Carol Vorderman makes debut as weather girl aged 59... speaking Welsh

Carol Vorderman has made her debut as a weather girl at the age of 59 - speaking fluent Welsh.

The former Countdown star is taking part in the latest series of reality TV series Cariad@iaith on Welsh channel S4C which sees celebrities learn the Welsh language.

Vorderman shared a clip of herself reading the weather on S4C as one of her challenges for the new show, tweeting; “Watch me being a weather woman today IN WELSH ....been learning language for nearly 2 months now online.”

The TV presenter and mathematician - who became a sex symbol presenting the maths puzzles on Channel 4 quiz show Countdown from 1982 to 2008 - appeared confident in a figure-hugging dress.

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She began by saying “Hello, Carol Voderman ydw i” which translates to “My name is Carol Voderman.”

Voderman ended the clip with a cheeky joke about the temperature of 10 degrees centigrade in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales being “scorchio”. Scorchio is not a Welsh word but was coined by the late Caroline Aherne in 1990s sketch comedy The Fast Show, in which she played spoof Mediterranean weather reporter Poula Fisch.

Vorderman revealed on Twitter that another celebrity learning Welsh for the reality show is Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones.

She added: “Can't wait to see what's occurring there.”

Welsh weather presenter Owain Wyn Evans who has been helping Vorderman train for her challenge tweeted: “HERE SHE IS! Very proud of my @carolvorders presenting the weather IN WELSH.”

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The Welsh language was feared to be under threat in the 1980s as the number of people able to speak it began to dwindle. But it is now compulsory that all students attending state schools in Wales study Welsh up to the age of 16.

A survery in 2018 found that 874,700, or 29.3% of the population now speak Welsh, up from 25.8% in 2008.

Famous Welsh speakers include actors Michael Sheen and Ioan Gruffudd.