Jay Blades
Jay Blades | |
|---|---|
| Born | 21 February 1970 London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Upholsterer, TV presenter |
| Known for | The Repair Shop Money for Nothing Jay Blades' Home Fix |
Jay Blades MBE (born 21 February 1970[1][2]) is a furniture restorer and presenter originally from Hackney but currently based in Wolverhampton.[3][4] He is best known for presenting The Repair Shop and Money for Nothing[5] and co-presenting Jay and Dom's Home Fix.[6] He has also appeared in Would I Lie To You?, Celebrity Masterchef, Richard Osman's House of Games, and Michael McIntyre's The Wheel.[7][8]
Blades was raised in East London with his mother and maternal[9] half-brother.[4] He is one of 26 children his father sired in different countries.[4] He has dyslexia which was not diagnosed at school.[4] He experienced racism at school and from the police.[4] As a young man he worked as a labourer and in factories.[4] He then went to Buckinghamshire New University as a mature student to study criminology.[4][10] It was at the time he entered university, when aged 31, that he was diagnosed with the reading ability of an 11-year old.[11]
When Blades married, he and his then-wife, Jade, set up a charity based in High Wycombe, Out of the Dark, to train disadvantaged young people in furniture restoration.[4] The charity lost funding, Blades's marriage broke down and he became homeless.[4] He was supported by friends and by the Caribbean community.[4] Around the same time, TV producers saw a short film about the charity which led to his work as a television presenter.[4] In 2021 Blades became trustee of a charity founded by singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, The Black Fund. They met when Blades earlier in life ran a youth club and choir which Pinnock, then 14 years old, joined.[11]
In August 2021 Blades had filmed an upcoming documentary programme for BBC1, Jay Blades: Learning To Read at 51, depicting his recent attempts, with the support of the charity Read Easy UK, to learn reading.[11] In 2021 it was announced he would dance with Luba Mushtuk in the 2021 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.
Blades lives in Ironbridge in Shropshire.[12] He has three children: a daughter from his marriage and two children from previous relationships.[4][10][13][14]
Honours[]
Blades was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours, for services to craft.[15][16]
References[]
- ^ "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ Jones, Emma (19 April 2020). "Jay Blades' degree in criminology led him on path to star in The Repair Shop". mirror. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ "Furniture dealer turned TV star Jay Blades chats about his style in Wolverhampton". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Saner, Emine (7 September 2020). "'I spent a long time being this macho man': Jay Blades on love, loss and the liberating power of tears". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
- ^ Andrew Williams (10 April 2018). "Jay Blades talks upcycling versus restoring". Metro. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- ^ "Jay and Dom's Home Fix". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ "BBC - Celebrity MasterChef fires up the ovens for another hot summer - Media Centre".
- ^ "Richard Osman's House of Games, Series 3, Episode 26". BBC. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
- ^ Blades, Jay (27 July 2021). Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life. ISBN 9781760987633.
- ^ a b "The Repair Shop's Jay Blades reveals incredible story discovering he has 25 siblings". www.msn.com. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- ^ a b c "Jay Blades: Why I have taken on challenge of reading at 51". Shropshire Star. 10 August 2021. p. 8.Report by Dominic Robertson.
- ^ Harvey, Ian (12 June 2021). "MBE for Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades in Queen's Birthday Honours". www.shropshirestar.com. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
- ^ "Repair Shop's Jay Blades". mirror. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- ^ Youngs, Ian (1 April 2020). "From repairing lives to hosting The Repair Shop". BBC News. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- ^ "No. 63377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2021. p. B15.
- ^ "Birthday Honours 2021: MBE for Repair Shop's Jay Blades". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
External links[]
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- Living people
- People from Hackney Central
- British people of Jamaican descent
- Alumni of Buckinghamshire New University
- People with dyslexia
- 1970 births
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
- British television biography stubs