Jo Brand, who spent a large part of her formative years in Kent before going onto her life of fame. The beloved comic has been a popular guest on the likes of QI, Taskmaster and Would I Lie To You? as well as having a hugely successful stand up comedy career, reports Kent Live.
Many may be unaware that Jo moved to St Mary's Platt near Sevenoaks from London at age four, and then a year later to Benenden. Here, she and her family lived on a long country lane in an old converted oast house.
After attending St Mary's Platt Primary School and Benenden Village Primary School, she attended Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar until the age of 16. Before becoming a mental health nurse she worked for Barnardo's, as well as a cleaner and bar staff at the Grape Vine wine bar on Calverley Road, and the Duke Of York pub on the Pantiles.
In a return visit to Tunbridge Wells back in 2017, Brand attended the opening of Canterbury Christ Church University's Salomons Centre having been awarded an honorary doctorate from the university in 2014, for her work raising awareness of mental health issues. During her visit she discussed her fondness for Tunbridge Wells and its nightlife.
The comic said: "I love Tunbridge Wells. I had a brilliant time in Tunbridge Wells and I lived and worked here for years. It is very nice to be back.
"Those bars were a big part of my social life - but that's usually what happens when you're a student." She has also previously recalled her school days while talking to Tom Read Wilson on his podcast Tom Read Wilson has words with…
With the podcast having a key focus around words, she recalled an anecdote from her Kent student days, specifically some spelling tests. She said: "I'm very attached to the word portmanteau itself because when I was at primary school, and I remember this really well, I must have been seven or eight, we had a spelling test and I got 19 out of 20.
"The teacher was fairly gobsmacked because we were a Kent village school and we were actually all a bit thick most of us. The only word I got wrong was portmanteau, I put an 'o' on the end instead of an 'eau', and so from that point onward I always knew what that word meant."
She went on to say: "This is going to sound like a humble brag but I went to the local comprehensive and after six months they got my parents in and said I'd have to go up two years as I was too intelligent for my year."
A destiny for fame seems to be running in the family, as her eldest daughter Maisie has recently been gaining a fairly substantial following on TikTok. Currently amassing over 70,000 followers, the 20 year-old has also dipped into the world of music.
Under the performing name of Maisi, she has released two singles to Spotify and has 10,000 monthly listeners. Clearly, talent seems to run in the family.
