   paula elizabeth yates (24 april 1959bfi biodata "checked birth at the family records centre, london. born in 1959 in the aled, wales registration district." â 17 september 2000) was a british television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two television programmes, the tube and the big breakfast. ==early life== born in colwyn bay, wales, paula yates was brought up in a show business family. her mother was elaine smith, a former showgirl, actress and writer of erotic novels, who used the stage names helene thornton and heller torren. until late in her life, yates believed her biological father to be jess yates, who was known as "the bishop" and hosted the itv religious programme stars on sunday. jess yates and elaine smith were married from 1958 to 1975. jess yates was sixteen years older than his wife, and their marriage was unconventional. jess yates was sacked as the stars on sunday presenter in 1974 because of newspaper stories about his private life. in an unsettled childhood, paula attended school at rowen primary school, penrhos college, ysgol aberconwy. the yates family ran the deganwy castle hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in rowen, conwy. after the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, paula lived mostly with her mother, including periods in malta and mallorca where she was a pupil at bellver international college, before returning to britain. ==career== in 1979, yates began her career as a music journalist with a column called "natural blonde" in the record mirror, shortly after posing for penthouse magazine. she first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with jools holland) of the channel 4
1959_births 2000_deaths 20th-century_women_writers Accidental_deaths_in_England Deaths_by_heroin_overdose_in_England Michael_Hutchence People_educated_at_Rydal_Penrhos People_from_Colwyn_Bay Welsh_people_of_English_descent Welsh_people_of_Irish_descent Welsh_people_of_Scottish_descent Welsh_television_presenters Welsh_women_writers