Jay Blades

Jay Blades MBE (born 21 February 1970[1][2]) is a furniture restorer and presenter originally from Hackney.[3][4] He is best known for presenting The Repair Shop, Money for Nothing, Jay Blades Home Fix and Mister Mender[5] and co-presenting Jay and Dom's Home Fix.[6] He has also appeared on Would I Lie To You?, Celebrity Masterchef, Richard Osman's House of Games, and Michael McIntyre's The Wheel.[7][8]

Jay Blades

Born (1970-02-21) 21 February 1970
London, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationUpholsterer, TV presenter
Known forThe Repair Shop
Money for Nothing
Jay Blades' Home Fix
Mister Mender

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 filmed a 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

  1. "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  2. 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.
  3. "Furniture dealer turned TV star Jay Blades chats about his style in Wolverhampton". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  4. 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.
  5. Andrew Williams (10 April 2018). "Jay Blades talks upcycling versus restoring". Metro. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  6. "Jay and Dom's Home Fix". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  7. "BBC - Celebrity MasterChef fires up the ovens for another hot summer - Media Centre".
  8. "Richard Osman's House of Games, Series 3, Episode 26". BBC. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  9. Blades, Jay (27 July 2021). Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life. ISBN 9781760987633.
  10. "The Repair Shop's Jay Blades reveals incredible story discovering he has 25 siblings". www.msn.com. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  11. "Jay Blades: Why I have taken on challenge of reading at 51". Shropshire Star. 10 August 2021. p. 8.Report by Dominic Robertson.
  12. Harvey, Ian (12 June 2021). "MBE for Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades in Queen's Birthday Honours". www.shropshirestar.com. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  13. "Repair Shop's Jay Blades". mirror. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. Youngs, Ian (1 April 2020). "From repairing lives to hosting The Repair Shop". BBC News. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  15. "No. 63377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2021. p. B15.
  16. "Birthday Honours 2021: MBE for Repair Shop's Jay Blades". BBC News. 11 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.


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