Top 10: home and garden celebrities

Sarah Beeny

Born in Reading, the daughter of an architect, Sarah travelled the world, did various jobs (cleaning windows and making sandwiches) before starting up on her own developing property. Her first TV programme, Property Ladder, was about ‘how to profit from property'. This usually involved getting a quick sale. Out went the orange wallpaper and purple shagpile carpet. In came the wooden floors, magnolia walls and neat brass fittings on the doors and windows. Her view is that if you can squeeze in another toilet and fit a larger kitchen into the rear extension, you're on your way to making a thumping profit.  Sarah has always been very realistic, often advising subjects on the show not to undertake elaborate projects - advice that they generally ignore.