| Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen | |
|---|---|
 Llewelyn-Bowen engraving names into his latest collection of designer glassware (2007) |
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| Born | 11 March 1965 London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Ethnicity | Welsh[1] |
| Education | Fine Art degree |
| Alma mater | Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts |
| Occupation | Interior designer, television personality |
| Years active | 1996-present |
| Known for | Changing Rooms & other television work |
| Spouse(s) | Jackie |
| Parents | Trefor Llewelyn-Bowen & Patricia Wilks[2] |
| Website http://www.llb.co.uk |
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Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (born 11 March 1965) is a interior designer and television and radio personality best known for his appearances on the BBC television programme Changing Rooms.[1] He is noted for his flamboyant personality and for his dandyish appearance.
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He is sometimes credited as "Laurence Llewelyn Bowen" [3], and the components of his name are frequently misspelled "Llewellyn"[4] and/or "Lawrence".[5]
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen was born in London to parents Trefor and Patricia Bowen (née Wilks). His father, a Harley Street orthopaedic surgeon, died of leukaemia in 1974, aged 42, when Laurence was just nine years of age.[2] His mother, a teacher, died in 2002.[6] He has a brother called Edward. He is of Welsh descent.
Llewelyn-Bowen was educated at Alleyn's School in Dulwich before graduating from the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in 1986 with a Fine Art degree.[6]
Llewelyn-Bowen subsequently worked for the Harefield Group of Companies and the interior design firm Peter Leonard Associates. In 1989 he started his own design consultancy.
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.
In 2002 Llewelyn-Bowen made a cameo appearance in the comedy series 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.
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.
| £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, he 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 Foundation, 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 to date, 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 original English and has in fact been the US motto since 1956. The intended answer had been "One out of many" which is a translation of the Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum, which is not actually the current United States motto.
The original question was never aired, however the newer question was.
In 2007 he designed Decodance for Blackpool Illuminations, featuring six illuminated burlesque beauties.[7][8]
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.[9]
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.[2]
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". [1] 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. [2]
He featured in the music video for Tempa T - Next Hype earlier this year. Tempa has mentioned on several occasions how much he admires Laurence's work with drapes. They be smoking sensi on the reg.
As of 15 January 2010, Laurence has been appearing on the ITV1 reality show 'Popstar to Operastar' as a critic along side Meat Loaf, and classically trained mentors Katherine Jenkins and Rolando Villazon.
Llewelyn-Bowen, his wife, and their two daughters, Cecile (born 1995) and Hermione (born 1998), moved to a 17th century, grade-II listed manor house in Gloucestershire in April 2007.[1]
He and his wife Jackie 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.
He is known as "Hen69" to his friends, in homage to his great hero Laurence Olivier.[citation needed]
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. [10]
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