Margaret Mountford

Margaret Mountford
Born	Margaret Swale (1951-11-24) 24 November 1951 Holywood, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Girton College, Cambridge University College London
Occupation	Lawyer Businesswoman Television personality
Employer	Amstrad plc Georgica plc
Known for	The Apprentice (2005–09)
Spouse(s)	Richard Mountford (1973–1990) (divorced)
Partner(s)	Gary O'Neil (1993–95, 1997–present)
Children	1

Margaret Rose Mountford (born 24 November 1951) is a British lawyer, businesswoman and television personality best known for her role in The Apprentice.

Biography

Mountford is originally from Holywood in Northern Ireland. She was educated at the voluntary grammar school, Strathearn School in Belfast, then at Girton College, Cambridge. Returning to education later in life, Mountford completed her PhD in 2012 at University College London.

Mountford spent a number of years as a lawyer with Herbert Smith, before taking on roles as non-executive director at Amstrad and Georgica. She chairs the board of governors of St Marylebone, an inner-London Church of England Comprehensive School.

Mountford also chairs the Bright Ideas Trust which was set up by the first Apprentice winner Tim Campbell, and helps young people start their own businesses.

In April 2012, Mountford completed her PhD in Papyrology at University College London with her thesis entitled Documentary papyri from Roman And Byzantine Oxyrhynchus.

Television

From 2005 to 2009, Mountford was one of Lord Sugar's advisers, alongside Nick Hewer, in the UK version of The Apprentice television show, a role with which she achieved increasing public popularity. Mountford also took part on the panel in The Apprentice - You're Fired on 27 May 2009 for the first time, during which she hinted that Lorraine would not make the final.

In June 2009, Mountford announced she was leaving the show at the end of Series 5 in order to concentrate on her PhD and was replaced for Series 6 by businesswoman Karren Brady.

She appeared in an episode of the 2010 series, where she helped Lord Sugar narrow down the candidates to a final two. Mountford returned for the Apprentice Finals in 2011, 2012 and 2013 in a similar role.

In March 2012 and January 2013, Mountford appeared on Channel 4's Countdown in Dictionary Corner. In March 2013, Mountford presented a one-off BBC documentary programme Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time.

In July 2013, Mountford co-presented a two-part BBC One documentary with Hewer entitled We All Pay Your Benefits, filmed in Ipswich, the show investigated the benefit culture.

In October 2013, she presented a BBC Two Northern Ireland documentary called Groundbreakers: Ulster's Forgotten Radical, which highlighted the forgotten women's rights campaigner from the 19th century, Isabella Tod.

On 15 and 16 July 2014, Mountford co-presented a BBC One documentary with Hewer entitled Nick and Margaret: Too many Immigrants? which researched the impact of and attitudes towards immigrants in the UK and London.

Between 24 and 28 November 2014, Mountford presented a BBC One programme entitled Don't Mess with Me which displayed the challenges that the public and Councils in the UK face against littering, as well as convincing the public to pick up their rubbish and take a stand to the problem. The programme considered scientific research into the problem as well as preventative action.

In December 2015 Mountford appeared, alongside Nick Hewer, in BBC's Celebrity Antiques Road Trip.