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Lauren Harries will star in Swansea TV's new hit show "Trust Me I'm a Beauty Therapist". According to the 3 August 2006 edition of the South Wales Evening Post, "The celebrities include sex-change former antiques expert Lauren Harries, who captivated millions as a curly-haired bow-tied young lad on Wogan in the early 1980s." Also appearing are "Scouse funnyman Stan Boardman, 1970s rocker Suzi Quatro and former Hear'Say singer Danny Foster,". Note heard of that lot? The other four are celebrities insufficiently famous to even name: "plus four others."
The programme was filmed in Swansea's St David's shopping centre, and after two weeks of training, contestants had to design and create their own makeovers on models at a show held in Revolution on Wind Street. The eight "celebrities" reportedly recall filming as a time of "tears and tantrums as well as achievement and friendships forged."
Trust Me I'm a Beauty Therapist will be broadcast on Channel 5 in the Autumn.
On 9 July 2006, the News of the World reported that Scotland's possible future First Minister, Steven Purcell, is not the saviour of Scotland; indeed, "Just like James Harries, who valued antiques on Wogan before going fruit loop and having his undercarriage lopped off, he's less prodigy than pillock."
One suspects the Mirror was short on copy on 16 March 2006, reporting old news in the feature "Curse of the Child Prodigies". The red-top daily revealed the following shocking expose: "PRECOCIOUS posh whizz kid James had his own antiques business by the age of 10 and, at 14, wrote a book called Rags To Riches. But he was bullied at school, his family business failed and, in 1991, his dad was jailed for arson and fraud. Troubled James attempted suicide before having a sex-change and renaming himself Lauren. She has since found limited success as a TV presenter."
The Daily Express was also short of copy on 24 February 2006, running the timely article "the 20 worst bits of the '80s". Lauren was beaten to the top spots by East Enders, shell suits and the Krankies, making it to 10th with the shocking and well-researched gossip that James Harries was "the 10-year-old, blond-haired boy who was an antiques expert. Appeared on Wogan. He is now a woman called Lauren."
Recently we reported that:
User 1157206232 kindly writes to report "Poor old Lauren. Anyway, that Czech article isn't the same James Harries, it's some singer-songwriter who's got himself [jamesharries.com], which I was just looking at in confusion before finding this very site."