I’m a TV presenter and writer now, but I originally trained as a zoologist. I have a zoology degree from Trinity College, Dublin and my first job was collating data on new breeds of cattle in the animal breeding and genetics department of the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau.
Jackie Kabler
I have a massive, Irish family. I’m the oldest of six and we have around 70 first cousins – I say “around” because we lose count…
I’m very, very tidy. At work at QVC one of my naughty colleagues likes to mess up my dressing room from time to time because she finds my reaction hilarious – I freak out when things are out of place!
I’m a bit of a dinosaur nerd. For our twentieth wedding anniversary my husband offered to buy me anything I wanted, maybe a beautiful eternity ring? Instead I chose a fossilised dinosaur tooth. It’s from a carcharodontosaurus – they lived in Africa, and were even bigger than the Tyrannosaurus rex. The tooth is in a frame on my writing desk and I absolutely love it.
I have a slight phobia of clothes brushes. It’s the noise of brush on fabric – I can’t bear it. I’m the same if I ever see someone brushing a carpet, or brushing their teeth. I get all shivery and have to cover my ears.
I had a green wedding cake, in the shape of a golf course. I don’t even play golf. Don’t ask…
I’m very clumsy – I’m always walking into things and tripping over things. I’ve broken three bones through clumsiness, and I’m also the only person I know who’s actually fallen down the gap between the train and the platform.
I’m an early bird – I actually really like getting up at 3.15am for the early shift at work, and I’m quite happy to go to bed at 8pm. If I have to work late at night I get slightly hysterical.
I don’t have a particularly sweet tooth – I probably only have dessert after a meal five or six times a year – but I do like a slice of cake now and again. Lemon drizzle and Victoria Sponge are my favourites. I like my cake to be quite traditional. And the odd chocolate bar sneaks in now and again too. Nothing with nuts though. Nuts in sweet things are just wrong.
At work my dressing room mate has pictures of her children on the wall. I have a sachet of freeze-dried astronaut food. And (see number four, above) a piece of fossilised dinosaur poo decorating my in-tray. Dinosaurs and space – love them!
