COUNTDOWN star and former Southend school pupil Rachel Riley has been made an MBE in the New Year Honours List.

Rachel Riley, 36, has been awarded an MBE for her efforts to raise awareness of the Holocaust and combat antisemitism.

The TV presenter and mathematician was born in Rochford and raised in Thorpe Bay, Southend, attending Thorpe Hall School, and Southend High School for Girls.

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The 36-year-old Oxford University graduate was a vocal critic of Labour’s handling of alleged antisemitism within the party and Jeremy Corbyn’s conduct while he was leader.

In January 2019, she made a speech at a Westminster reception for the Holocaust Educational Trust addressing the abuse she received on social media as a public figure.

She has also worked with the Centre for Countering Digital Hate to combat online abuse.

 

In August, Mr Corbyn’s former aide, Laura Murray, lost an appeal against a High Court libel ruling which ordered her to pay £10,000 damages to Riley after a Twitter row.

In November, Riley was awarded £50,000 in damages by a High Court judge after suing political blogger Mike Sivier for libel.

Rachel Riley’s mum, Celia, still lives in Thorpe Bay herself.

The countdown star previously praised her former physics teacher at Southend High School for Girls, Paul Betts, for her success.

She said he inspired her degree choice, which ultimately set her on a path to replace Carol Vorderman on the Channel 4 game show.

More personally, in November 2021, Riley welcomed her second daughter Noa with professional dancer husband, Pasha Kovalev, following the birth of Maven in 2019.

Riley started dating Kovalev after splitting from her husband, fellow Oxford University student Jamie Gilbert, in 2013.

The couple met when they were paired up together on the 11th series of Strictly Come Dancing and married in Las Vegas in 2019.