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Zena Skinner

1927 – 2018

British TV chef

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About Zena Skinner

Lived 1927 – 2018 (aged 91). Zena Skinner was a British television presenter.

Zena Skinner (27 February 1927 – 6 March 2018) was a British chef, writer, and cookery expert on television and radio.

Early life Skinner was from Luton, Bedfordshire. Her father owned an electroplating company.

Career Skinner served in the Women's Royal Naval Service and decoded signals at Portsmouth during World War II. After the war, she worked as a demonstrator at the Eastern Electricity Board showroom in Royston; she also demonstrated electrical appliances in Jamaica and East Africa. While working in Kenya, she met Queen Elizabeth II, and her appearance in publicity photos, serving cakes to Maasai men, led her into television work.

Her first TV appearance was in 1959. She presented daytime cookery programmes for the BBC through the 1960s and 1970s and Zena Skinner's Down to Earth Cookbook (1982).

Skinner was a brand ambassador for Tupperware products. She appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs, on 3 March 1969. She founded a charity, Keech Hospice Care, in Luton and raised funds for it.

Personal life Skinner retired from television in 1989 and lived in Redbourn, Hertfordshire. a year after her brother Bruce, at the hospice they both supported in Luton.

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Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Employers
British Broadcasting Corporation

People in Zena Skinner's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Zena Skinner's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Zena Skinner?

British TV chef

When was Zena Skinner born?

Zena Skinner was born on 27 February 1927 in Luton.

When did Zena Skinner die?

Zena Skinner died on 6 March 2018 in Luton.

What was Zena Skinner's occupation?

Zena Skinner was a television presenter.

What nationality was Zena Skinner?

Zena Skinner was British.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Zena Skinner

· Wikidata: Q17505515

· DBpedia: Zena Skinner

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Zena Skinner. https://biography.guide/zena-skinner/

MLA: "Zena Skinner." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/zena-skinner/.

Chicago: "Zena Skinner." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/zena-skinner/.

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