV series To The Manor Bowen. The designer created a line of wallpaper in collaboration with the British Home Decor Company Graham & Brown. In December of that year he and his family took part in the ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
game show All Star Family Fortunes.
In 2008 he began hosting a show "The Sunday Spa" on Classic FM
Classic FM (UK)
Classic FM, one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations, broadcasts classical music in a popular and accessible style.-Overview:...
.
Again in 2008, he returned to Blackpool Illuminations
Blackpool Illuminations
Blackpool Illuminations is an annual Lights Festival, founded in 1879 and first switched on 18 September that year, held each autumn in the English seaside resort of Blackpool on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire....
to design Venus Reborn, a theatric tableau featuring a 15 minute show of sound, light and water effects.
A study of Laurence's family tree featured in the BBCs 'Who Do You Think You Are?' programme first aired on 29 September 2008. It showed that Llewelyn-Bowen's mother's family had a seafaring history.
On 13 April 2009 he presented a documentary on BBC One in the West region in which he went "In Search of England's Green & Pleasant Land". http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/newsid_7992000/7992524.stm The programme explored the threats to the rural way of life from urban creep and the loss of local services.
In 2009, Laurence also released two ranges of papercrafting products in conjunction with Trimcraft. The ranges were called Retro Rose and Venaissence. http://rubberstamping.about.com/od/supplies/p/LaurenceLlewelynBowen.htm
Laurence appeared on the 2010 series of the ITV1 reality show 'Popstar to Operastar
Popstar to Operastar
Popstar to Operastar is a British television programme singing competition based around the training of pop stars of current to be able to sing opera. The show began airing on ITV on 15 January 2010 at 9pm. The show is repeated on TV3 Ireland on Saturday evening. The programme is produced by...
' as a critic along side Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
, and classically trained mentors Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins is a Welsh mezzo-soprano. She is a classical-popular crossover singer who performs across a spectrum of operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre and hymns.-Early life and education:...
and Rolando Villazon
Rolando Villazón
Emilio Rolando Villazón Mauleón is a Mexican tenor. He settled in France and in 2007 became a French citizen.-Early life and education:...
.
For the 2010 Blackpool Illuminations
Blackpool Illuminations
Blackpool Illuminations is an annual Lights Festival, founded in 1879 and first switched on 18 September that year, held each autumn in the English seaside resort of Blackpool on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire....
Laurence has become the Creative Director and has designed lots of new features trying to make the illuminations more modern. Including Dinosaurs, Vampires and Gouls.http://www.visitblackpool.com/site/illuminations/whats-new
Since 2010, Laurence has presented the daytime ITV1 show Auction Party.
Personal life
Until 2004 Llewelyn-Bowen lived in KidbrookeKidbrooke
Kidbrooke is a district of South East London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.The district takes its name from the Kyd Brook, a watercourse which runs from Orpington to Lewisham, by which point it is part of the River Quaggy...
, South East London. With his wife Jackie and their two daughters, Cecile (born 1995) and Hermione (born 1998), he moved to a 17th century, grade-II listed manor house in Gloucestershire in April 2007.
He and his wife are ambassadors to the aid agency CARE International UK and in February 2008 visited the cyclone-hit areas of Bangladesh. They are also active patrons for children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent
CLIC Sargent
CLIC Sargent is charity in the United Kingdom that was formed by the merger of Sargent Cancer Care for Children and Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood in 2005. The charity specializes in providing support for children with cancer....
and Shooting Star Children's Hospice
Shooting Star Children's Hospice
The Shooting Star Children's Hospice is a UK-based children's charity.The charity provides care, support and advice for children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families...
Laurence is also a patron of the children's charity MERU, co-founded by his father Trefor Llewlyn-Bowen with Bill Bond in 1970.
He has recently acquired a home in Port Isaac
Port Isaac
Port Isaac is a small and picturesque fishing village on the Atlantic Coast of North Cornwall, United Kingdom. The nearest towns are Wadebridge and Camelford, both ten miles away in opposite directions. Port Gaverne, commonly mistaken to be part of Port Isaac, is a hamlet that has its own...
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, which is well-known as the filming location of the TV series Doc Martin
Doc Martin
Doc Martin is a British television comedy drama series starring Martin Clunes in the title role. It was created by Mark Crowdy, Craig Ferguson and Dominic Minghella. The show is filmed on location in the fishing village of Port Isaac, Cornwall, United Kingdom, with filming of most interior scenes...
.
He is related to Emanuel Bowen
Emanuel Bowen
Emanuel Bowen was an English map engraver, who worked for George II of England and Louis XV of France as a geographerHe published a 'Complete Atlas of Geography,' 1744-7; an 'English Atlas, with a new set of maps,' 1745; a 'Complete Atlas .....
, map maker to King George II.