Anne Robinson

Anne Josephine Robinson (born 26 September 1944) is an English television presenter and journalist, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British series Watchdog from 1993 to 2001 and 2009 to 2015. She gained fame as the hostess of the BBC game show The Weakest Link from 2000 to 2012, which earned her the nickname "Queen of Mean".

Early life

Born in Crosby, Lancashire, Robinson is of Irish descent. Her father was a school teacher. Her mother, Anne Josephine (née Wilson), who was an alcoholic, was an agricultural businesswoman from Northern Ireland, where she was the manager of a market stall. When she came to England, she married into her husband's family of wholesale chicken dealers, and sold rationed rabbit after the Second World War. She inherited the family market stall in Liverpool and transformed it into one of the largest wholesale poultry dealing businesses in the North of England.

Brought up initially at the family home in Crosby, Robinson attended a private and prestigious Roman Catholic convent boarding school in Hampshire, Farnborough Hill Convent. She was hired as a chicken gutter and saleswoman during the holidays in the family business, before taking office jobs at a law firm. The family spent their summers on holiday in France, often at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes.