Tuesday, October 09, 2007


Aggie Mackenzie: The 411

Aggie MacKenzie (1955 Rothiemurchus, Scotland) is a television presenter. She appeared on How Clean Is Your House? and Too Posh To Wash with Kim Woodburn.

Before being a television presenter Aggie was in the Civil Service; after being security-screened, she worked with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) as a secretary. Subsequently she worked in magazines, eventually writing for Good Housekeeping, before being selected as a television presenter in August 2002.[1][2]

She currently resides in Stoke Newington, Hackney with her husband, Matthew, and her two sons, Rory and Ewan. (from uttertrivia.com): Aggie MacKenzie was born in 1955 in Rothiemurchus, Aviemore in the Cairngorms mountain region and went to school at Kingussie High School. She learnt her domestic, cooking and cleaning skills from her mother who knew many remedies for removing stains.

Aggie MacKenzie attended further education at Aberdeen where she attained a bilingual secretarial qualification which earned her first job at the Foreign Office. After signing the official secrets act she worked for MI6. She worked in the security organisation for two years and then took a post at the press office of the National Union of Students. From here she worked at many women's magazines and then took the position of Associate Editor in Charge of the Good Housekeeping Magazine. Part of her responsibilities here was to review cleaning products and gadgets and write about household appliances and create new recipes.

In 2002 Aggie was asked to take a screen test for a new show that would later earn her the nicknames of The Nation’s Dream Cleaning Team, the Grime Busters and Dirt Detectives. She met a lady called Kim Woodburn and passed the screen test and the chemistry of Kim and Aggie was born. Aggie gives a down to earth approach with her lovely Scots no nonsense voice as she and Kim educate people to keep themselves and their houses clean, hygienic and tidy - and she looks a bonnie fearsome sight in those rubber gloves! Their reactions to some of the houses they visit and the conditions that people keep themselves and their surroundings in are just hilarious.

Aggie generously donates fees for some interviews to Ukuthasa, a charity that supports people who live in townships in South Africa. The money raised by Ukuthasa helps the villagers with healthcare, education and housing.